“It’s only banter”. Banter, banter, fucking banter. Anyone who uses the could be placed in a category anywhere between a fool and a racist. A word so socially acceptable among cretins that it is now believed by some to be a moral justification for almost anything, from mocking a rivals’ poor league position to starting a race-hate war.

At some point in history (I must have missed it) those six little letters took on such strength that many feel it allows them to say whatever they want, to whoever they want, and still believe it a justifiable excuse. Do they believe that if the Nazi’s had used “banter” as an excuse, they’d have gotten away scot-free and avoided World War Two? Maybe if Daniel François Malan had uttered the phrase, the bigots would have forgiven him for paving the way to Apartheid?

So far the racism storm smashing our game to pieces is mostly visible inside the stadiums; but already cracks are appearing, and it is starting to seep into the outside world. Recent displays on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have seen messages sent to footballers containing racist abuse and threats, all of the offenders seemingly believing that their computer screen is some sort of protective bubble. Something needs to be done about the latest tornado threatening our game, before it goes too far.

A few months ago, the act of judging by skin colour looked to be slowly eroding from the game; but the recent actions of a few high-profile players and a higher number of equally small-minded fans are clearly proving that there is still a long way to go before English football can be classed as clean. Much like the homophobia I saw on display at a recent game, there is so much more that can be done – and needs to be done – to raise awareness of the subject.

Every football club should be doing its part to show that insulting people for either their gender, sexuality, colour of their skin, or anything else for that matter; is despicable. A zero-tolerance policy on any kind of abuse – whether it be on the pitch, in the stands, or even on the internet – needs to be taken by all clubs. If a club is seen to not take action against an offending player or supporter, the club itself needs to take responsibility and be punished heavily.

Players can sometimes be seen sporting their “Kick Racism Out of Football” t-shirts before the odd game; and although this is definitely a small step forward, it isn’t exactly getting to the root of the problem. Whilst the usual anti-racism day is again showing awareness to the subject, some clearly believe that this means that racism is acceptable on the other 364 days of the year. And when you have players publicly defending, and in cases even wearing t-shirts supporting a team-mate who has admitted to making racist comments; it makes a complete mockery of these campaigns trying to do good in the game.

The recent statement released by Liverpool during the Evra/Suarez row just goes to show that the clubs are on totally the wrong wavelength. Instead of doing the seemingly correct thing and condemning their players’ remarks, they went on record to back their striker and put themselves in a very stupid position.

And when will some fans realise that condemning your own player when he does something wrong does not mean that you’re not a real supporter. Numerous Kop supporters have gone on to say that they should support Suarez as he is a Liverpool player; but how many of them would be quick to call him “racist scum” should he play for Manchester United? All you are doing is finding an excuse for racism. That was what the Nazi’s did…

At Friday’s Liverpool – Oldham FA Cup clash, a Liverpool supporter was alleged to hurl racist abuse at an Oldham player. If the allegations are proven true – and given the way that the club have practically advocated racism, it wouldn’t surprise me – how do the club go about dealing with the issue? Do they brush it aside as a non-incident and publish a statement declaring that their fans are the best in the country; or do they punish said supporter, showing a display of “One rule for one, one rule for another” which makes them look even more foolish?

Do we only have ourselves to blame for the latest blemish on the sport? With the increased amount of money in the game; power has shifted to the players making them role models for an entire generation. And when some of our population have role models in the form of (England Captain) John Terry and Luis Suarez, are we really surprised that racial discrimination is returning to our supposedly beautiful game?

The whole recent series of racist and homophobic incidents has proven that football in England has taken a massive step backwards in its’ fight against discrimination. It’s ruining the sport we love. And with the attitudes of some supporters on display, and their beliefs that “banter” makes it all okay; we still have a hell of a long way to go before it gets better.

Hello all, and sorry for the complete lack of updates over the last few months at Modern-Football.co.uk. For the near future, here at MF will unfortunately be few and far between; but the site should resume almost normal service in early 2012. However, the reasons for the site’s short hiatus can now finally be revealed…

In early October, yours truly was asked by those handsome fellows over at In Bed With Maradona to help to create a guide for the forthcoming European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. Needless to say, this was an opportunity that couldn’t be turned down; especially after being told that it was to work alongside an actual author, Lewes FC Director and editor of The Ball Is Round, Stuart Fuller and European Football Weekends‘ editor Danny Last.

As you can imagine, researching for this takes an immense amount of time; especially when fitting it in around work and the small social life that I do retain. Hence the reason for the lack of new blogs posts on the site.

My second reason for my break at MF is that i’ve been toying with the idea of creating a second website, purely for my interest in Polish football. Now I can finally announce that my new site, EkstraklasaReview.co.uk will be launched in early 2012. If you head over there now, all you will see is a basic working of the site with a “Coming Soon…” post; but i’d still like to get your feedback.

All being well, both sites should be up and running by mid-February; and look out for the IBWM Euro 2012 Guide not long after that.

Thanks

Ryan

Two new pieces of art completed this week, with a split Xavi Hernandez and Paul Scholes piece created at the request of Hayden Shaw, entitled “The Passmasters”; and another of the great Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin for Karl Smout, entitled “The Black Spider”.

If you are interested in owning a piece of any player, don’t hesitate to get in touch via Twitter or by leaving a comment on the Facebook Wall. Also, check out the Modern Football Art Store.

Saturday was set up to be a great day. The rain had subsided early on, and the sun had decided to put on its hat and head out for the day. Despite a cold and strong breeze reminding us that we are still heading steadily to the mildness of October, it was still a great day to watch football. After a swift walk from the relative comfort of the pub to the hostility of the King Power Stadium (with a bacon cheeseburger en-route), I made my way to to my home for the next ninety minutes – sandwiched between two young men with less-than-welcoming personal hygiene – just in time for kick-off.

The teams emerged – Brighton and Hove Albion the visitors to Leicester for the day – to rapturous applause from both sets of fans; with the Post Horn Gallop played impeccably, as per usual. However my anticipation for the game quickly turned to disgust after just a minute-and-a-half of the game, as choruses of “You’re just a town full of faggots” rang out from behind me.

Now, before I go on further, I should tell those who don’t know much about Brighton and Hove a few pieces of information. The city, situated on the Sussex Coast, is commonly referred to as the “Gay Capital of Britain”. This is due to it having a very substantial LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. Each August, the city hosts the fantastic “Brighton Pride” event; which aims to eliminate the discrimination of the LGBT community whilst promoting equality and diversity in the community. Each year, the event is attended by over 100,000 people; some of which are neither homosexual or transgender.

Returning to the game, the visitors started off the game brightly; with their impressive support of around 2,000 warming up their voices. But it wasn’t long before their chant of “Sea-Sea-Seasiders” was transformed into a less-than-witty retort of “Shit-shit-shit stabbers” by a small section of the home crowd.

Over the course of the first half, the moronic chants continued to head in the direction of the visitors, ranging from “Does your boyfriend know you’re here?” to screaming “get up, you poof!” at a Brighton player, whilst down on the floor with an injury.

By the time that the full-time whistle was blown and I had moved to a different section of the ground, the bigoted chanting from a small minority – and I must stress that it was only a small section – had soured what was an encouraging win over the early Championship pace-setters. I should have walked from that stadium with a smile on my face, but all I could think of was the brainless lack of tolerance from some of the people who I am supposed to call my fellow supporters.

All credit to the Brighton supporters, many shrugged off the abuse and continued with the support of their team; although I fear that their ability to let such abuse over their heads means that homophobic abuse is a common occurrence when the Seagulls pull into a town. It’s also a worry that by singing such despicable chants, it is condoning such behaviour to younger fans. There were kids chanting in the crowd, who must have been no more than nine-or-ten years old; already a new generation converted to social ignorance and sexual discrimination.

I take comfort – albeit a very small amount – in the fact that many of the Foxes fans were appalled by the actions of a few. Posts on Leicester City forums ranged from “There isn’t any place for it at the King Power Stadium” to “a group of hundreds of football fans chanting ‘faggots’ is outright intimidating behaviour”. However there were still a number dismissing the chants as “just a bit of banter”.

Yet these people are also some of the same group of supporters who are outraged on the few occasions where opposition fans – Bristol City and Nottingham Forest immediately spring to mind – chant “You’re just a town full of Paki’s” (due to the cultural diversity within the city of Leicester, of which the South-Asian community have a large presence) when the Foxes play away.

Although there are high-profile campaigns – “Kick it Out” being the most well-known – which are steadily trying to eradicate racism from both the terraces, and society in general; there is almost a “sweep it under the carpet” attitude towards homophobia.

The Justin Campaign (http://www.thejustincampaign.com) does tremendous work in trying to prevent homophobia from rearing its ugly head in football; but with almost no publicity given to the organisation, it relies mostly on word-of-mouth to help publicise its objectives.

For now, without the high profile backing of players or clubs, homophobia will continue to grow in the sport. Unless action is taken to publicise such organisations, their message will unfortunately be drowned out by a chorus of bigoted chanting.

For more information on The Justin Campaign, head to their website, and follow them on Twitter.

Finally, the Modern Football Art Store has arrived!

Powered by Etsy, the new store will be selling off all of the Los Revolucionarios pieces, as well as some other gems. Prices for the Los Revolucionarios pieces are prices at a fantastic £15 plus postage and packaging. But don’t hesitate, as there is only a limited number in the set!

The new store can be found either HERE, or on the right side of the page making it available from anywhere on the site.

If the piece of art that you are looking for isn’t available, don’t hesitate to contact me either via Etsy, or on Twitter.

Also, if you aren’t a fan of Ryan Hubbard’s Modern Football on Facebook, why not?! You will receive all new updates from RHMF in your Facebook timeline!

We all know that modern football is controlled by money nowadays. So with players demanding higher and higher wages, why should the clubs be made out as evil when they try to recoup some of this cash?

Mirror columnist Oliver Holt was one of the first out of the blocks claiming that Leicester’s owners had paved the way for the “desecration of the club’s history” and “the loss of the club’s dignity”; clearly dismissing any suggestion that had already happened 10 years ago by claiming that he could “live with the Walkers Stadium, even if it was named after a bag of crisps.”

So it’s okay to sponsor a brand new stadium; but if said sponsorship deal expires, you shouldn’t get a replacement? Very nice logic there…

But even so, The Foxes’ old home Filbert Street wasn’t the actual name of the stadium; from the early 1990’s the ground’s actual title was “The City Business Stadium”.

Although the era where stadiums are referred to as the street in which they are located is slowly disappearing, it doesn’t mean that fans will stop referring to them in that way. The fact is that Leicester supporters – along with supporters of other clubs with sponsored stadia – will just continue to call the newly-labelled stadium by a name already used. I, for one, will still refer to the King Power Stadium as “Filbert Way”; a name given to the road in honour of Leicester’s short relocation. This is in the same way as Newcastle supporters still call it “St James’ Park”, and Manchester City fans will continue to use “Eastlands”.

In fact, as much as these journalists seem to be banging on about how bad this decision was for football, I don’t think I’ve heard of a single Leicester fan who is bothered about the name change. Yes, there is a little disappointment that Walkers will not be a major sponsor for the club after 25-years; but if anything, it just confirms that Leicester City’s Thai owners are at the club for the long-run. And judging by the buzz going around the city of Leicester at the moment, it can only be a good thing.

Football has changed a lot over the past two decades, and people have to accept that if clubs want to compete at the highest level possible, some things are going to have to give way. We might all be following a game where money talks; but the true soul, identity and dignity of a football club lie with the supporters and players. And at the end of the day, whether your stadium is called the “B2net Stadium” or the “Rupert Murdoch Arena”, that should be the only thing that matters.

When I was younger, I looked up to Ryan Giggs. Being left-footed, stuck out on the left-wing and with the name “Ryan”, there wasn’t really many others who I could emulate whilst playing on the local park; and it wasn’t long before the nickname “Giggsy” stuck. For me, he was still someone I could look towards and admire as I got older – even if I wasn’t a Man United fan. Ryan Giggs was one of the good guys.

That was, anyway, until the whole recent “un-named footballer” controversy/farce, which got me thinking: “Are there actually any good guys left in football?”.

With the modern day obsession of celebrity, it seems that the tabloids want us to believe that everybody who is earning more money than us “normals”, is a sex-obsessed, attention seeking adulterer, or just a plain fucking idiot. Surely that isn’t the case.

I for one, believe it’s highly unlikely that all footballers lack a moral compass, and i’m sure that there are footballers out there doing a lot of good with their lives. So why on earth is the story about Mario Balotelli handing a homeless man £1,000 sitting somewhere hidden on page 27, whilst the one about him acting like an idiot is pretty-much certain to make the front pages? I’m not saying that he isn’t sometimes a nutcase, but the balance is pretty uneven.

