How's this for a mirthless joke? Check out the lineups in the Wisla Krakow (Poland) - Standard Liege (Belgium) tie:
Wisla Krakow 1 Standard Liege 1
WISLA KRAKOW:
Started: 8 Whites (4 Poles), 2 blacks, 1 Israeli
Finished: 7 Whites* (1 Pole*), 2 blacks, 1 Israeli * Michal Czekaj sent off after 26'
STANDARD LIEGE:
Started: 2 Whites* (2 Belgians*), 7 blacks, 1 Turk, 1 mestizo *Yoni Buyens appears 100 % White, but his first name is Jewish
Finished: 4 Whites* (3 Belgians*), 6 blacks, 1 Turk
Standard Liege 0 Wisla Krakow 0
STANDARD LIEGE:
Started: 4 Whites* (2 Belgians*), 4 blacks, 1 Arab, 1 Turk, 1 Israeli *Yoni Buyens
Finished: Unchanged ratio
WISLA KRAKOW:
Started: 7 Whites (2 Poles), 3 blacks, 1 israeli
Finished: 5 Whites* (1 Pole), 3 blacks, 2 Israelis *Gervasio Nunez (Argentine) sent off after 63'
Back in November, I was in London when Wisla Krakow was playing Fulham at Craven Cottage, which was just a couple of tube stops from where I was staying. Swarms of Polish fans were either flying in or converging on the capital from around Britain and I found myself listening in to some interesting Polish conversations all over the place.
Their enthusiasm mystified me, as Wisla is packed with foreigners. Why would one travel to support a so-called "Polish" club which plays next to no Poles? I was tempted to stick my nose in and raise this question with several groups of Wisla fans but, as my girlfriend doesn't speak any Polish I elected not to strike up random conversations in a tongue which is unintelligible to her (there was also the off chance of aggro, which one doesn't expose females to...). Probably just as well, as the first thing such morons would do is to pose that most important of questions: namely, which club do
I support? If I honestly answered Pogon Szczecin I'd instantly be on the back foot as Pogon fans have an alliance with Wisla's hated enemies Legia Warszawa. Then they'd probably label me unpatriotic and tell me to **** off because I refuse to unconditionally support a "Polish" club that's about as Polish as Fulham is English. If I really wished to stir the pot, I could have asked why they have allowed the club to lower itself to sign two Jews, when Wisla is a traditionally anti-Semitic club...
Since the match was live on TV and I was tired from a day of walking around the metropolis, i watched the entire low-quality affair in my hotel room (the girlfriend hopped on the Internet... :icon_wink
. I don't know how the Fulham fans could stomach this crap either, as their club only started two Englishmen, Danny Murphy and Andy Johnson (whose grandfather, ironically, is Polish). Wisla fielded a whopping three Polish players, one of whom was substituted by a Bulgarian in the second half. All in all, 'twas an unmitigated waste of time...