It was the worst of the football seasons in the history of the blue and white, only surpassed by the liquidation of our club, in June 1997. It ended with the relegation of our team to the 3rd division, after 13 seasons spent mainly on the back of the Premier League, including two in the elite of Polish football. Stal was in 13th place (first relegation place) after 24 rounds, with 20 points and a one -point loss to safety. Their rival from the Baltic Sea was 10th, having just one point more. In the previous six games, the Stal players had scored just a point and the atmosphere at the club was thickening by the week.
Sunday’s meeting in Mielec started at 5pm and was dictated by our team from the first minutes. Both wingers stood out – Jan Haberko, acquired a year earlier from Przebiej Wolbrom, and Stanislaw Stój, who shared the entire goal spoils. The visitors, despite their high defeat, did not focus only on defence, but what was worse, on that day they were still fond of brutal play. They were also unable to cope with the referee’s decisions, resulting in striker Bogdan Adamczyk being removed from the pitch as early as the 38th minute of the game for showing unsportsmanlike displeasure with the referee’s decision. Already in the 4th minute, our team faced a chance to score the first goal, but Jan Haberka’ s shot hit the post. 23 minutes later, the left winger gave the visitors’ goalkeeper no more chances to defend successfully. The Gdańsk players did not create any goal-scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes.
Immediately after the resumption of play in the second half, Hansel decided to take a shot. The player’s hard-hit ball hit the crossbar and the oncoming scorer of the first goal for FKS, Haberko, put the ball into the net again. Stanislaw Stój then took over the scoring reins from him (goals in the 52nd and 60th minutes), setting up the final result after just over an hour of play. Further good opportunities to increase the score for the blue and white team were wasted at the end of the match by Strzelecki and Gazda, who, in a one-on-one situation with our alumnus, the nearly 33-year-old goalkeeper Mieczysław Sztuka, introduced in the second part of the match, were unable to beat him. The spectacular victory of the Mielec players gave our players only a temporary jump in the table to a safe place. However, our disastrous next 5 matches (Polonia Bydgoszcz 1-1 / away/, Górnik Wałbrzych 0-0 /home/, Unia Racibórz 2-7 /away/, Start Łódź 0-0 /home/ and Garbarnia Kraków 2-4 /away/) resulted in the relegation of Stala to the 3rd league along with … among others, Lechia from Gdańsk.
28.05.1967 – Mielec, 25th round of 2. liga, FKS Stal Mielec – Lechia Gdańsk 4-0 (1-0)
Referee: Pawlik (Sosnowiec) Spectators: 2,000
Stal: Kukla – Wincencik, Lupa, Hansel, Paluch, Czuda, Gazda, Strzelecki, Stój, Pietraszewski, Haberko Coach: K.Jędryka
Lechia: Burzyński (46 Sztuka) – Szróbka, Wierzyński, Żemojtel, Kędzia, Kunikowski, Kwapisiewicz (46 Apolewicz), Kaczmarek, Adamczyk (until 38 min.), Łazarek, Sionek Coach: E.Brzozowski
Goals: Haberko 27, 46, Stój 52, 60 min.
In the 38th minute Adamczyk was removed from the pitch by the referee.
To sum up, the balance of 1st league (ekstraklasa) duels between Stali and Lechia (including the struggle with Olimpia/Lechia Gdańsk from the 1995/96 season) is 16 matches (5 wins for Stali, 6 draws, 5 defeats, goals: 23-18). In the 2nd league they have competed 8 times and here we have a perfect draw (3 wins for Stali, 2 draws, 3 defeats, goals: 6-6).
Leszek Śledziona
Photo: Leszek Śledziona’s archive