Maybe there is a feeling that the British public need to feel in some way superior to the people that are earning money by doing something that we all wish we could do. But do we really need to open our newspapers everyday to read about how these people with more money than we could ever imagine can’t control their personal lives? Are we as a nation so shallow, that we crave to scream out how “They may have more money than us, but at least we’re better people”? Are we really a bunch of bitter bastards?

Maybe it’s the media who are the ones making us feel like this in the first place. Maybe they believe that if we constantly read about how there are rich sports-people who have fantastic personal lives, and also do good; we will not want to buy their red-topped turd rags due to us feeling a severe sense of jealousy every time we get past the pair of tits on page 3 (and i’m not talking about Richard Keys and Andy Gray). Can we really blame the media for creating a nation obsessed with finding out which Premier League player is shacked up with his team-mate’s wife, rather than which player has made the most assists or completed the most passes?

Although it obviously isn’t all down to them, these papers should surely take a certain amount of responsibility. They should know that some of the people who pay hundreds and thousands of pounds to follow their heroes, can be easily influenced. So by showing pictures of Steven Gerrard, John Terry or any other top footballer leaving a nightclub, are they effectively encouraging young people to go drinking? By allowing column inches to cheating stars, are they glamourizing adultery, and making it out as almost acceptable behaviour for young men? Is a media hell-bent on concentrating on the side of players who demand more money – or who are generally being arses – helping to create a lack of good role models for kids and teenagers?

Whilst I believe that these players who have a major influence on young people need to be “outed” to the general public if they are doing something that they shouldn’t be, I feel that more coverage should be given to the players who are doing good with their lives. Instead of that extra feature on Ryan Giggs’ uncle’s mate’s brother telling the readers how there’s now a “bit of tension in the family”, why not offer some page-space to the footballers helping sick children, or the ones donating to charity? Maybe (and this is a big “maybe”) there is a small chance that people will see good being done, and want to copy their idols for the better. The news stories of players using their fame and fortune for good are the ones that deserve to be heard; not the ones abusing their status for their own gain. Even the “non-stories” – which have absolutely no real significance at all – seem to get more coverage than the good ones. I really don’t fucking care if Wayne Rooney has had some hair from his back-side put onto his head, but the papers seem to think it will garner more readers than a piece about a footballer doing good ever could; and unfortunately, they are probably right.

“Footballer in sex scandal” they scream in capital letters from their advertising boards; something that we’ve seemingly become accustomed to. But is it just an image which the media of today have created, or is the behaviour of these players indicative of how everyone else in society behaves nowadays?

I know that deep down, the latter is not true; it can’t be.

Or maybe I’m wrong about it all. Maybe everything that you have just read is bollocks, and there are just no good guys left in football.

With just two rounds of the season remaining, there is no clear idea who will sneak into Europe, as well as which of the three sides at the bottom will manage to claw their way to safety. All we know is that this weekend’s results have left us with a thrilling final week to look forward to. Here are the Winners and Losers of Round 28!

Winner: Tomasz Frankowski

We start off our round-up with two-goal striker Tomasz Frankowski. After failing to score against Polonia Warszawa, and then unable to his a cow’s backside with a banjo against Legia, the Ekstraklasa top scorer finally pulled away from the pack with a second-half brace in Jagiellonia’s 4-0 victory over Korona Kielce. The first came after an inch-perfect cross from Montenegrin Luka Pejovic arrived in just the perfect place for Frankowski to slot home with his right foot. The second proved to be a lot more difficult for the striker. His first two efforts were blocked by the last defender, the follow-up from Stec was saved well by Szamotulski, but the Korona keeper could only parry it as far as the feet of Frankowski, who slotted into the empty net.

Loser: Polonia Bytom

Now into the relegation battle, with the three sides at the bottom all looking for an important three points. The big game came at the Stadion GOSiR Gdynia, where Arka hosted Bytom. It was Bytom who came away from the game with nothing, losing 2-1, and now struggling to stay in the Ekstraklasa for another year. With games remaining against Lech Poznań and Legia Warszawa, the Upper Silesians look favourites for the drop.

Winner: Arka Gdynia

Bytom’s victors, however, pulled themselves back off of the bottom – and out of the drop-zone completely – with their 2-1 win. They now sit just a point clear of the trap-door, and merely a point more from the side occupying the last position after goals from Maciej Szmatiuk and Tadas Labukas nullified Drozdowicz’s equaliser for Bytom. They won’t be expecting much from Tuesday’s trip to Legia, but will be hoping that they can pick up those vital points at home to Śląsk Wrocław on the final day.

