Latest / History Dark / Ross Kemp Investigates Poland_s Football Hooligan Culture _ Ross Kemp on Gangs

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Ross Kemp Investigates Poland_s Football Hooligan Culture _ Ross Kemp on Gangs · History Dark

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Polish football hooligans are renowned for some of the worst
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: violence the game has ever seen.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: A lot of people have died in this country from
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the hooligans.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: They have close links with the extreme right wing and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Nazi groups.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Your ringtone is a speech of Hitler.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: And are feared throughout Europe.
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: It really is like martial law has been declared. It's
• 0:25
  Speaker 5: that threatening.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I've traveled here to Krakow in Poland to find out
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: why it's such a problem and to come face to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: face with some of the most violent fans in the business.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: Krakow is a beautiful city.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: In fact, it's a World Heritage Site. Tourists flock here.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: For its history and its stunning architecture.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: However, I'm not here to sample the culture. I'm off
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to a railway station on the outskirts of town to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: meet some of Europe's most violent football hooligans. I'm about
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to get my first taste of the problem here by
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: joining an elite squad of riot police. they're going to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: make sure that any violence here is immediately stamped out.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: There's some 300 guys tooling up right now to go
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to the football match. They've got shotguns, tear gas, batons.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: They're all wearing body armour.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: They look more like they're about to invade a country
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: rather than actually police a football match.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: The visiting Lech Poznań supporters have such a reputation for.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Trouble that they will be met on the outskirts of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the city and escorted all the way to the ground.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I'm stunned at the police presence here, just to meet
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a few hundred fans. Today, one of the local Krakow teams,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Vizsla Krakow, are playing Lech Poznań. The lake's supporters have
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: travelled over 400km to get this far. Once they arrive here,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: they'll be searched and put onto police buses and driven,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: escorted to the ground. I have to say, if I
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: arrived at this railway station, I wouldn't be getting off
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the train, I'd be staying on it and going home.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: The shout's just gone down that the train is five
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: minutes away, so the guys now are putting their helmets on.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: These guys are not messing about.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You can really feel there's an energy here now element
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of that anticipation.
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: The train, we've been waiting for some time, has finally arrived.
• 3:12
  Speaker 7: These supporters have been on that train for five hours.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: We've been waiting for some time.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Has finally arrived.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: These supporters have been on.
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: That train for five hours.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: We've been waiting for some time, has finally arrived.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: We've been waiting for some time, has finally arrived.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Football hooliganism in Poland is well-planned.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Amongst the ordinary supporters are the hardline leaders and organisers
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: who coordinate the violence. Some of those guys there are
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: trying to hide their faces.
• 3:44
  Speaker 8: It's possible.
• 3:46
  Speaker 9: Hooligans take special suits, such jackets, and when they're fastened,
• 3:49
  Speaker 9: they can't see their faces.
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: They can't identify them.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: The police reception seems to have had its effect on them.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You know, the detective said if they're not chanting, then
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: we've won the first battle, so they're not singing at
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the moment.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Police 1, support is nil. So far. We're approaching the ground,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: we're in convoy.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I have to say this entire thing has been organised
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: like a military exercise. Highly organised, extremely efficient.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Quite exciting.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: At the Wiesbaden Stadium, the visiting LEC supporters are searched again.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: To avoid any contact with the home supporters, they're herded
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: into their enclosure two hours before the home fans are
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: let into the ground. The security is so tight that
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: once inside the ground, the Lek supporters are caged in
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: and surrounded by high fences and private security. On either
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: side of them are the home Wiesewa fans, and clearly,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: there is no love lost. The Lek supporters, there are
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: not many of them, but they're certainly making up for
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the fact that every time the Wiesewa fans shout Wiesewa,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: these guys shout back whore. Within seconds of kick-off, trouble
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: erupts on the home-side terraces. Unable to get to the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: visiting Lek fans, Vizsla take on the security guards employed
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: to keep the rival gangs apart.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: I'm surprised at how quickly the violence escalates.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Things are being thrown. It's only five minutes into the gang.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: They've got the tear gas going off. It has seriously
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: kicked off.
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: Police went in there within seconds. Now, don't hang around here.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: As the home V's while fans battle with the security guards,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the visiting supporters keep up their chants. They're going to
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: start this way again, look. I mean, this is just madness.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: HE COUGHS.
