Month: November 2017

First Division had very exciting finish. Perhaps that is all to be said… Two, relatively speaking, outsiders at the bottom end of the table: Motor (Lublin) – 16th with 19 points and Arka (Gdynia) – 15th with 22 points. Both relegated. Arka had some good luck in the recent past, but no more.

Ruch (Chorzow) was unusually low – 14th with 25 points.

Baltyk (Gdynia) bested Ruch by a point, taking 13th place. Polish football never had truly big and dominant clubs, but Ruch was historically among the strongest and Baltyk – among the weakest, more often found in second division. But it was not only Ruch in the tight spot this season – LKS (Lodz) was 12th, Lech (Poznan) – 10th, Szombierki (Bytom), the champions of 1979-80, were 9th. Wisla (Krakow) was not in the race for the title either – they were 8th with 29 points.

Gornik (Zabrze) ended 5th and the squad tells why: Apart from Palasz and Matysik, not a single recognizable name. Export of players was the reason and that affected the whole Polish football.

Stal (Mielec) finished 3rd with 35 points. Not bad, yet, nothing great. Slask (Wroclaw), which emerged from anonymity after 1975 was going well and fought for the title. To the end – they finished with 39 points. Unfortunately, their rival also finished with 39 points. Goal-difference was the decisive factor in Poland and Slask lost. Unfortunate, but numbers are numbers and Slask was 3 goals short.

Dramatic winners – Widzew (Lodz). Third row: Romke, Jeżewski, Plich, Klepczyński, Młynarczyk, Boniek, Grębosz, Żmuda.

Middle row: Żmuda (coach), Surlit, Pięta, Woźniak, Tłokiński, Mierzwiński, Filipczak, Sajewicz, Lonka, Pęczek (masseur).

First row: Gapiński (assistant coach), Rozborski, Smolarek, Łuczyński, Możejko, Kamiński.

Second consecutive title – and their 2nd in history too. Widzew was not overwhelming champion neither season, but its group of stars (Boniek, Zmuda, Smolarek, Mlynarczyk) and talented coach were enough to finish victoriously. Of course, that was a squad becoming instant club legend, but one has to consider few other factors as well: the relative weakness of traditionally stronger clubs, notably Gornik, Lagia, Ruch, and Wisla. All due, at least to some degree, to the exodus of stars, by now including lesser know, but otherwise solid players. Widzew was lucky to have stars of younger generation and that was its advantage (advantage, which changed after Boniek was sold to Juventus, thus braking down the established long time ago age rule). The sudden impoverishment of the leading clubs was astutely noticed in 1980, when pedestrian Szombierki (Bytom) surprisingly won the title – Widzew followed the ‘weakest ever’ Polish champion and was much stronger than it: after all, Zbigniew Boniek, rapidly establishing himself as a world-class star, played for Widzew. Political unrest most likely affected the strength of some clubs, but Widzew not immune – Mlynarczyk, Boniek, and Smolarek were in the middle of big scandal in 1981 – and suffered penalties. But still Widzew won and not once, but twice in a row – this was fantastic, even if the team was dominant and victory was, to a point, lucky. Yet, the future did not bright… after the end of the season Boniek was sold to Juventus; Zmuda, Smolarek, and Mlynarczyk were next to leave. Worries for the future were probably present already, but for the moment and especially for the fans it was just great.

 

Football was probably not in the Polish agenda, since the country was preoccupied with political and economic crisis, but the championships went on. Nothing much to talk about… except that teams perhaps were not great, but fairly equal. If anything, the championships were decided in the last moment and by the tiniest margins. Second Division naturally was out of foreign interest altogether. The teams there were a mix: some former first division members, smaller second and third clubs of some cities, and insignificant clubs from smaller cities.

Piast (Gliwice) was 7th in Group 1 of Second Division. Perhaps today the name rings a bell, but not in the 1980s.

Stilon (Gorzow) ended 3rd – they are still unknown outside Poland.

BKS Bielsko, another unheard of club, finished 2nd with 40 points. They came very close to surprise promotion, but better known team bested them by a point.

GKS Katowice won Group 1 with 41 points. They were promoted, which was great – the club was still trying to reach and somehow establish itself in the top league.

In Group 2 the battle was equally fierce, if not great.

Błękitni Kielce finished 4th – another never heard of club, which is now quite well known. Under different name, though.

Polonia Bytom took the 2nd place with 38 points.

Cracovia Krakow won Group 2 with 40 points. One of the old Polish clubs, which faded away with time – by now, Cracovia was the second and smaller club of Krakow, quite insignificant compared to Wisla. But they managed to win promotion and may be some kind of revival was in the cards. Whether revival was happening… only the future could tell.