The last SuperCup final was hardly a game to remember.  The only goal came from experienced striker Tomasz Frankowski and the least glamorous trophy in Polish football went to Jagiellonia Bialystok, the domestic cup winners in 2009/2010. Lech Poznan, their rivals and then champions, hardly cared about it and 7,000 people watched what was more of an exhibition match than a cup final. With a tough season just around the corner there were more important challenges ahead for both teams.

Ekstraklasa SA, the match organisers, were expecting something more from this season’s edition. Champions Wisła Krakow were supposed to meet with cup winners Legia Warsaw, and they hoped to make it more fan-friendly after the disastrous scenes which followed the Polish Cup final in Bydgoszcz. They scheduled the game for the start of the season and had prepared a lovely little ground in Ostroda but then, unsurprisingly, the city’s authorities backed out. Realising that their lovely town would be subjected to an invasion by both sets of fans they decided that the risk would be too great. Ekstraklasa had to look for another venue.

Time passed quickly and no other cities capable of hosting this game offered to do so, despite several new stadiums being under construction and some having already opened. Everybody seemed to be afraid of making it their responsibility to provide safety, with the scenes from Bydgoszcz very much alive in their minds. With a new season looming a radical decision was made, and the date was moved. The Polish football calendar in 2012 would now begin with the SuperCup final at the new National Stadium in Warsaw.

Even in the summer they realised that problems with construction of the stairs at the National Stadium might affect their new plan. The date of the stadium’s grand opening was put back as a result of these issues, and the national side’s game against Germany had to be transferred to Gdansk. Meanwhile, optimistic officials at Ekstraklasa made their decision to play the SuperCup on the 11th of February – just before successful Polish teams would be restarting their European adventure, and right in the middle of what is usually the biggest freeze in Poland.

With another date set the problems started mounting again. The next issues were with the innovative closing roof, laying the pitch in freezing conditions and even with getting permission to invite citizens of Warsaw to the opening party before the game. Police and firefighters were against it, but the city’s authorities pushed to make it happen and the fireworks eventually went up over Warsaw on the 29th of January. It wasn’t necessarily the best opening, despite crowds of over 70,000 passing through the open gates, but nobody seemed to mind as they all believed that in two weeks’ time the big game would be the greater occasion.

In spite of a huge backing from the Polish sports minister the police authorities struck back, claiming that the stadium was not ready for fans. They complained that stands were not sufficiently separated and highlighted the possibility of clashes between opposing fans, such as those which occurred during recent games between Legia and Wisła that were too big for the police to control. Perhaps in an effort to get this problem out of their hands they found further help from the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, who claimed that without a pitch in place they could not assess the players’ safety.

As strange as that sounds, obvious reasons are hidden behind their resistance to get the game through. The Warsaw police have made a special statement claiming that the stadium is not prepared to host normal league games. If it’s not, how can we be sure that it is prepared for any kind of events, not to mention the games scheduled for European Championships?
Fans might be the reason why the match will not go ahead, but they have long been well prepared to go to the game. Legia’s thousands were willing to pay any price to see their team open the National Stadium just ahead of their games with Sporting Lisbon, while Wisła Krakow saw it as perfect preparation for their clash with Standard Liege. There would be fewer than 10,000 fans descending on the capital but the media were all over them when they announced their controversial campaign of “Invasion on the capital”. They compared fans’ intentions to the tragedy of Warsaw’s uprising during the Second World War, clearly getting the terminology horribly wrong.

What is more, when Ekstraklasa sold tickets for the game to Wisła’s fans they said that they would be allowed to travel both by train and by car. It now seems that only the first option is available, and sufficient arrangements might not be made in time for the 9,000 supporters who want to visit Warsaw. The official supporters club has warned that unless they are allowed to come in full strength nobody will come from Krakow.

In addition to highlighting the obvious failures by Ekstraklasa, the whole situation raises the question of who this stadium is for. Polonia, the second biggest club in Warsaw, wanted to play several games there but may now be looking at different options in light of the problems caused by ‘safety issues’. This stadium was supposed to be in use all year, ready for all kinds of events. Football games were just one of these events, but are perhaps the most important for the city and the nation.

This has become a fight for honour for those involved in the battle to get the right papers on time and still play the SuperCup on February the 11th. Ekstraklasa and the football authorities are promising everything and looking at different options to solve the issues raised by police and other public services. Their fight might be similar to the one Don Quixote carried against windmills: pointless and devastating, but at least there is no life at the stake – only their reputation, or whatever there is left from it.