• 6:41
  Speaker 9: I can't see!
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I've just got it all in my face.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: The security.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Are crowding into one corner. All the fans have pushed
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: them into the corner and they're threatening them. They're heavily outnumbered.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Not to be outdone, the visiting LEC supporters try to
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: kick through the steel fence that separates them from their rivals.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Police in white helmets are deployed into the ground to
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: prevent a full-scale riot.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Stopped for a period of time.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Because the left fans nearly pushed that wall down. I
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: would say, no security, don't look like there's enough of them, because.
• 7:40
  Speaker 10: Heavily outnumbered, heavily outnumbered by the fans here.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Someone who knows a lot about Polish hooligans is British
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: journalist Bob Graham.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: I've arranged to meet him at the match.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: So, Bob, what we just saw behind us, was that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: typical of Polish football?
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Very normal Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening game. Happens all the time.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: It's traditional tribal, traditional rivalry, hatred.
• 8:12
  Speaker 11: And you see from the use of the.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Batons that the police use how much hatred is felt
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: between one team and the other. And they're getting in
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: the middle.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Of it all. We've had a hooligan problem in the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: UK for many, many years.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: How hard are these guys?
• 8:30
  Speaker 7: How do they rate?
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: They are hard.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Hard in terms of the destructiveness of them. They hurt people,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: they stab people. A lot of people have died in
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: this country from the hooligans.
• 8:45
  Speaker 7: But why has Poland got such a bad problem with hooligans?
• 8:49
  Speaker 11: It's a phenomenon that goes back to the Second World
• 8:52
  Speaker 11: War and then went through the communist era. And to
• 8:54
  Speaker 11: understand it, you need to go back to the post-communist
• 8:58
  Speaker 11: towns that have been neglected and left almost to total neglect,
• 9:03
  Speaker 11: where the only thing that a lot of young people
• 9:05
  Speaker 11: have got is violence and hatred and this animosity.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: Between one another.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: It's obvious the violence is endemic. The levels of hatred
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: seem out of control, and I want to find out why. Well,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: taking on Bob's advice, we've decided to try and get
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to the root of the problem. So we're going to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: leave Krakow, which is down here, and make our way
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: up to a place called Gorzow, which is virtually on
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the German border.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Apparently, there's a gang.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Of notorious football hooligans there called the Steel on Fighters,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and we're going to try and make contact with them.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Gorzow is said to be Poland's forgotten city. It's had
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a turbulent past. Before World War II, it was part
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of Hitler's Germany. In 1945, during their push to capture Berlin,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the Russian army flattened the city. When Gorzów was rebuilt,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it fell to the austere eye of the communist planners.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: This is Poland's grassroots, and home to a gang of
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: hooligans who have.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: A fearsome reputation for violence and off the pitch.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I want to meet them and to find out why
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: they fight and why Poland is struggling to control them.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: I've been put in touch with a man called Tomek.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: He claims to have contact with the local hooligans, the
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Stelon fighters. But our presence here is already causing trouble.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: So, what happened to your face?
• 11:14
  Speaker 12: Well, with those guys who are always there, So you
• 11:20
  Speaker 12: actually got beaten up because of us?
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Steel on Gorzhov may be a third division team, but
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the steel on fighters have a reputation for fighting well
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: above their weight.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I thought that meeting up with them may have been difficult.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I needn't have worried. They already knew exactly where we were.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: So how long have you lived here? Come out of
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: the way. He's kicked off and he's gonna get some...
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Stop filming.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: You have to stop filming now because they've asked us.
