20 Questions: Kraków Dragoons
After they turned up at Edgeley Park on Saturday, let’s get to know this seventh tier Polish club a little better
Tuesday 12 March 2024
NEXT HOME GAME: MK Dons – Saturday 23 March, 5.15pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Salford – Thursday 14 March, 8pm
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Tuesday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore. Greetings also to anyone tuning in from Kraków today!
Our new ‘20 Questions’ series kicked off with Liverpool last month, and then Preston North End. I’ll be completely honest with you, I didn’t think part three would be taking us into the seventh tier of Polish football. But then I bumped into this lot on Saturday…
Kraków Dragoons is a football club with expats from over 20 countries, with the club helping the players to integrate and embrace the local culture in Poland. The lads were in England at the weekend for Sunday’s FENIX Trophy game at FC United (which we won’t mention as they lost 14-0) and decided to visit SK3 for our game against Newport.
I was only with the Dragoons for a couple of minutes on Hardcastle Road but their story intrigued me, so I made contact with them to hopefully find out more. I’m glad I did, as Dave Burch got back to me last night with a cracking piece that I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading today. Dave’s from Essex, and moved to Kraków for six months to try something a bit different before deciding to stay long-term. His role with the Dragoons is Content Creator / General Dogsbody! Dave couldn’t make the trip at the weekend, but he has been to EP before watching Colchester.
If you fancy booking a trip to Kraków yourself, Paul and Tracy from Not Just Travel, today’s sponsor, will be able to sort you out.
Our first live event of 2024 is taking place next month. ‘Flynny at the Finger’ – an evening with County legend Mike Flynn – is at The Fingerpost on Wednesday 17 April. Start time 7.30pm. Over half the tickets have already been sold. If you’d like to join us, please email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com. Tickets are £10 (or £5 for paid subscribers plus anyone who’s written an article for The Scarf My Father Wore). That includes a full colour souvenir programme, and even a little bit of stand-up comedy!
Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.
Total distance so far: 136.36 miles
Total steps so far: 217,174
Total raised so far: £1,641
Total completed streets so far: 271 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)
Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.
Des Junior
Dragoons currently play in Klasa A, which is the seventh tier of Polish football. What’s that like as a division?
It's amateur level and probably the equivalent of Sunday League in the UK to be honest. You get the odd decent footballer who’s played at a higher level, but it's mostly whack it to the wing to a fella with pace but no touch, dog and duck style. We came up against Grzegorz Pater a few seasons ago and he used to play for Wisła Kraków in the Ekstraklasa (top division). He famously scored twice against Barcelona in the Champions League in 2001. He was way past his prime against us though!
Describe a typical matchday for yourself in Kraków.
Being the content guy, I will make sure the posts advertising the game and line-ups go onto X, Instagram and Facebook. We actually play in a really nice facility with a proper covered stand which is rare for this level, so I get to the game early to make sure the camera is set up as we live stream our games. After that’s all set up and working, I take my place in the stand with a hardy bunch of followers and provide a live commentary on X. Once the game is over, we usually head to the pub for a few pints.
Who are your club’s biggest rivals?
Probably fellow fan-owned club Fairant. We were both created at a similar time and had a somewhat friendly relationship until this season when we had a fallout over agreeing a date over a cup match that they ended up winning. It was all handbags stuff really, but they think we’re the devil's incarnate now!
What’s your best memory with Dragoons?
It's really hard to pick one memory. Our first ever game as an official club, beating the aforementioned Fairant 6-0 in the regional rounds of the Polish FA Cup, has to be up there. Special mention to our promotion winning game against Biezanowianka II, where we won 5-2 on the final day. Playing in the Fenix Trophy has to be up there too.
What’s your worst memory with Dragoons?
Probably our record defeat against Wieczysta II. It was a 17-1 thumping and every time they attacked they scored. Wieczysta are a well-backed club and their second team had a bunch of semi-pro's from the higher leagues getting paid so it was no surprise to see them bash everyone that season.
