Given Cracovia’s bitter rivals Wisla’s absence from the top flight for a few years their fixtures vs Wisla’s ‘friends’ became that much more interesting. On the other hand Widzew’s city rivals LKS were also relegated last season, who’s fans enjoy good contact with Cracovia’s fans, so therefore this fixture had a mini derby feel to it even though Krakow and Lodz are obviously not that close to each other geographically.
Some more dded spice to this fixture is the fact that Widzew were banned from visiting Cracovia’s stadium for the past two seasons for various reasons, so this was the first time they were officially allowed at an away match with Cracovia in almost 15 years. They were given the full allocation of 1000 tickets which were distributed between them and their friends from Wisla (around 100), plus a few others who supported Widzew that day.
The first half passed through fairly uneventfully, Cracovia had a small smoke pyro show at the start of the game but that was over within seconds. So besides for a good atmosphere on both sides, it was the second half where this match really heated up in a way nobody was expecting.
Midway through the second half, Widzew’s sector pulled out their flag cover and it was clear something was about to happen in the away sector. Widzew’s Ultras launched into a pyro show shortly after, but that was only a small part of their show. With several of their Ultras finding their way to the roof of the stadium. Cracovia’s stadium has a sign on the roof reading Cracovia Pany (Cracovia rules). Widzew’s Ultras had the plan to put their homemade Widzew banner over Cracovia’s name, so reading Widzew Pany instead to accompany their pyro show.
They succeeded to do that although it was very brief, Cracovia’s hardcore fans on the opposite side of the stadium immediately reacted and found their way onto the roof. Widzew’s special banner was taken down and ended up in the hands of Cracovia. It was then burned a short while later in their sector. An incredible action that was spoken about all over Europe, not only within Poland.
Unfortunately the repucussions after this game were large, with Cracovia announcing that their away sector will be closed until the end of the season. Given this was only the 4th game of the season, that means a long time without any away fans at Cracovia. Both sides fans’ were also heavily punished with both being banned from the next 5 away matches and the next 2 fixtures between the clubs in both Krakow and Lodz.
