“It’s like being a grasshopper but you jump between football stadiums instead” – Definition of “Groundhopper”.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Football continues and thankfully in Poland, it has continued with supporters in the stadiums. In fact, since the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis hit Poland, there was only ONE Legia Warszawa home match without supporters, a 6-1 Legia win over Arka Gdynia in June 2020. All the other matches at Legia Warszawa’s stadium had supporters, with a 25% maximum capacity. Aside from that, the Polish Super Cup final was postponed due to the virus, and Tuesday’s European match against Northern Irish club Linfield FC will be played without supporters due to UEFA ruling. So the virus has affected football slightly here in Poland, but not as much as in Italy, Northern Ireland and England.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Since the virus crisis began, I have been to 4 Legia Warszawa matches, 1 Polish women’s match and then finally yesterday, I went groundhopping again. It was about time and it made for another exciting and interesting adventure. Blogging hasn’t been as productive for me recently, so today I knew I had to write about this one.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Parallels? The aeroplane derby v. the trainline derby?
In August 2019, I was in Gdańsk and attended “the airport derby”. That was a brilliant day out to a match which was near Gdańsk airport and featured two teams who play either side of the airport. That day I watched Jaguar II Gdańsk beating UKS Klukowo 9-0! A year on and on another scorching day, I drew parallels as I watched a “trainline derby”.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Jaguar II Gdańsk 9-0 UKS Klukowo, Watching The Airport Derby in Gdańsk
What do you mean a “trainline derby”?
So basically both the teams that were playing yesterday are on the same trainline in Warszawa! We would be watching “the Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej). It was Józefovia Seconds v. PKS Radość. On the way there, I was joking with Rafał that this is a “the same trainline derby match” and then I realised that actually both clubs do also call it that!
Derby Linii Otwockiej – arrival at Józefów train station – on the way we passed Radość
Derby Linii Otwockiej – arrival at Józefów train station – on the way we passed Radość
The Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
The Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
The trip to Józefovia was quite standard and easy to do. We boarded a train at Warszawa Śródmieście station (yes one of the FIVE central stations in Warszawa). From there, we took the line to Otwock. On the way to Józefów, we passed Radość train station. On arrival at Józefów, it was about a 12 minute walk to the stadium. It was a very pleasant walk through nature, with a forest and paths nearby. The stadium is at the end of Dolna street in Józefów.
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Officially, Józefovia’s Stadium is in Józefów, so we were now outside of Warszawa.
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
Getting to Józefovia’s Stadium in Józefów
The “Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
Both teams had to play in strong heat for 90 minutes. The pitch was in excellent condition. I was here with Rafał and Kamil and we had some beers (Zywiec piwo) and crisps (chipsy) during the match. It was clear that PKS Radość were the better team, but then again, this was Józefovia second team.
Beer at the Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
At half time, it was 1-0 to PKS Radość, it was a simple goal.
The Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
In the second half, PKS Radość added a second after 54 minutes and despite pressure from Józefovia they added a third goal. All the goals are on the video link at the bottom of this post. The third goal was the best in the match – a deft chip over the goalkeeper.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Józefovia Seconds scored a consolation goal in the 94th minute, on their possession in the second half, I’d say they deserved it. This was a great match and was played in Warszawa’s local A klasa league.
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Attending the “Otwock Train Line Derby”, Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość
The Otwock train line derby” (Derby Linii Otwockiej)
Although it was nice to be next to nature in the forest here, after the match we left Jozefow area to return to Warszawa for an interesting evening. We did a mini bar crawl in Praga (Bar Bazaar and Ogród Ząbkowska), watched another match on television (Lyon v. Manchester City in Ojczysta Czysta) and also had pizza, vodka and watched a rock band.
Post match pub crawl
Post match pub crawl
Post match pub crawl
Post match pub crawl
Post match pub crawl
I plan to visit 1000 different football stadiums in my life and write about it. I will have to do a count sometime. I also want to visit 15 stadiums in Warszawa before the end of 2020/2021 season. #grasshopper #groundhopper #jozefovia #trainlinederby
Here are some more useful pages –
MLKS Józefovia Twitter
PKS Radość on Twitter
MLKS Józefovia on FaceBook
PKS Radość on FaceBook
Józefovia Seconds 1-3 PKS Radość photos
Match highlights:
