Polish fans make some magic again
Story of the day
Poland is well-known as the "VolleyLand", and the White-and-Red crowd proved once again that even after the pandemic they are the one to create a totally unique atmosphere at venues that even opponents enjoy. On Saturday, the Poland national team, carried by more than 8,500 enthusiastic fans in Gdańsk, only just booked their spot in the EuroVolley quarterfinals, but the tickets for the Finals in Katowice are already sold out.
Polish fans love Volleyball, and actually all Volleyball teams love them back, because like not many others they know how to create a magical feeling at the venues that all who are there enjoy. Due to the pandemic, fans were out of the venues for a long time, but now they are back to remind everyone of the great support they can give to their favourites.
Fabian Drzyzga"It's wonderful to play in front of the crowd again. We are happy to see a sold-out venue. After all what happened in the last two years, I hope that this 'normality' will stay with us, because we play for fans. It's great to feel their support, because it was hard once the stands were empty and we could literally hear the squeak of our shoes"
Polish setter after the eight-final
Paweł Zatorski, libero of Poland and ambassador of EuroVolley stresses that the fans give them an additional boost of motivation and they count on it, especially in the next encounters when he expects tougher battles. "It's awesome to play at a venue full of fans. The fans give us extra energy, so we always have to give everything in a game like this one. I think that we did our job, we progressed to the next phase, but now there are more difficult matches against opponents from the highest level, so we have to expect more resistance."
It's important to mention that also players from opposite teams feel and enjoy the atmosphere of the Polish venues, even if they play against the home team! It's always amazing to play in Poland, especially against Poland. The atmosphere is probably the best in the world so it is great to play here," said Niklas Seppanen, captain of Finland.
Similar impressions had Marko Ivović of Serbia after the clash of the Titans in Kraków. The match between the defending champion and the reigning world champions gathered almost 13,000 people in the stands. "It was a big pleasure to play again in front of the crowd, because due to the situation with the pandemic the sport was losing the sense that we play for the fans and for the emotions."
The Polish crowd also has perfect conductors. For years, Grzegorz Kulaga and Marek Magiera are in charge of directing and entertaining the White-and-Red crowd and they continue their work also during EuroVolley 2021 that already went down in history as hosting the oldest fan!