A fan-run soccer club pushes back against Poland’s nationalist stadium culture

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A grassroots Warsaw soccer club formed by fans more than a decade ago to resist aggressive nationalist stadium culture is hoping to find new relevance in Poland — a country whose president doesn't deny his own past participation in fights between football fans.

AKS Zły, short for Alternatywny Klub Sportowy Zły, or Alternative Sports Club Evil, was founded in 2015 by supporters of Warsaw’s main clubs Legia and Polonia. They decided to take a stand against hostile behavior they encountered in the stands and around stadiums at Polish matches.

The club, which has men’s and women’s teams, is still owned and run democratically by its fans.

“We decided to create a club that would be different, where all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, race or nationality, could feel good and welcome,” AKS Zły coordinator Jan Dziubecki told The Associated Press.

He said that fan culture in Poland has “drifted sharply to the right and openly hateful slogans are common.”

President Karol Nawrocki, backed by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party, was elected last year. He’s known for his long standing allegiance to Lechia Gdańsk, a club from the northern city, and has attended its games since taking office.

Following reports during the election campaign that Nawrocki had taken part in a street brawl between soccer fans, he said he had been involved in many “noble” fights in his life.

While Nawrocki’s presidency might strengthen the kind of fan culture that AKS Zły was created to oppose, Dziubecki said that it might actually produce the opposite effect.

“Maybe more fans will come to our stadium again," he said with a smile.

Juliusz Wrzosek, owner of the Offside bar in Warsaw’s Praga district, was one of the founders of the club and can be seen selling tickets at the stadium entrance.

He said he was a lifelong fan of Legia Warszawa but eventually got kicked out of the more radical section because he refused to sing chants sending greetings to people serving prison terms. During the same period, his friends who supported Polonia, Legia’s rival, were getting marginalized for similar reasons. Together, they decided to create their own club.

“Because you have to support someone,” Wrzosek said.

His bar isn't only a meeting place for AKS Zły fans, but also a venue where the club occasionally organizes social events, often meant to commemorate an aspect of the local history of the Praga district. In March, it co-hosted an event honoring Stefan Okrzeja, a socialist worker who fought for Polish independence at the beginning of the 20th century.

“It bothered me that in Poland, a country with a great history of leftist and left-wing values, there isn’t a single club that is democratic, that doesn’t impose its own version of fan culture,” Wrzosek said.

At a recent women’s game in Poland’s second division, AKS Zły faced a stronger team from Słupca, but fans in the modest stadium in Praga were undaunted.

They sang songs welcoming the visitors and urging their own side to score to the rhythm of drums. Complaints about the referee were kept to a minimum and polite.

“It’s not just empty words when you say that the fans are the 12th player, because it really helps and motivates you to give more,” former AKS Zły player and now supporter Eliza Górska-Tran told The Associated Press.

The 37-year-old Górska-Tran, who attended the game with her wife and two young children, stressed the importance of the supportive community created around the club, which she helped to run after her playing days.

AKS Zły embraces LGBTQ+ and immigrant players. The club has always invested in the male and female teams equally. And, at its academy for kids, richer parents help cover the costs of poorer ones.

Górska-Tran said that fans staged a wedding ceremony for her and her partner at the stadium after they married in Scotland, where same sex marriage is legal, unlike in Poland.

“I also remember my last match before I got pregnant, it was an unforgettable experience,” she said. “There were flares, including rainbow-colored smoke, on the football pitch.”

Alicja Cichońska, who is in her seventh season playing for AKS Zły, said that she joined the club, because she had heard about the inclusive community built around it.

“Football should unite us all, not divide us, because there’s enough of that in society already,” she said.