Interview with the editor of Polish magazine "To my kibice"

The most know magazine for fans in Poland , To My Kibice, recently made its 50th number. With this occasion, we made an interview with Piotr, TMK's editor.   1 - Tell us something about yourself My name is Piotr Jaworski, I`m 29 years old. I`m an ultra of GKS Belchatow, member of "GNF`03" group. Since 4 years I`m also an editor of "To My Kibice" magazine. 2- How did you came up with the idea of making a magazine about all the Polish fanatics? Since 1996 I have edited some black and white fanzines like "GieKaeSiak" (for my group) and "Polish Ultras-Pride of Poland". But always my dream was to build a full colour magazine about polish ultra&hooligan scene. I was inspired by "Supertifo", "3.Felido", "KOP" and "Tifo Support Skandinavien"-magazines from other countries. It`s sad, that 3 of these magazines are not edited anymore... 3- What did you hope to achieve at the beginning with TMK? My dream was to make a magazine without bankruptcy after few issues :-) All my friends -ultras - were pessimistic, because in the half of 90`s there was a colour magazine in Poland - "Szalikowcy" - and it was edited only in 4 issues... But my plan was to make a very regular magazine - edited monthly, with articles from all the main games in Poland and some information about small groups in small cities, also with some "stories"(history of groups), and information about foreigners. Very important were the photos (I cooperate with almost all polish amateur ultra-photographers) and "journalism" (articles about polish problems like knives& axes, police, PZPN - polish football association, no unity on national games etc... - these articles are mainly on black-white pages). I think we followed the right way, because in these 4 years we evolve from 1000 to over 5500 copies! Very important was the possibility to sell "TMK" in the most famous press-shops in Poland named "Empik". 4 - What means" To my kibice"? It means something like "We are football fans!", but it`s not exactly the same words. It`s really hard to translate :-) But there is a popular song of polish ultras for example "To my, kibice Slaska!" (Slask Wroclaw) or"To my, kibice Gieksy!" (GKS Katowice). 5- Now, after 50 issues, what role does TMK play in the Polish scene? We always promoted "safe-style" of hooliganism without knives, axes,sticks... We also promoted unity of all groups at national team's games. Since December 2004, 90% of polish groups belong to the agreement which regulated this problems. There was a big meeting organized by Lech Poznan Hooligans and almost all groups said "OK, we promise to finish using knives, axes etc... We will also unite on national games, especially on games with England and on World Cup 2006 in Germany! We would like to create a POLISH POWER! And my magazine will always promote the settlements of Poznan meeting! "TMK" also tried to influence the ultra scene to make a common front against PZPN (polish football association) and their stupid restricts! 6- What are your plans for the future with the magazine? Nothing special, it`s not possible to make more pages because my priority is to keep the same price (7,5 zl - it's almost 2 euro). But I would like to keep the level of articles, stories, make more interviews... It`s hard work, to keep up the present standards :-) 7- How did you manage to remain impartial? I`m in a good situation as an editor, because I support a small team, GKS Belchatow, with not so strong ultras/hooligans. So - as a football fan - I don't belong to any biggest polish alliances, and people know that! Of course, I always try to publish in TMK the story of both sides, especially from games with some riots. Because Polish people are very quarrelsome and never give the right to the opponents :-) This is typical Slavic mentality, I think :-) 8- If you look at photos from a TMK in 2000 and photos from the last TMK you can see a very big difference? What caused this evolution in the Polish scene? It was a really big revolution, especially in 2002 and 2003! Polish fans stopped using always the same bengals, sector flags... Many new typical ultra groups were formed, and they tried to make our terraces more ingenious and various. Some groups made the first real choreographies and all the rest then tried to make them better and better. Right now there are a few groups in Poland, which I think make choreo`s on high European level - Legia, Jagiellonia, Wisla, sometimes Lech and Widzew. But the problem of the rest is that they use the same elements more than on 1 game. 9- Inside the pages of TMK we can see spaces to both ultras and hooligan actions. How do the two work together? In the 90`s there was no separation between ultras and hooligans in Poland. We all were together! Right now in many groups (especially in the bigger ones) you can see a few ultra and hooligans groups. But this is only for a better organization - ultras can prepare choreographies and hooligans can plan their actions. But on our terraces we all stay together, and for 90% of the away games drive together! So, there is not that big of a separation! That`s why my magazine is a mix of both styles. You must also know, that some polish groups prefer ONLY typical polish style - good example is group "Torcida Gornik Zabrze" with their motto "No ultras, no hooligans, only Torcida"! Maybe it`s good, maybe it`s a reason of polish power? 10- Many see the Polish fans as the worst troublemakers in Europe. From what we've heard the police is also the best equipped. Now what is the level of repression inside Polish stadiums? Oh, repression is bigger and bigger! The year 2005 was the worst - many stadiums in 1 and 2 division were closed for away fans (punishment for troubles on previous games), sometimes the official reason was "renovation of stadium", but everyone knows there is no renovation, it`s just a good reason to have a bored game without away fans! Sometimes stadiums are closed for away fans without reason! The most famous case was the one of Arka Gdynia stadium on games against Legia and Wisla! Fans from these teams were not allowed to see the games without any reason -it was an absolutely outlaw! Also very big problem are special "chip cards" in 1st division. Everyone who wants to go for an away game, must have this card and buy ticket from the home club, few days before game! "Chip cards" were hanged up for a few months after J.P. II (pope) death, but from the spring of 2006 it will start again. In 2 division there`s no chipcards, but everyone who would like to go for away game must give name, number and ID, date of birth and place of living on special "away list". It`s an ill system! Also pyrotechnic is not so easy like it was a few years before. Still 90% groups can make nice pyro shows, but for example Legia Warsaw ultras have a big war against managers of their club. In last 2 month all ultras in Poland support Legia fans in this war! 11- How do you see TMK compared to other European magazines? Well, in my private opinion the best magazines are "Erlebnis Fussball", "Serbski Navijac", "Fans Magazine" and... "To My Kibice". But I don`t know articles of these 3 magazines, so my opinion is only from the photos I see. I think that TMK is a good mix of ultras & hooligans movement with high quality photos and interesting articles. Many people from for example Germany say, that "Erlebnis Fussball" is good only because of photos... That's why I think "TMK" belongs to the European top. 12. Tell us a few words about TMK+ . The mentality of polish ultras is strange - the majority of then don`t care about foreign scenes! They are interested only about the polish scene and there was a lot of criticism that I publish some stories about foreigners! That`s why I made a new magazine "To My Kibice Plus" especially for this part of polish ultras, who like scenes in other countries! "TMK+ " is edited 4 times in a year in a quantity of about 2000 copies. As you can see, the quantity is much smaller than normal monthly "TMK". But I will try to make "TMK +" more popular and to change the mentality of polish ultras, because I think that it's very important to know what is the situation in our neighbors and in other Europeans countries. We can find inspiration in other scenes and learn what we can make better in Polish stands! 13- Do you like our site? I hope you will make very good website about European ultra scene, about "spirit of ultra". Always when I will have a bit time, you can be sure, that I will help you with materials from Poland and not only from Poland! 14 - Final words for those who read the interview. Greetings to all readers of www.ultraspirit.com , from all the countries. As I see here in Poland, but also in other European leagues, we must unite against our enemies. Fuck UEFA, fuck FIFA, all ultras "Contro il calcio moderno!". Because without us, football is nothing!