If Kraków Dragoons was a TV show, which one would it be?
Probably the Renford Rejects!
What’s your ground called, and how would you describe it for someone who’s never visited before?
We groundshare with a team called Prądniczanka Kraków who are in the league above, but have a fairly modern facility with an all weather pitch. The stand at the ground is covered and has a capacity of around 1,200. The ground is slightly out of the centre of the city, which is a slight downside, but it's much better than most of the other grounds in our league. We typically travel to a village in the middle of nowhere, with a fence around it and the bobbliest of bobbly surfaces.
What’s your thoughts on Stockport County?
Being from Essex, I always remember County being a pretty big club compared to Colchester, the team I support. It’s great to see County back in the Football League and challenging for promotion. It always frustrates me how poor ownership can see a club just plummet into obscurity, with too many examples to mention in recent history.
Have you ever visited the town of Stockport before? If yes, what were you doing the last time?
Personally, I went to Edgeley Park years ago to watch Colchester. Luke Beckett (what a goalscorer he was) scored for County and Joey Keith scored at the death for the U's. What an unbelievable strikeforce County had back then: Beckett, Rickie Lambert and Aaron Wilbraham!
What colours do you play in, and what’s the best ever kit Dragoons have had?
Our home strip is blue shirts, black shorts and black socks. Our away kit is white shirts, dark blue shorts and white socks. Our current home shirt is a bit of a beauty I must admit!
If Dragoons were playing in the next Polish Cup final, who’d be at the match as your celebrity fan?
That's a real tough one. We don't have many fans to be perfectly honest!
What’s the most interesting fact about Kraków Dragoons we might not know?
We decided not to call ourselves Kraków Dragons, because there is a quidditch team in Kraków called the Dragons! We got a little creative with the imagery of the famous Polish winged hussars and used the English variant Dragoons instead. The dragon is a famous symbol of the city of Kraków.
Who’s your all time Dragoons hero?
Our Italian current midfield magician, Enrico Forabosco. I believe he played academy football at a fairly high level in Italy in his younger days. He’s our record appearance maker, our second top goalscorer of all time, and has the highest number of assists too!
What sort of attendances do you get, and how would you describe Kraków Dragoons’ fanbase?
As an amateur club in the 7th tier, most of the people coming are the WAGs, family and friends of the players. We do not have a very large fanbase but get the odd random people coming along. I'd say typically there is anything between 10 to 50 people coming to watch our games. We’re a lovely bunch though and very welcoming of anyone wanting to come along.
What’s your manager like?
Hugo Cruz is our manager and probably would have been our best player! He sadly has no knees anymore. He did attempt a comeback but got injured again sadly. He is now our head coach with a possession based style of football. He’s a lovely approachable chap and always smiling.
What’s your owner like?
Have to be careful with this one… technically we’re a membership-owned club. However, our current president Daniel Finnegan is a proud Irishman and an accountant by trade. He'd only just taken over when FC United came to Kraków and had to deal with a situation where the power failed halfway through the game. With the help of our captain Kuba Drobny, they managed to sort the pitch hire, referees and transport for the next day, which was pretty impressive going to be honest.
What’s it like for a night out in Kraków?
It's a pretty cheap night out for Brits that’s for sure. Kraków has loads of bars, restaurants, pubs and clubs around the main square, almost like a city that never sleeps. I have been here eight years and there always seems to be something to do. The winter can be absolutely Baltic, whereas the summers are really quite warm. Regardless of the time of year, there are always good places to have a beer or five.
What’s the best thing about being involved with Dragoons?
There is a really nice social aspect to the club. It pretty much started as a kickaround on a Thursday night and our former president, Alex Băcica, took the bull by the horns to create a proper club and get us officially registered in the Polish league structure, which is much different to the UK. He had to cut through a lot of red tape and it was an amazing achievement. Everyone gets on well and it has a really nice grassroots vibe. Being a multinational club of expats, I find the different styles of football and different footballing perspectives really fascinating.