• 12:17
  Speaker 13: They're gonna hurt us, so we're gonna stop filming now.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: It just kicked off, and we've been left in no
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: mind other than the fact that we are really, really
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: not wanted here. We were talking to Tomek, then all
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: of a sudden one guy turns up, starts pushing the camera,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: then another one turns up, and obviously that's the way
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: they operate in gangs. Then all of a sudden there
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: was more than three or four, there were about 12
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: to 15 of them. And they were the steel-on fighters.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: These are the guys, the hoolies, as they call themselves,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: for the local football team here. And we thought because
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: we were atomic, we'd be OK, but.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Obviously we weren't.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: So we've upset them, so we have to leave. The
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: steel-on fighters are determined to stop us filming them. But
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: we're not giving up just yet.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, me.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: Our research has found.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: That this city has several right-wing groups, some of which
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: are connected to the Stelon fighters. In order to get
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: in with the Stelon fighters, I've travelled to the other
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: side of town, where our researchers uncovered some of their
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: neo-Nazi friends. Going up to meet them, I think the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: guy I'm supposed to be meeting is a guy called Python,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and they're twins.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: There's Python 1 and there's Python 2.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: And obviously they're like letting everyone know that they're here,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: That's your white power sign. This gang is part of
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: a rising tide of fascism sweeping Poland.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: They don't regard themselves as hooligans, but as skinheads.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: They fight alongside the Stelon fighters and support the same
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: football team, but have different beliefs. Can you tell me
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: what made you take up this ideology? What caused you
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to want to be the way that you are?
• 14:41
  Speaker 9: I've not seen any black people here, so why do
• 14:44
  Speaker 9: you dislike them out of interest?
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: And their existence in my city.
• 15:08
  Speaker 9: I think Asfalt has its place.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, because.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Jews are fighting for everything.
• 15:15
  Speaker 9: They want to stand on the highest podium. They don't
• 15:20
  Speaker 9: have their own country. There was not enough space for them.
• 15:23
  Speaker 13: Not all of them.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: They should repeat it.
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: It's true. We like to bully each other a bit.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: We go to the stands. We try to do our best.
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: And it's good for us.
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: A communist-backed chemical plant called Stilon used to provide most
• 16:03
  Speaker 8: of the employment in the city.
• 16:04
  Speaker 9: Now unemployment in Gorzów runs at around 20%.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Since the collapse of communism, there's been a rapid rise
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: in right-wing groups throughout Poland. The boys are meeting up
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: with other Nazi sympathisers at a local pub, and I've
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: been invited.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: To tag along.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Promoting Nazi ideology in Poland is illegal, but here the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: whole gang are blatantly wearing 88 T-shirts.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Eight represents H, the eighth letter of the alphabet.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: 88 is short for Heil Hitler. I saw a.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Black girl come in there earlier.
• 17:05
  Speaker 8: With a white man, and you went up.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: And you told them to leave.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Is that the policy here?
• 17:11
  Speaker 9: Most of the gang are unemployed.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: But a few of them earn extra cash by working
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: as bouncers in clubs and bars. Even on a night off,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: they're prepared to put in a bit of overtime.
• 17:39
  Speaker 11: Thank you.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: One thing that history tells us is that the right
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: wing rises in times of economic downturn. I find it
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: astonishing with this country's past that.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Some people here can behave like this.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Nazi dogma makes it easy to blame others, and picking
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: on self-targets gives them status. Well, it's the morning after
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the night before with the neo-Nazis, and while I detested
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: everything they stand for, they actually seemed to like me.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: So the Python brothers have invited us round for a
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: cup of tea.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Three generations live in the Python household.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Here, above a bakery, in a tiny three-room flat, live
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: five adults, a baby and a dog. What are you doing?
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: Hello?
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: Come, dog.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: That's your phone going. That's Zeke Hyatt.
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: It says Zeke Hyatt when it goes off.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Your ringtone is a speech of Hitler.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: There's some other stuff here. There's a swastika there. And
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: that's an SS armband.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And there's a spoon with a German Wehrmacht Nazi stamp
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: on it.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: This is Mum, yeah? Yeah. to meet you. Hello, Pieszko.
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: You're very proud of your two boys, your two twins?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, of the twins, and of the boys as well.
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: But what they're doing, no.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Do you get worried?
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 20:03
  Speaker 9: Whether they come back or not, whether they hurt anyone.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: It's... It's their instinct.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Python too makes pizzas part-time. He's the only earner in
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the household. He, his wife and his baby live in
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: one of the rooms.
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: So how did you two meet each other?
• 20:25
  Speaker 14: And when did you get married?
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: So it was love at first sight?
• 20:44
  Speaker 11: Really?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And now you've got some big responsibilities, I've been told.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Does it worry you now, him going off to the matches?