Loser: Cracovia

They needed a victory at home to Widzew Łódz to pull themselves back out of the bottom-two, and even a draw would have gone some way to helping. Pasy were even given a helping hand from the referee’s assistant, with an opening goal which should easily have been ruled out for offside. But a quick equaliser from Piotr Grzelczak, and a second just before half-time left many Cracovia supporters almost resigned to the drop. However, with upcoming games against inconsistent Jagiellonia and Bełchatów, it’s certainly not impossible for Yurij Shatalov to pull off a miracle escape.

Winner: Górnik Zabrze

One of the sides that appear to be hitting form at just the right time is Górnik Zabrze. Though their financial situation is proving to be a problem off-the-pitch, they players are certainly giving the fans something to shout about. A fully-deserved 3-1 win over Śląsk Wrocław dampened the visitors’ chances of European football, whilst has left many Górnik fans believing that – albeit with a bit of help from other sides – they can reach the Europa League themselves!

Loser: The Śląsk Wrocław Defence

After their hard work in defeating Bełchatów during Round 27, the Śląsk back-line had a bit of a nightmare during their trip to Górnik Zabrze. It started off badly as Tadeusz Socha turned a Róbert Jeż free-kick past Kelemen to give the home-side a one-goal lead. And not too long after, the Śląsk keeper made his only mistake of the game, fumbling a shot from distance. Daniel Sikorski was there to pounce, but although his touch went away from goal, Mariusz Pawelec was there to turn the ball past his own keeper for the second own-goal of the game! It was poor defending for Górnik’s third too, with Grzegorz Bonin slotting home a Jeż cross.

Truth be told, it could have been a few more had it not been for goalkeeper Kelemen, and now the Śląsk boss Orest Lenczyk has a selection headache as his side attempts to reclaim a spot in the top-four.

Winner: Legia Warszawa and Lechia Gdansk

The big winners of the week were Legia Warszawa and Lechia Gdańsk. Both sides staked their claim to a top-four finish at the weekend with Legia claiming a 2-0 victory over champions Wisła Kraków, and Lechia running out 2-1 winners over Lech Poznań.

Having won the Puchar Polski to claim a place in next season’s Europa League, Legia Warszawa are targeting a top-three finish. If they do snatch one of the spots, this means that the team in fourth position will claim the last European berth. Lechia’s fantastic win against Lech has moved them into third position, and put them in with a chance of getting the last place, although Śląsk Wrocław and Gornik Zabrze still shouldn’t be ruled out.

Loser: Jose Mari Bakero and Lech Poznań

With fantastic performances against Juventus and Manchester City this season, Lech Poznań certainly made a name for themselves across Europe this season. But in stark contrast, their league form has been considerably poorer. Despite two games remaining, last season’s champions are now pretty much certain that they won’t be competing in Europe next year. They now sit four points from fourth position, but four other teams are fighting for the last spot, leaving Lech to concentrate on trying to claw back the Ekstraklasa trophy from Wisła next year.

Rumpled of unrest in the Poznań camp are also spreading, with Artoms Rudnevs and Semir Štilić looking to be heading out from Bulgarska in the summer. Fans are still looking for the head of Jose Mari Bakero, after tiring of his squad rotation policy. And it possibly is their lack of consistency which has cost them this season.

Scores from Round 28:

GKS Bełchatów 0-2 Zagłębie Lubin

Górnik Zabrze 3-1 Śląsk Wrocław

Jagiellonia Białystok 4-0 Korona Kielce

Legia Warszawa 2-0 Wisła Kraków

Cracovia 1-2 Widzew Łódz

Arka Gdynia 2-1 Polonia Bytom

Lechia Gdańsk 2-1 Lech Poznań

Ruch Chorzów 0-3 Polonia Warszawa

Round 29 kicks off on Wednesday evening, whilst the final round concludes on Sunday.

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Many say that the removal of terracing has caused the atmosphere in top and second-tier football stadia to fade, and in many ways I agree. But is there a new threat ready to kill off the soul of English football?

After the recent televised Championship Play-Off Semi-Final between Swansea and Nottingham Forest, there was a lot of commotion heading the way of a group of Swansea fans who celebrated their three goals by doing the so-called “Poznań”. The fuss was directed by a few Manchester City supporters who claimed that the Welsh fans had stolen their celebration.

