POL-SKA! POL-SKA! or, Cheers and Chants of Poland fans

Recently, this blog received an email which asked, “What do Polish fans chant in the stands to show support for the team?” and “What do they shout after they score a goal?”

Excellent questions. Some answers (with kudos to those great folks at PolishSoccer.com for all the help) follow.

As in Italian pronunciation, the emphasis in Polish is almost always on the second-to-last syllable. In the case of a mono- or bisyllabic word, then, stress the first syllable. The phonetic spellings of the pronunciation are, as in all such cases, rough. You will have an accent if you attempt to speak as this extremely roughly beaten together “guide” presents Polish pronunciation. However, there is an easier way. Walk through the quick written explanation first – hey, i could be writing online erotica for money, you know – and you will receive a multimedia bonus for your troubles.

The most basic chant is, natch:

POL-SKA! POL-SKA!

which is exactly what you think it is. During the match, you may hear

“Kto Wygra Mecz?” “POLSKA!” “KTO?” “POLSKA!” “KTO?” “POLSKA, POLSKA, POLSKA…”

and variants thereof. I will not attempt to spell this one phonetically; this dialogue essentially means, “Who will win?” “Poland!” “Who?” “Poland…” You get the idea.

Do Boju!

pronounced roughly “Daw Baw-yoo,” is the equivalent of “Fight!” (in the command form).

For query submitter Robert, perhaps best for your purposes (and probably the easiest to learn) would be

Polska bialo czerwoni…

Sung to the tune of the Village People/Pet Shop Boys’ “Go West” and, as far as i can tell, roughly pronounced “Pol-ska Bee-a-law chair-vawn-ee.” Isn’t it good to know that American and British pop cheese has worked its way into Polish culture?

Common after a goal is:

Hej, Polska gol, lalalalalalalala, lalalalala! Hej, Polska gol!

but i’d be willing to bet that the “L’internationale” of football, namely

Góóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóól!

would also be acceptable in a pinch.

and one PolishSoccer.com contributor added the chant

Coście tak cicho, hej kurwy, coście tak cicho!

This reportedly is used when Team Poland scores at an away game. The bookending of “coście tak cicho” gives a meaning of “You’re not singing…you’re not singing anymore!” As for “hej kurwy,” well, “hej” is of course “hey” “Kurwy” is what language dicks and dictionaries might call the vulgar form of “prostitute,” so presumably this is not something you’d want to call out at the Polish equivalent of a little league soccer match.

Team Poland even has a concilatory song for their team when, in the words of one PolishSoccer writer, “when we have our asses handed to us”:

Nic się nie stalo, Polacy nic się nie stało!

which (as astute WorldCupBlog reader Szarmach below thankfully corrected me on) means literally “Nothing bad happened, Poland, nothing bad happened.”

After the match,

Dziękujemy, dziękujemy

may be heard, which means simply “We thank you.” I have no idea whether this can be used ironically or not.

And now, for a link.

Check out the excellent source Kibice UK to hear these chants and songs, as well as video clips from Team Poland matches. These bad boys are in MP3 format, so, as the ‘site says, feel free to download them to your PC, iPod or other MP3 device in order to learn at your leisure. The recordings, aside from their highly educational nature, offer indisputable evidence that Polish fans do indeed imbibe their fair share.

Na zdrowie!