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: Sometimes he.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Chooses between family or the match.
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: And what he chooses, you ask him. Otherwise, I wouldn't
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: be able to live.
• 21:09
  Speaker 15: After tea with the pythons, I'm going to put their
• 21:11
  Speaker 15: clout and my neck on the line.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: It's Saturday and Stylian Gurzhov are playing at home.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: The Stilon fighters will definitely be at the match, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: this will be my only opportunity to meet them.
• 21:45
  Speaker 14: CHANTING We're heading on to their turf, at their ground,
• 21:59
  Speaker 14: to stand on their terrace.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: CHANTING CKS!
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: CKS! CKS!
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: As soon as we arrived, the Stelon fighters noticed the camera.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: CKS! CKS! CKS!
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: The guys aren't happy about us being here.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: The guys are in.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Masks, and it's around their mouths.
• 22:30
  Speaker 12: So, they saw me kicking off, people having a go
• 22:32
  Speaker 12: at me, because we're here.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: So, it made it seem like a very nice summer's off.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: There's a very horrible undercurrent in this place.
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: At this minor league match, there.
• 22:59
  Speaker 10: Are only 2,000 to 3,000 people.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: However, the level of aggression surprises me.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: The guys down the front are just facing the.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: The opposition fans arrive under a heavy police escort. With
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: half-time approaching, it would appear.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: They're less interested in watching.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: The game.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Are more interested in the fight to come.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: The Stilon fighters now have a target for their aggression.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: The pythons have persuaded one of the gang to talk
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to us on the condition we protect his identity. CHANTING
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: There's not a lot of you guys over there, but
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: you seem very passionate about it.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: Why is that passion inside you?
• 24:27
  Speaker 12: These guys, these all are from poor families.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Poor backgrounds, yeah.
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: From the States.
• 24:33
  Speaker 12: Yeah, they haven't any money, and they live on the street,
• 24:39
  Speaker 12: and on the street, the most important is strong, yeah?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: We spoke to some of the other guys who have
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: got right-wing views.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Are you of the same feelings?
• 24:51
  Speaker 12: I think it's my country, yeah? And the most important
• 24:57
  Speaker 12: in this country are Polish people, yeah? I'm not nazi,
• 25:02
  Speaker 12: I'm patriot, yeah? I love my country and my city, yeah?
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Of course. What about those lot over there?
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: What do you think about them?
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: The opposition.
• 25:14
  Speaker 8: If they want, we take his telephone numbers and we
• 25:18
  Speaker 8: meet in the water and we fight for 20, 20
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: or 30, 30 people.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Do you use weapons or is it fists?
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: No.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: Any weapons?
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: No weapons.
• 25:29
  Speaker 12: No, only hands.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: All right, so there's laws and rules inside. The strength
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: of the police presence, even at small matches, may have
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: reduced some of the violence on the terraces, but it's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: also served to push it underground. We've managed to uncover
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: some fight footage which shows the hunger for violence amongst
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: the hooligans. Prearranged fights like these take place in secret
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: locations without the knowledge.
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: Of the police.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: During these running battles, the reputation of a gang is
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: made or lost. I've seen the level of violence that
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: surrounds Polish football and how the right wing have infiltrated
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the terraces. Jacek Perski works for an organisation called Never Again.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: They expose officials who turned a blind eye to these
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: extreme gangs.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: I ask him why they attract so many new recruits.
• 26:36
  Speaker 16: They are looking for belonging in a group, you know.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: Identity. Identity, yeah, exactly.
• 26:42
  Speaker 16: Sometimes, of course, it's economical problems. There's a huge unemployment
• 26:46
  Speaker 16: and they simply have a lot of time to and
• 26:49
  Speaker 16: must do something in their life. And it might be
• 26:52
  Speaker 16: a reason for them to do something, you know, going
• 26:56
  Speaker 16: on the stadium, looking for a fight.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: All the hooligans that I've spoke to expose right-wing views.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Is there a connection between the football hooligans and the Nazis?
• 27:05
  Speaker 16: Some of the far-right organisations... They've got some, let's say, volunteers,
• 27:11
  Speaker 16: people who are going on the terraces and looking for
• 27:14
  Speaker 16: new members. They know that the terraces, they've got a
• 27:18
  Speaker 16: very good ground there to spread their idea, their nationalistic
• 27:22
  Speaker 16: and racist idea.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: So do you think the government turns a blind eye
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to right-wing organisations here?
