The history of AFL in Poland

[RedV3x]

Do they have community TV stations over there like we have here? Is there scope for a good game to be recorded and broadcast?

I can't give a definitive answer, but I do know, no matter where you are and if they may have some AFL coverage then you have to search it out.
There might have been a time when people were flipping channels (mostly pay-TV) and came across AFL.
There is a list somewhere of AFL overseas but it seems to have never been pushed too hard
and now the emphasis seems to be streaming services which amount to playing to the converted.

 

[MoscowHawk]

I posted a logo design comp for the Silesia Miners here if anyone fancies themselves as a logo designer

Competition - The Silesia Miners logo competition

Hi again! We've just completed the final draft of the Lublin Hornets and sent the money to the winner. Now we can move on to our next AFL Poland logo competition - The Silesia Miners. COMPETITION DETAILS: Deadline for entry: 24th November 2021 Selection process: all the designs will be shown...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Ligma]

Can we try to get Robert lewandowski to convert

 

[AFLPoland]

Well done AFL Poland.My partner is Polish and loves Afl after i introduced her to it.She loves to go watch Eagles home games with me and has also come along to watch the WAFL with me on occasions as well.

She's from Torun,not far from Bydgoszc and has grown up loving soccer,but naturally finds AFL much more exciting.I asked her if she thinks AFL could become popular in Poland ,but sh.e doesn't think so as soccer is far too popular to be overtaken by AFL

Toruń is a beautiful city, one of my favourites. Truth be told, the Bydgoszcz team are struggling at the moment and are looking to 'merge/ with the wider Toruń area just to get more people into the game.

And yeah, you're right, there's no way AFL will overtake soccer in Poland or anywhere in Europe. We're not trying to overtake anyone to be honest. Many Poles seem to have this weird attitude that you can only play one sport or be involved with one sport, so that's a hurdle we're also having to navigate.

 

[AFLPoland]

Do they have community TV stations over there like we have here? Is there scope for a good game to be recorded and broadcast?

There are TV stations like that, but the only air time we could afford would be at an absurd hour. Most of those channels are frequented by people aren't likely to get involved with the sport either.

We've managed to find a recording crew who we'll work with next year to record a game and live stream it on YouTube. That's our best bet.

I made a highlight reel of what we've managed to do in 2021, enjoy!

 

[Mobbs]

There are TV stations like that, but the only air time we could afford would be at an absurd hour. Most of those channels are frequented by people aren't likely to get involved with the sport either.

We've managed to find a recording crew who we'll work with next year to record a game and live stream it on YouTube. That's our best bet.

I made a highlight reel of what we've managed to do in 2021, enjoy!

Instant sub!

 

[Blackhawk42]

Loved the small amount of time I spent in Poland in 2016. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks.

 

[Mobbs]

Warsaw have branched out into their own social media presence with a Facebook page dedicated to specifically that region, of course including both the Bison and the Boars of Warsaw.

AFL Warszawa Bisons

AFL Warszawa Bisons. 548 likes · 24 talking about this. Home of Warsaw's Australian Football team the Bisons.

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Incredible how much they've been building footy there. Womens teams seem to be only a short way away!

 

[AFLPoland]

So the Eurocup happened a few weeks ago, with both the men's and the women's teams. I'll work on a write up over the next few days about the men's, as well as a general update and I reckon MoscowHawk should do something similar for the women's team.

In the mean time, we (and I, who is apparently a bit of a camera whore), feature a bit in this footage from BT sport:

 

[Mobbs]

The Silesia miners are up for a full season this year in Poland?



67 days is a long time.

But that's not a long time to start training, build your strength and conditioning and get ready for the 2023 season!

April 1 is the start of our season. If you are in the south of Poland, go to Nysa to see what it's all about!

Tag a friend in the comments who needs to start training!

 

[AFLPoland]

I'll work on a write up over the next few days about the men's, as well as a general update

Better late than never.

In Scotland, our men had the following results:



Summary:
The men's first game was against Switzerland. Not only was there a bit of a uniform clash to start the day, they came out all guns blazing as they found out at the 11th hour that their ruckman wouldn't able to play due to eligibility criteria and some miscommunication. Our game was much more disciplined that we anticipated and I put it down to us getting the chocolates - the first victory for the men in Polish history.

The next 3 games against the French, Welsh and Irish were a bit of a walk over as you can see. All those teams are insanely experienced and have had their own leads to develop players for several years. The skill of the Irish need no introduction. We dug deep but it just wasn't enough. However we knew that we had at least one more win in us.

Next up was Austria who we played back in 2019. The field we played on was incredibly windy - as in, a direct kick into the wind would result in the ball moving backward. This seriously impacted the score, as not a single point was scored kicking into the wind for the whole game. We were up by 2 points at half time against Austria, but they used the wind to their advantage and kicked two late goals.

Our final game for the day was against the Netherlands, the country whom we debuted against back in 2019. The dutch were much fitter which was seen in their spread and run from contents. Again, we were up at half time, but couldn't keep it together in the 2nd half.

All in all, we finished 12th out of 13 teams, getting just the one win on the board. The Devils set out to improve on our 2019 campaign and we did just that. The coach was impressed and satisfied with the results.

The Women's results can be seen here:




The Polish Angels made their debut against England, arguably one of the best teams in the comp on the day. The girls truly jumped in the deep end on the day and took it right up to the Vixens, but the English just had the skills to outshine us.

The Dutch were our next opponent and, like their male counterparts, had enough gas in the tank to run away from us. The girls dug deep and showed several glimpses of brilliance but it didn't convert into a winning score on the scoreboard.

Next up was the French. Despite being on of the more experienced women's teams, the scoreline was quite low. While the Angels didn't score at all, they were quick to figure out a good defensive strategy against the French women, which was a confidence boost for them heading into the finals.

The Angels played their first final against Switzerland and it was the fiercest game of the day in the women's comp. It was brutal, a lot of physicality and a lot of running. The Polish girls coming from a rugby background weren't afraid to stand directly in front of their charging opponent which left the Swedish feeling like they were recipients of some unfair tackles. After a bit of a blow up at half time (when the Angels were just a point down), the second half was set. And the physicality returned from both sides. Unfortunately our girls were a little rattled and a late goal put the Swiss Heidis up by a goal, and another straight afterwards sealed the match.

Both Poland and Switzerland went into the last game winless, and of course, only one could come out the victor. Both playing groups were absolutely exhausted and have very little left to give. I myself remember having a chat with one of the girls who was in tears just out of exhaustion, and wasn't sure how to get herself up for the next game. However a pep talk from coach MoscowHawk got them up and about.

The game itself was ferocious and was played in the middle of the field. Each time the ball ventured into a forward half, it very quickly went back to the middle. Poland scored their first goal after a high tackle, and their second goal in the dying minutes of the game as a stray kick managed to trickle through for a goal. A behind was the icing on the cake. What spoiled the win was a tackle in the dying seconds of the game that broke the arm of one of our girls. The siren sounded several seconds after the tackle, and her teammates around her ignored the siren, ignored the win and raced over to help her. She's since made a full recovery, but the highlight of my day was seeing this team who'd never played together shrug off their first win to get around and help out their injured team mate.

Afterwards, the best players of each team were named. Piotr (nicknamed Duży [big] Piot) was named the Polish man of the match, and Emilia was named the Polish woman of the match.

The biggest win for us all for the day was the fact that Duży Piotr was named the overall best male player of the event, pooling the most votes. However as his English is pretty non existent, he had absolutely no idea of what he had won until a few hours later. Here are the men of the match, with Duży Piotr on the far left, absolutely clueless:



2022 AFL Poland League

After the EuroCup, we had the final 2 rounds of our league. Wrocław hosted round 2, and Nysa hosted round 3.

The round 2 match between Nysa and Wrocław was without a doubt, the most competitive and intense match I've seen played between two Polish teams. Wrocław kicked 2 late goals and got over the line. Nysa got up against Warsaw, who were desperately undermanned owing to key players being away on vacation.

Heading into round 3, Wrocław just had to get another win against Nysa to secure the premiership, and that's precisely what they did in the first game of round 3. Celebrations came early as the inevitable eventuated. Nysa went on to get over the line against Warsaw again, who this time were manned up and brought a ferocious game to both Wrocław and Nysa.

Here's Wrocław captain Greg with the plaque and his team's named etched into history as the first Polish champions:



Here's a video I threw together of my umpire GoPro chest cam footage of round 3. It's an awesome insight as to the level of AFL in Poland.



We also gave out the Polish MVP, which was awarded to Paweł Łysy of Nysa. Keep and eye out for him in the video above, he's number 20 - the bloke that shrugs a tackle and slots a goal from half field. This guy has some serious fans here in Polska.

Southern Cup
The Southern Cup was a friendly tournament put together by Nysa and Wrocław, and featured the Silesia Miners. Wrocław came out on top of the day, with Nysa coming second. The Miners managed to be only a point behind Nysa at half time in their match, which shows massive promise for those guys next year.

2023

In 2023, our main focus is the continued growth of the league which is fostered by the inclusion of the Silesia Miners. In 2023, they'll be the 4th team to enter the league, and will host round 3.



The Miners currently have their kit in production, and knowing how much you guys all love uniform designs, I'll be sure to announce it here when it's launched!

We're also committed to sending a strong men's and women's national team to the EuroCup which this year will be in Kiel, Germany. Much closer to us which helps keeps costs down, but still a financial challenge owing to the economic situation here in Poland. We're on the hunt for companies to cover accommodation costs, new uniforms and entry fees. So if you're reading this and know of a small business that's willing to help us out, there's some prime real estate on our national team's uniforms up for grabs!

The improvement of the men's and women's team will be aided by a dedicated selection and training camp, as well as the addition of an assistant coach of the men's and women's team. This was done to help break down language barriers, but 2 heads are also better than one!

That's a bit of an update of the last 6 months of the year, as well as our plans for the year ahead!

 

[Dogs till i die]

Great story, great pictures.

It's not about "overtaking" anybody, enjoy your footy, introduce others to footy, one person at a time whilst satisfying your competitive instincts at Eurocup. Many footy people here in Oz admire and are a bit envious of what your doing for footy in Poland.

Good luck and congratulations, go the Devils!!!

 

[Mobbs]

Very awesome write-up, AFLPoland . A win in the Euro Cup certainly was a great stepping stone, and notching a goal in the losses to both Ireland and France is no mean feat either! Knocking over the Swiss in both comps, who have had a domestic comp for 3 or so years now, is also a big achievement (not least because it will also spur on the Swiss!)

The local leagues are were my heart lies, and noting that Poland already has it's own national comp with >2 teams is exciting for me. Expanding to 4 teams shows so much health! From what I'd seen, the Miners had been on the build for quite a while now.

Poland (or Poland's teams) also attend occasional tournaments with German, Austrian and Czech clubs as well, where it seems you also perform notably. I'm very keen on following what happens in that part of the world - Hungary has its team playing with Vienna on and off, and Bulgaria had a two-team league although it's been a bit quiet of recent.

Congratulations to Wroclaw on their 2022 premiership!

 

[AFLPoland]

Dear Bigfooty family!

The 2023 AFL Euro Cup is just around the corner. This year it will be held in Kiel, Germany on the 8th of July. Since our breakout performances in the 2022 Euro Cup (see posts above), AFL Poland has been gathering steam, and we plan to once again field both men’s and women’s teams in Kiel.

In fact, we’re holding a selection camp in Silesia on the 3rd of June to select the two national teams who will represent Poland – the Polish Devils (men) and the Polish Angels (women).

In order to achieve this goal, we’re running a fundraiser in order to raise 12,000 Polish Zloty (around 4,400 AUD) which will pay for the players’ uniforms, accommodation in Kiel, and medical insurance in case of injury during the tournament. Here is the link with all the details (in both English and Polish). https://zrzutka.pl/5rjsxb

We decided to post this fundraiser here, as we’ve had such a great working relationship with Bigfooty over the years. A lot of our league and national logos and uniforms have been designed by Bigfooty members in design competitions, we’ve received very warm support on this forum, as well as over in the Fantasy League forum.