Now if you don’t know what a “Poznań” is, it is a dance of sorts – usually after a goal is scored – where the crowd turn away from the pitch, huddle together and jump up and down. It is also known as a “Grecque” in parts of Europe, and supporters in France, Holland, and many other countries have done it for years. The Manchester City fans “adopted” it when the fans of Polish side Lech Poznań performed it during a Europa League game at Eastlands earlier this season, and when it’s done properly, it can look absolutely fantastic.

However, my gripe with the “Poznań” is not that fans are trying to improve the atmosphere inside the stadium by copying a group of Polish Ultras, or even that there are some supporters who seemingly refuse to acknowledge that there were other clubs who did the celebration before them; I have heard some fans say that others shouldn’t steal “their celebration”, even though they clearly “stole” it themselves. My problem with the English supporters doing it – and this may sound petty – is that they use it as a goal celebration.

When many clubs in Europe do the “Grecque”, they proceed to pound up and down for minutes on end, not to celebrate a goal, but to celebrate their mutual support for their club. It can usually be seen as a part of the visual displays that many continental clubs’ ultras put on during every game. They are spectacles that most English clubs have failed to recreate in our stadia.

Watching the Polish supporters – as well as many other European ultras – chant, wave flags and jump around for 90 minutes makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up; yet watching the English fans celebrate goals by doing a special dance seems rather cringe-worthy, especially when most supporters are seemingly unprepared to show their support for a whole game, and are more than happy to boo something as little as a misplaced pass.

If the fans are looking to take a leaf from their foreign counterparts, they should be getting behind their teams for 90 minutes rather than for 30 seconds after their opponent’s net bulges. With this “part-time support”, The Man City (as well as many other English sides’) “Poznań” seems to have almost devalued the act in some way. There almost seems a lack of passion throughout the stands for the majority of a game, and yet because they do a special goal celebration, the fans feel that they deserve some sort of special accreditation for a dance during the short time that they are in the spotlight.

As soon as the ball hits the net, fans should be sporadically jumping around, whilst falling over the seats in front in some sort of spontaneous outburst; not looking for their neighbour to turn away, link arms and bounce up and down in co-ordination, in time with the goal music.

Ah, yes… Goal Music. Another reason to hate modern football. At the Walkers Stadium, I have actually seen grown men watch the ball fly into the net and wait for the goal music to start, almost waiting for confirmation, before performing some kind of strange monkey-dance celebration.
We know from watching numerous YouTube videos (Stuart Fuller has a great piece over at The Ball Is Round) that many German, Dutch and Scandinavian fans can create a fantastic atmosphere, without the threat of violence. And even in countries such as Poland – which is regarded to have some of the best ultras in Europe – it is only a small handful of hooligans (who are usually unrelated to the Ultra groups) that tarnish their clubs’ names’, and these clubs are working hard to eradicate the hooliganism without harming the fantastic matchday atmosphere. As well as the fans, the message needs to be spread to the clubs that “Fanaticism doesn’t have to mean Violence”.

So please remember the next time that you head off to the stadium, if you can create an atmosphere during the rest of the game, you won’t need a special dance to show everyone that you have the best fans.

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With Round 27 of the Polish Ekstraklasa completed, there are just three games remaining for the European spots and the Relegation battle to be decided. We start a look at our Winners and Losers of the Round with the newly crowned Mistrzowie Polska.

Winner: Wisła Kraków

Champions of Poland, and deservedly so, Wisła Kraków claimed their 13th League title on Sunday with a 1-0 win over their biggest rivals Cracovia. Their rough start to the season has led them to be proclaimed as the “Worst Champions Ever” by many fans and media, due to their fairly low points total (Maximum possible is 62). However, I believe this is more to do with the fact that the Polish League is steadily becoming more competitive. With last season’s champions Lech Poznań struggling to claim a European place, and a number of “un-fancied” clubs battling out for the top three, 2010/11 could prove to be the most exciting Ekstraklasa season in a long time. But none of this will matter to the White Star; they will just be happy they claimed their trophy in the Kraków Derby.

Loser: Jagiellonia Białystok

The surprise team of the season were tipped by many for mid-table obscurity, and others for relegation; but Michal Probierz’s side defied all odds to lead the Ekstraklasa into the winter break. However, from there it all unravelled for last season’s Polish Cup winners. 12 points from their 12 Spring Round games have saw them drop to third in the table, and they risk missing out on the European spots altogether!