• 27:29
  Speaker 16: Unfortunately, like, for example, All Polish Youth, this is the
• 27:33
  Speaker 16: organisation that was recruited through the culture of skinheads. And
• 27:40
  Speaker 16: in the moment, they are now in the government.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: So hang on a minute.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: There are people who are in the government who used
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: to be skinheads?
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 27:48
  Speaker 16: Like, for example, Vice Minister of Sports, Radoslaw Parda. He's
• 27:52
  Speaker 16: the guy who was a skinhead and a hooligan.
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: And that's just accepted, is it?
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, it's accepted.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Jacek's outspoken views has led him to being placed on
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a right-wing hit list called the Red List. Poland is
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: a country going through some fundamental changes. Since 2004, almost
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: three million Poles have left to find work and a
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: better life abroad. We're looking at the people that have
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: been left behind. It's not the first time that I've
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: seen the connection between unemployment and gang membership. The Gorzow
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: gangs were tough, but the hooligans that I'm going to
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: try and contact next are simply.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: In a different league.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going back to Krakow just in time for one
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: of the most brutal clashes in Polish football. In a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: few days' time, Wiesław Krakow will take on Krakowia, their
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: most bitter rival. The hooligans of these two teams are
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the most vicious and the most feared gangs in the country. Here,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the hooligans have no rules and there is no honour
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: between enemies.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: The hatred runs so deep that people are killed.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: As I walk around, it's obvious that there's a street
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: war being fought here as the whole city is plastered
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: with graffiti. John Adkins is a football fan and a
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: tour guide in Krakow. He's going to help me to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: understand what's behind the hatred here.
• 29:50
  Speaker 9: John?
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Ross, pleased to meet you, mate. Nice to meet you.
• 29:53
  Speaker 16: How are you?
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: All right, mate.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about this town and the
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: two teams that exist here.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: Well, here in Krakow, we have two teams. One team
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: is called Krakowia, and the other team is called Wisła.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: And historically, the supporters in this town have always been
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: in each.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Other's throats, is that correct? Yeah.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: The supporters of the Krakow clubs have the reputation of
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: having the most, let's say, intense and often violent rivalry
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: in the entire country. This neighborhood right now is very
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: much a Krakowia neighborhood.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: As you can see by the walls.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: So, John, Cracovia, that's pretty self-explanatory. But something's been written
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: after it, hasn't it?
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: Over here, we can see where a Wisła supporter put
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: kurwa after Cracovia, which means something like whore.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: So Cracovia whore.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: But this town differs from other places we've seen in Poland.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Doesn't it, in terms of the hooligan element? Yeah, that's right.
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: Elsewhere in Poland, there's an informal agreement among supporters not
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: to use weapons when they fight.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: But here in Cracovia, they do.
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: Knives, baseball bats... Sticks, pipes, anything that can be useful
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: in a fight.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And do they have the prearranged fights that we've seen
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: in other places?
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: No, they don't.
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: Actually, here in Krakow, they have something called polovania, which means, like, hunting,
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: something like that. And they just go around in packs, five, ten,
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: twelve people or more, and just look for supporters of
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: the other team to fight with.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: John and I now cross into a Wiesbaden neighbourhood.
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: And here we can see a rather large mural identifying
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: this as very much a Vizsua neighborhood. We can see
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: the white star of Vizsua in the middle. And it says,
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: we'll show you a feeling or a vision that you've
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: never known. Loyalty.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: It's Viernos. Loyalty or fidelity. What's the bottom of it say?
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: Today an enemy. Yesterday a brother. What does that mean then, Jack?
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: Do you know?
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, you can be in the Vizsua family,
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: the Vizsua club, the fraternity. But if you cross them,
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: if you leave it, you're no longer a brother. You're
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: an enemy.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: So it's a threat?
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: Something like that, yeah.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: John, Krakow and Wiesbaw are playing each other in a
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: couple of days.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: What's this town going to be like when that happens?
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: It's incredible.
