Poland, highly reputed since 1974, qualifying for the 1978 World Cup finals, having a bunch of players well known around the globe – and a weak championship. On a club level the 1960s were seemingly stronger years, but it was interesting championship for it was unpredictable one. A rare case anyway – there were no few powerful clubs dominating the league, the capital city had a minor role, and no club really concentrated the top players whether by government decree or by financial strength. The negative side was lower quality and the trouble was sufficient for concerns. After this season the second division was reorganized because of that: so far it was divided geographically in two groups – Northern and Southern. Seemingly, the Northern was much weaker and the new division was the between East and West, hoping to make the groups more competitive. But this was to happen in the next season. There was no reduction of the number of participants, though. Apart from structural changes, the other interesting thing about Polish club football was the determination of standings of clubs with equal points: unlike the general practice of the time – goal-difference – head-to-head results determined positions in Poland.
The Second Division went through its normal trials and tribulations. Here one more reason for the relative weakness of the Polish clubs could be found: many cities had more than one club. It was surprising in some places, but made understandable why Polish clubs went up and down quite often – resources were not pulled together. Gdansk, for instance, had no representative in First Division, but two clubs – Lechia and Stoczniowiec – played in the second. Lodz had LKS and Widzew in First Division and Start in the Second. So was the case with Warszawa, Krakow, Poznan, but if it appeared normal for big cities, it was unusual for smaller ones: Bydgoszcz, for instance, had Zavisza in top flight and BKS in the second division. Lubin had a second division club – Motor – and another one – Zaglebie – just promoted from Third Division for the next season. Bytom had two clubs if First Division (Szombierki and Polonia) – the only other city with two clubs in the top league was Lodz. Often there was no telling which club was the leading one in their home town – fate changed frequently: Baltyk represented Gdynia in second division and Arka in the first, but roles easily changed. Anyhow, the general situation had little to do with the actual season.
GKS Katowice had no rivals in the Northern Group – they left the nearest one, Gornik (Walbrzych) 6 points behind. GKS were returning to top flight, possibly not briefly, but to be a force. Hutnik (Krakow), not stranger to first division, went the opposite direction – they finished 14th and relegated to Third Division.
The Southern Group duplicated the Northern one – two clubs left the rest of league far behind. They also fought for the coveted promotional place to the end. Baltyk (Gdynia) were third – 18 points behind the second! Lechia (Gdansk) had to try again… they lost the race by a point, finishing with round 50 points.
Gwardia (Warszawa) clinched the first place with 51 points. Another returning to first division club, but unlike GKS, Gwardia played stronger role in the past. It was even strange to see them down at second level – strange, compared to other Communist countries. But it was not only Gwardia down on their luck – Polonia (Warszawa), strong club once upon a time, had sedated existence in the second division too. They finished at 12th place, just above the relegation zone. Gwardia did much better indeed.