What’s the worst thing about being involved with Dragoons?
This season we have been placed in Group 1 with a lot of teams outside of the city in small villages. It's always interesting to travel away, but sometimes it's a blink or you'll miss it type of place in the middle of absolute nowhere. It always amazes me that lots of the people living there come out to watch even at that level. Sometimes no one will be there, other times there will be ultras singing and letting off fireworks – you can never be sure what to expect! Polish people are generally hospitable, so there isn’t really much to complain about.
What are your hopes for the rest of this season?
We’ve not had the greatest of seasons in all honesty. Being an amateur team means that we do not always have our better players available and it's hard to find consistency if the team chops and changes every week – must be quite tough for Hugo. We are currently 7th in a league of 14, eight points behind 4th. If we can push on to the higher positions I think we will have done well to be honest.
If you’re looking to book a trip to Kraków (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) get in touch with Paul and Tracy Franklin
As a team, Paul and Tracy Franklin are dedicated to delivering for their customers. They recognise that holidays are often the biggest outlay for people and so their top priority is finding them the perfect getaway. Whether you know exactly what you want or are looking for some ideas and inspiration, they can help!
With in excess of 450 suppliers they can find your dream trip. They have a number of key trade partners which allow them to organise anything from city breaks and fly and flops to cruises, weddings, honeymoons and sporting events across every corner of the globe. From high street names such as TUI, Jet2 and Easyjet to bespoke travel arrangements they can meet your requirements. They pride themselves on exceptional, personable service and for peace of mind all bookings are ABTA and ATOL protected.
Using Paul and Tracy as your personal travel consultants means that they can take all the legwork of finding and planning your trips. They can also deal with any bumps in the road should there be any. There are so many variables to a trip and so many places to look most of their customers are so relieved to have someone do that for them! Others are just glad to be able to support a smaller business that delivers a personal touch, as opposed to some of the travel giants out there. Whatever an enquiry looks like they are always keen to get their teeth stuck in, adding value where they can and learning along the way – the world is a big place!
Visit paulandtracyfranklin.notjusttravel.com for further details.
Photo of the day
Prenton Park, Birkenhead
Tranmere battered the League Two leaders on their home turf last month. Let’s hope they do exactly the same tonight…
Today in SK
🎬 Cinema
One film at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. Dune: Part II (12A) at 7pm. Click here for tickets.
🍺 Food and drink
The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £4.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £2, and 3 for £6 on Jägerbombs.
If you’re in Stockport today, pop into The Petersgate Tap (SK1) for a couple of pints. Open from 3pm.
There’s a new craft stout at The Dog & Partridge (SK2) this month. Euphoria is a 4.5% ABV dark, easy drinking kegged stout with a subtle punch of coffee, chocolate and a deep, rich malt flavour.
Fish Meal Deal at The Friary (SK3). Lite bite fish and chips with peas, curry or gravy. Plus tea or coffee. £9.75. Open till 7.30pm.
Random County fan of the day #69 – Finley Hornsby!
One final thing before you go… if you’re in need of any of these products or services this month, get in touch with our brilliant bunch of sponsors!
🎨 Art & Gifts: Kate O’Brien Art
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🦮 Dog Training: Paws High Peak Dog Training
🚘 Driving School: CFN School of Motoring
💷 Financial Services: The Mortgage Mill
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🛠 Home Improvements: Menzies Develop & Build
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📸 Photography: Holly Dwyer Photography
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⚖️ Weight Loss: Slimming World Reddish & Bredbury with Shlean
🪟 Window Cleaner: R ‘N’ B Window Cleaning
🏋️♀️ Women’s Fitness: Sophie Pavey Fitness
🧘♀️ Yoga: Greenshoots Yoga