But their status as this weeks “Losers” comes after Friday’s game at home to Legia Warszawa. The away side tried their hardest to gift the game to Jaga by reducing themselves to 9 men and gifting them numerous opportunities to score. However they were repeatedly denied by both under-fire Legia goalkeeper Wojciech Skaba, and their own attacking ineptitude. The game finally ended goalless, and possibly with Probierz wishing he’d actually gone through with his reversed-decision to resign last week.

Winner: Śląsk Wroclaw

The side to benefit most from Jagiellonia’s demise has been Śląsk Wrocław. Another side with a disappointing start, they made their steady climb up the table towards the end of the Autumn Round. Now with just three games left, they look certain to welcome in their new stadium by claiming a spot in the Europa League for next season. Their 4-2 victory against GKS Bełchatów lifted them into second position, and it’s from this game where we get our next subject…

Loser: Cristian Diaz

So you’re three-two up in the third of three minutes stoppage time. You have already netted the goal to give your side the lead, in a stadium entirely populated by staff and press. You have only just been booked for a foul, when your defence retrieves the ball from the resulting free-kick. The ball finds it’s way to you, through on goal with just the keeper to beat. You place the ball, with your first touch, through the goalkeeper’s legs and into the back of the net for your second of the game. What do you do next?

If you’re Cristian Diaz, you’ll celebrate by taking off your shirt in front of an empty stand, earning yourself your second yellow card in as many minutes, and remove yourself from the team travelling to Zabrze for a game which could seal a European spot.

Silly, silly boy.

Winner: Maor Melikson

If there are sections of the Wisła crowd which still chant anti-Semitic songs, and hadn’t yet warmed to their Jewish signing Maor Melikson, surely things will have now changed. From a corner, the Israeli-born midfielder powered a fantastic header straight past Wojciech Kaczmarek to give Wisła a famous, Championship-winning victory over their most hated rivals Cracovia. With his great performances, he should surely be on Franczisek Smuda’s shortlist for the Polish National Team.

Loser: The Fans

This weekend saw the first games in Poland take place without the participation of travelling supporters, and the atmosphere definitely suffered. Jagiellonia fans protested at the Government decision to ban away fans by remaining silent for large periods of their game with Legia, whilst supporters of Śląsk and Widzew didn’t even have that luxury as their stadiums were closed altogether for their wins over GKS and Zagłębie respectively.

However, the away fans which lost out the most were Górnik Zabrze’s support. A local Silesian derby with Polonia Bytom would have usually seen hundreds make the short trip across Upper Silesia, and they missed out on a fantastic last-gasp win, and the only away-win of Round 27.

Winner: Robert Jez

The Slovakian midfielder has been one of the stand-out performers in the Ekstraklasa since his move from Champions League competitors Zilina, and warmed to the Górnik faithful quickly with his stunning goal against Zagłębie Lubin back in March.

His double in Friday’s tie with Bytom gave Górnik an outside chance to still finish in the top three, and his second – with literally the last kick of the game – gave Górnik the bragging rights in Upper Silesia with three wins from four games. With Górnik’s financial problems, surely Jez will be attracting interest in the summer.

Loser: Relegation Battlers

Arka Gdynia, Cracovia and Polonia Bytom all failed to pick up points at the weekend, meaning that it will be between the three where relegation is decided. Arka had a chance to pull Korona Kielce closer to the drop zone, but a Pavel Stano goal gave Korona their first win in five attempts.

Bytom, meanwhile were unlucky to lose at home to Górnik Zabrze. A combination of some fantastic goalkeeping from Górnik keeper Adam Stachowiak, some poor attempts on goal from the Bytom attack, and that last-second sucker-punch from Jez, keeps the Red and Blues hovering just one point above the trap-door.

Cracovia came close to taking a point back across the Park Błonia, when Moldovan International Suvorov hit the foot of the post from a free-kick. But in the end, Pasy were unable to lift themselves out of the bottom-two, whilst their supporters could only listen as their rivals celebrated their success across Kraków.

Scores from Round 27:

Jagiellonia Białystok 0-0 Legia Warszawa
Polonia Bytom 1-2 Górnik Zabrze
Korona Kielce 1-0 Arka Gdynia
Śląsk Wrocław 4-2 GKS Bełchatów
Lechia Gdansk 0-0 Polonia Warszawa
Lech Poznań 1-0 Ruch Chorzów
Wisła Krakow 1-0 Cracovia
Widzew Łódz 2-1 Zagłębie Lubin