Euro 2012 Fan Experience

2012 was an unforgettable year for our Polish national team and, in my opinion, a vital one for the future of our country's development both on the field and off of it. From a fan's perspective, the build-up and the actual games during Euro 2012 are beyond any possible explanation that describes how amazing it was. I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the Opening Match against Greece a month and a half before the tournament and booked my flight soon after. It was the first time I was ever going to see our National Team play in a major tournament. I could only get 3 days off work so I flew to Amsterdam from Toronto on Wednesday where I planned an 8 hour layover to go and see the city. This was where I got my first taste of the Euro fever. There were posters and ribbons and big inflated euro soccer balls on the streets and lining buildings all over the place. The popular slogan “Pay-back” was everywhere, in reference to their last finals loss to Spain. It was pretty cool to see that, and this was when I officially started getting out of control pumped up. Don't get me wrong, I was pumped during the Draw, I was pumped during the build-up, but it was 2 days before the game and this was actually happening. 

We won the bid, built the infrastructure, the beautiful stadiums and all that great stuff. But I could just feel that I was about to be a part of something special. It was like a buzz that never wore off, a level of nervous excitement that I had never felt before. I flew in to Warsaw on Thursday and stayed with some family an hour outside the city in Radom. I bought my train ticket back toWarsaw on Friday morning thinking that it would be much faster than getting there by car since everything was completely shutdown in the city core and around the stadium. As soon as I left the house on gameday to go to the train station, I could immediately tell that everybody was just thinking/talking/praying/waiting about and for the game. I used tothink people around Toronto went nuts with the car flags during major tournaments. And then there was being in Poland the day of Poland-Greece. It was rare not to see a car with a flagon it. I got to the station and from there, the best day of my life began. I was wearing my red 2012 polska jersey and scarf and a backpack with all my very important stuff (clothes, passport, money, alcohol). My train was about 12 minutes late and I was getting super nervous the whole time hoping I didn't misread my ticket or something. Finally, I look out into the distance and all I see is the train coming in, and red and white scarves windmilling out of every single window and the most beautiful two words ever spoken – “Bialo-Czerwoni! Bialo Czerwoniiiiii, Bialo-Czerwoni!”. They were singing so loud that it you couldn't even hear the train. When the train came to a stop, the scene was pure pandemonium. It was just men, men and more men, the majority of which were shirtless and quite obviously hammered out of their minds. I got onto the train feeling kind of intimidated to be honest, every single wagon was packed, there were people passed out in the hallways and I was alone, wearing salmon pink shorts and aback pack with the single most important thing in my life at that moment -  the ticket to the game. I finally got a spot with some guys who had got on the train in Zakopane some 6 hours before and had been drinking big time the whole way. They were typical blue collared Poles,kind of intimidating but nice enough at the end of the day. They had no tickets, and no plans at all. Maybe go to the fanzone, they said. When I brought up that I had a ticket to the game, they couldn't believe it. They actually were kind of angry that they themselves, Polish-born and bred,couldn’t get tickets and yet me, a Canadian, was able to get one. That is a whole different story in itself, but regardless the stadium was 98% red and white so I guess it worked out. Anyways, the train ride was amazing. Every single town and railway crossing that we passed, everyone would wave their scarves outside the train and people on the platforms would wave and sing back,it was awesome. I got to Warsaw and met up with the people I was going to the game with – my best friend, his girlfriend, and his brother. We left our stuff at the apartment, took the necessities and went to roam the streets, drinkingand chanting. There were so many people everywhere we went, and you couldn’t go10 seconds without hearing some kind of Polska song or chant. We took the subway at one point and it was a scene from a dream. The whole train and platform was just packed with people all singing ridiculously loud. There was so much energy among everyone, so much eager anticipation. Everyone wanted awin so badly. When we finally got to our destination, seeing the stadium for the first time from the outside gave me chills. Seeing the stadium for the first time on the inside almost made me require life support. It was unbelievably beautiful. The red and white seats, the white roof, the sicks creens, the vibrantly green pitch, and the little bit of sunlight squeakingthrough and moving along the seats across from us -  it was something I will never forget. We werealso sitting 17 rows from the field so that helped as well. The opening ceremony was nice, and the fans holding up paper to form all the countries flags was pretty cool. Than it all came so fast. The intros, the players coming out and then anthems. Singing the anthem is not an appropriate way to describe what everyone inside the stadium was doing. They were screaming it as loud as they could. I read an article recently from an English newspaper that talked about the atmosphere that day and they usedthe perfect word to describe it; a bearpit. It literally was, the whistling when they had the ball and the roar when we had the ball was deafening. And then it happened. Piszczek’s cross, Lewan’s header. All I saw was the ball hit the mesh top corner. I remember immediately looking at the linesmen, no flag.Than I lost my mind for a good 3 minutes which consisted of nearly breaking my seat because I was jumping on it so hard and shaking an old man in a way that someone his age should not have been shaken like. The scene was wild. Everyone standing up, jumping around, singing. The dream start to what was going to be our dream tournament. After the red card, I thought we had it in the bag.Salpingidis leveled on a stupid mistake and the stadium just died. Than Szczesny got his red and me and my buddy started smoking in the stadium because we couldn't handle the stress. Tyton saved and we both started crying. It was crazy, two adult men crying like children in public. The game ended and the feeling was weird. We could have easily lost, but we should have put it away early. My Euro experience was over as I had a flight 2 days later back home,but the feelings and memories would stay with me forever. In the end, the on field results were simply not good enough. But if you look at each game, they easily could have been 3 wins out of 3, or 3 losses out of 3 if a couple things went differently. In the grand scheme of things though, the results do not really matter. The feeling that I had, that the 50,000 plus in the stadium had,that the 100,000 plus in Warsaw fanzone had, and the millions everywhere else will not be forgotten. We now not only have better soccer stadiums and facilities all over the country, but we have a whole generation of people who witnessed something that no other Polish generation had ever witnessed – the hosting of a major tournament. My hope is that Euro 2012 will not be measured by the 1-0 loss to the Czechs, but rather by the success of our future teams. My hope for2013 is that we play like we are capable of playing and qualify for the World Cup in Brazil. I will be in London for the Poland England game next October and I'm hoping to re-live some of those incredible feelings again.

Mike I.