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: Police everywhere in full riot gear, shields and batons, helmets,
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: horse-mounted police water cannons. It really is like martial law
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: has been declared. It's that threatening.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: The atmosphere is really that heavy. It's amazing.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Throughout its history, Krakow has played host to many invading forces.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: And for many here, it's still reeling from the impact
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of a communist rule that left it isolated from the
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: West for over 40 years. Historically, Krakow has been the
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: home of Poland's artistic and intellectual elite, whose views contradicted
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Stalin's communist ethos.
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: In one of the first.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Examples of social engineering, the gigantic Lenin steelworks was constructed
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: on the edge of the city. It provided employment for
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: over 35,000 workers who came from all over Poland. To
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: house them and their families, a Soviet-style suburb called Nowa
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Huta was built. In 1989, the Polish people won their freedom,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: but their industry paid the price, losing its economic protection. Today,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Nowa Huta suffers chronic unemployment and is now home to
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: some of Europe's most violent football hooligans. The gang are
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: reluctant to speak to us. The big Vizsla-Krakowia clash is tomorrow,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and security is being stepped up all over the city.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: John has been trying to arrange a meeting. Eventually, we
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: make some progress with the Vizsla gang. They instruct us
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: to drive to a quiet part of Nowa Huta and
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: wait for their call.
• 33:48
  Speaker 10: We're just about to arrive at the location where we've
• 33:51
  Speaker 10: arranged to meet the hooligans. We've got about five minutes
• 33:57
  Speaker 10: before they're supposed to be here.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: No, Yak.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: What's the matter? What happened?
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: Benjamin.
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: All right. What was that? Not going to be here
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: at three. You're going to be here at seven. I
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: like herding cats.
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: Three hours later, they call, telling us to head to
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: a different part of the city.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: We've spent weeks tracking down the Vizsla hooligans. This gang
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: is violent, unpredictable, and unfortunately, they're calling all the shots.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: We've just seen three guys up the road in balaclavas,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: so unless we're about to meet the Provisional IRA, I
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: think they're our boys.
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but he says he's waiting on the rest of
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: the guys to show up. And because they don't strike
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: the numbers, and when they all show up, they'll call me.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: I'm supposed to go there alone. I'll come with you.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: That's what he says.
• 35:47
  Speaker 7: Bye.
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: He says that the eight guys there are waiting to.
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: Talk to us. Can we go with them there? And
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: we can take the camera with us, yeah? Yeah, we
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: can go. Go now.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: As we walk out to meet the gang, we see
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: another 15 of them on top of a nearby building,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: watching our every move.
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: Please don't film the top.
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: These guys who are on the building, they're not on
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: the building.
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: No, no, they'll just be on me. So I'm going
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: to ask you some questions, if that's all right.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: First question is, could you identify yourselves, not your names, obviously,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: but who you are and what team you support?
• 36:35
  Speaker 16: Yeah, and you're hooligans, yeah?
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: What kind of things do you get up to, then,
• 36:41
  Speaker 7: when you go to a football match?
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: Well, nothing.
• 36:44
  Speaker 7: We're just watching the match.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: That's the question. Nothing. So you're hooligans.
• 36:50
  Speaker 13: But you don't do anything. I don't understand.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: It's not a good sign that my questions are irritating them.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: We're outnumbered, and I'm told they all carry weapons.
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: So, do you have.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Is there another team in this town, obviously, that you
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: have enemies in this town?
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: They're the Jews. Why is that your enemy?
• 37:20
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: Because that's how it is. That's how it is and.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: It will always be. That's how we were raised. That's
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: how we were raised.
• 37:25
  Speaker 7: From generation to generation.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: That's how it should be and we keep the tradition.
• 37:30
  Speaker 9: And this tradition will never die.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: We come to the stadium as a child.
• 37:36
  Speaker 13: If you're walking down the road on your own and
• 37:38
  Speaker 13: you saw a Krakowian.
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: Fan, Would you want to attack him? Do you attack him?
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: And that's the reason that we.
• 38:02
  Speaker 13: Came here, because this town is famous in the whole
• 38:04
  Speaker 13: of Poland because of this situation. But what I don't
• 38:07
  Speaker 13: understand is why it exists. I don't understand why the
• 38:09
  Speaker 13: hatred is.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: You can always say that's the way it was handed down.
