Gdansk Group Trip – Day 4 (Watching Football – Arka Gdynia vs Ruch Chorzów)

Ross and I thought that it would be a marvellous idea to go and watch the football whilst the others gossiped about what a good job I had done at leading the group. I think it’s important to give people that chance to chat about just how challenging they’d been and how I had reacted so positively to the problems they’d brought me. We didn’t know whether we could actually buy tickets at the ground, but thought it was fairly likely that this wouldn’t be a problem. It wasn’t, and after a twenty minute wait in the queue we had the bonus of a ticket seller who spoke English and guided us through the process. Fortunately we both had ID as they needed to see it and before long we had two tickets from the home stand.

A man with a flare, seemed a bit raucous to me.

Outside the stadium around thirty minutes before the kick off.

And into the seats which we managed to find without too many problems.

I went off to find food and drink as that seemed to be an important part of the proceedings to me. The beer was non-alcoholic, although that is seemingly not usually the only option and the hot dog was suitably tasty and they’d made something of an effort with the presentation.

We had toured Gdansk’s football ground earlier on in the week and they said they’d only filled it when Justin Timberlake performed there. Gdynia’s ground was similar and not anywhere near capacity, meaning it all felt quite spacious.

That sun was a little sub-optimal if I’m being honest.

There was a calm atmosphere at the stadium, although they allow smoking in the stands which I think is far from ideal, but there we go.

The players from Ruch Chorzów.

This block of fans were the most vocal and had huge amounts of energy to jump up and down throughout most of the game. They tired me out just watching them, but I was impressed at their enthusiasm.

This was the final score.

The sun started to disappear just as the match finished.

And that was the end of that, an interesting experience. There was a Polish man who spoke to me in the queue and fortunately spoke English. He asked politely why I was at a match in Gdynia and when I explained I thought it was positive to come and support the local team he was most enthusiastic and welcoming. He asked how long I had been in the area and I mentioned that I had arrived in Gdansk four days before. He jokingly replied that he wasn’t interested about Gdansk, just how long I’d been in Gdynia, and I forgot that there is rivalry between the two teams.

There were plenty of families at the ground and matters seemed calm, with plenty of police in the area. Watching football is to me similar to going to a supermarket when travelling, it helps build up a bit more of a picture about the local culture and traditions. All really rather lovely and an enjoyable way to spend the early evening. With that, we went to get a train into Gdansk to see how the others had coped without me.