So if you or anyone you know would like to contribute that would be great! Perhaps you have a Polish-Aussie mate/family member/girlfriend/boyfriend who might get excited about this, a local footy team who’d like to support us, a Polish owned business in Australia who’d be interested to get behind us. Any support is welcome.


Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram too!

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And as always, we’ll report back on how everything goes at the selection camp and the Euro Cup!

Thanks heaps to the BigFooty family for your ongoing support.

 

[AFLPoland]

Hey BigFooty Fam

We're in the process of auctioning off a signed jersey by all the blokes that tried out for the national team this year. If you want to place a bid, you've just gotta comment on the Facebook post. If your bid is the highest come 3am Monday morning (7pm Sunday night here), you'll win! If someone from Australia wins, I'm happy to organise a way for you to pay in AUD, save the winner having to go through the currency conversions and all.

As of the time of posting, the highest bid is at $350 AUD (about 950PLN)

Futbol Australijski w Polsce - AFL Poland

Futbol Australijski w Polsce - AFL Poland. 2,256 likes · 48 talking about this. Dom Futbolu Australijskiego w Polsce.

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Thanks heaps for your support, it really helps us get our squad to Germany and them being out of pocket as little as possible.

 

[AFLPoland]

BigFooty Family, we need your help.

As you may (or, probably may have not) have heard, there are massive floods in Czechia, Romanian and Poland.

One of the most affected cities in Nysa, a city of about 40,000 people (comparable to Warnambool) and they have an AFL team. Here's a photo of us playing on the field a few years ago:



And here's an image taken Monday morning:



Obviously, more than just footy fields have been affected. People have been displaced, intensive care wards and retirement homes have been evacuated, and the flood waters are growing, threatening to burst dam walls that are already way way over capacity.

The concept of a footy club has always been built around community. As an Aussie who's done a lot for footy in Poland, I'm proud to say that we've not only built the sport here, but we've also done a shit hot job and building a shit hot community around the sport, just like home.

We're now leaning on that community to help out with flood relief. That's why we've started a gofundme (or the Polish equivalent) to help raise money for rescuers, supplies and recovery efforts. It's not only footy fields, hospitals and retirement homes that have been damaged, it's water supplies, gas & electricity, and so much more.

Every little contribution helps.

https://www.siepomaga.pl/en/afl-polska

Most of the process should be in English, however I'm unsure if you can donate using AUD. If that's not a barrier for you, thank you in advance for your contribution. Your little support has made a massive difference to people who really need it right now.

 

[Mobbs]

BigFooty Family, we need your help.

As you may (or, probably may have not) have heard, there are massive floods in Czechia, Romanian and Poland.

One of the most affected cities in Nysa, a city of about 40,000 people (comparable to Warnambool) and they have an AFL team. Here's a photo of us playing on the field a few years ago:

View attachment 2113435

And here's an image taken Monday morning:
View attachment 2113437


Obviously, more than just footy fields have been affected. People have been displaced, intensive care wards and retirement homes have been evacuated, and the flood waters are growing, threatening to burst dam walls that are already way way over capacity.

The concept of a footy club has always been built around community. As an Aussie who's done a lot for footy in Poland, I'm proud to say that we've not only built the sport here, but we've also done a shit hot job and building a shit hot community around the sport, just like home.

We're now leaning on that community to help out with flood relief. That's why we've started a gofundme (or the Polish equivalent) to help raise money for rescuers, supplies and recovery efforts. It's not only footy fields, hospitals and retirement homes that have been damaged, it's water supplies, gas & electricity, and so much more.

Every little contribution helps.

https://www.siepomaga.pl/en/afl-polska

Most of the process should be in English, however I'm unsure if you can donate using AUD. If that's not a barrier for you, thank you in advance for your contribution. Your little support has made a massive difference to people who really need it right now.

I was worried that I'd get my card locked from making a payment to an international fund my little bank mightn't recognise, but can now say that I was still able to use my card without first making a phone call. It's in Polish currency but the 100 thingemebobs worked out about $25 AUD.