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: But Why is there such hatred? Why is it so
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: extreme here?
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Why is it more extreme here in this area than
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: it is anywhere else in Poland?
• 38:32
  Speaker 12: Here are the most fanatical people of Witwa.
• 38:34
  Speaker 7: Exactly.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: Here are two clubs that are fighting for the center.
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: The oldest clubs in Poland.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 38:39
  Speaker 15: It's the longest war. This is life. This is life,
• 38:42
  Speaker 15: isn't it? Life is beautiful. Everyone chooses the road. We
• 38:47
  Speaker 15: chose this one. I don't understand why it's.
• 38:52
  Speaker 12: So bad.
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: They're sorry about the stupid questions.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: They start to argue amongst themselves and the mood goes
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: from bad to worse as they threaten to hurt the
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: crew unless the camera is switched off.
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: Stop recording.
• 39:11
  Speaker 12: Stop recording.
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: Switch off the camera.
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: Switch off the camera.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: Well, they were pretty intimidating.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: It seems to me they've actually forgot what they're fighting
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: about and this ongoing war, I suppose it gives them
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: credibility and identity, a bit of kudos.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: And without it, well, they probably have nothing.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: And if that's what they're like on an average day,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: can you imagine what they're like when the two teams
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: play against each other?
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: Today is the biggest match of the season.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Krikovia invite their bitter rivals, Vizsla, into their stadium.
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: With an hour to go.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Before kick-off, Krikovia fans are gathering outside their ground. The
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: opposition fans supporting Vizsla are due any minute.
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: The police are desperate to keep the fighting gangs apart.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Amid massive security, the Wiesbauer fans are busting. They've just
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: loaded the shotguns.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: Here we go, watch out.
• 40:30
  Speaker 7: This bottle's coming.
• 40:32
  Speaker 15: Watch out.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: Well, boys, it's certainly... The anti's certainly gone up.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: Watch out for this stone, mate. Watch... I'm just telling you,
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: hang on. Watch for your head.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: The Cracovia fans try anything to get to their sworn enemy.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: They know this could be their only chance to make
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: an attack. Once inside the ground, they will be kept apart.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: You can see the bottles coming over the top there.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: The guys will be throwing the bottles, throwing the bottles
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: at the Vizsla fans, just to make an assault. But
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: you know, but it's... Let's see what happens now.
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: Let's follow this lot.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: Watch out.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: I think we should get out of the way right
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: in the middle here, boys.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: Can I just say something?
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: That was really one of the.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: I keep doing very silly things, but we just managed
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: to walk ourselves into the crossfire between the two opposing teams.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: Really bright, Ross.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Have I said that? Then there's a lady doing the rubbish.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: There's a lady taking out the rubbish, look.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: You've seen it all before. With the game underway, the
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: fans mount an attack. There's a series of flares going
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: back and forth from the Krakowian fans over into the Vito.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Not for the first time in a Polish football match,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the game has been stopped. That's the manager of the
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Krakowian team, and the.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: Manager has just been screaming at the.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Fans, Krakowian fans, to give him and his team a
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: bit of a break. Since we started making this film,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: it's been announced that one of the countries that will
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: host the European Championships in 2012 will be Poland. Supporters
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: of Europe's top 16 footballing nations will come to Poland
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: in great numbers and policing them will be a challenge.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Police now have actually moved in to the.
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: Hardcore supporters of COVID-19. They're actually moving them. back in
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: so they can't throw stuff.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Here in Poland, most of the real supporters come to
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: show their devotion in an energetic but non-violent way.
• 43:48
  Speaker 17: That said, the hooligan problem exists at every level in
• 43:58
  Speaker 17: Polish football.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: It's easy to blame economic disadvantages or the political climate,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: but solutions need to be found. In 2012, Europe's top
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: footballers will turn up to play the beautiful game. Advertising
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: and sponsorship will earn Poland millions of euros. I just
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: hope that some of the revenue generated filters downwards to
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: help alleviate some of the social problems that underpin the
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: hooligan element here.
• 44:43
  Speaker 7: The majority of.
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: Fans are in law abiding and just want to watch
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: a great game of football.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Let's hope by 2012 it's their voice that's heard above
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: the hooligan minority.