Błyskawica Gać is a football club from the Lower Silesian village of Gać in Poland. The club has become well known amongst Polish football fans as a result of the club’s supporters regular display of their banner during Polish national team matches.[3]
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| Full name | Ludowy Klub Sportowy Błyskawica Gać | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Rycerze Wiosny (The Knights of Spring) | |
| Founded | 1946 | |
| Ground | Stadion LKS Błyskawica Gać[1] | |
| Capacity | 600[2] | |
| President | Tomasz Luda | |
| Manager | Jan Kownacki | |
| League | IV liga Lower Silesia | |
| 2023–24 | Regional league Wrocław, 1st of 16 (promoted) | |
| Website | https://foto-higienagac.futbolowo.pl/ | |
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History
editThe current iteration of the club was formed in 1997 as a merger between three local sides Foto-Higiena Oława, Błyskawica Gać and Korona Osiek.[4] The newly formed club inherited the legacy of Błyskawica Gać who were originally founded in 1946 and became affiliated with the Ludowe Zespoły Sportowe in the 1950s.[5]
After finishing top of the IV liga Silesia East and winning a promotion play-off in the 2017–18 season, the club gained promotion to the III liga.[6] Their opening game of the following season was against Ruch Chorzów which, up until that point, was the lowest league game the latter club had contested in their history.[7] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the club was accused of discrimination after having banned residents of the Silesian Voivodeship from attending matches at their home ground prior to a fixture against Ruch Chorzów.[8]
Club name
editIn 1995, the club’s president, a local entrepreneur named Tomasz Luda, applied to enter a team in the football league pyramid under the name Foto-Higiena Oława. The unusual club prefix, translatable as ‘Photo-Hygiene’, was a result of Luda’s ownership of a local photographic society, meetings of which were held in the premises of his brother’s hygiene supplies business in Oława. After the 1997 merger, the club retained the name Foto-Hygiena,[9] although in 2023, the club announced that they would drop their well known prefix, reverting to their original name of Błyskawica Gać.[10]
Rivalries
editThe club contest a local derby against Stal Brzeg from the nearby town of Brzeg.[11]
Supporters
edit
Since the UEFA Euro 2016 supporters of the club have prominently displayed a Polish flag with the words Foto Higiena superimposed on it during matches played by the national team. The flag was also taken to games during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[12]
In 2018, Maciej Zieliński took to Twitter to complain about the Foto-Higiena banner which he mistook for an advertisement after it had been displayed at a Poland basketball match.[13]
References
edit- ^ "Stadion LKS Błyskawica Gać". polska-org.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ "Foto-Higiena Gać". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Padewski, Andrzej (11 September 2023). "Koniec legendarnej nazwy. Charakterystyczna flaga zniknie ze stadionów". dolfutbol.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Hydzik, Rafał (30 September 2019). "Gać - małe piłkarskie miasteczko Foto-Higieny z atestem Włodzimierza Lubańskiego". Gazeta Wrocławska (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Padewski, Andrzej (11 September 2023). "Koniec legendarnej nazwy. Charakterystyczna flaga zniknie ze stadionów". dolfutbol.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Trybulski, Krzysztof A. (22 June 2018). "Foto-Higiena Gać w III lidze!". tuolawa.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Powiatowa. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Sroka, Jacek (18 August 2019). "Ruch Chorzów przegrywa z Foto-Higieną Gać. Garstka widzów na Cichej - kibice Niebieskich bojkotują klub". chorzow.naszemiasto.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Kuczyński, Tomasz (8 August 2020). "Ślązakom wstęp wzbroniony! Kibice ze Śląska nie mogą wejść na stadion na mecz Foto-Higiena Gać - Ruch Chorzów. Kibice Niebieskich oburzeni". Dziennik Zachodni (in Polish). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Hydzik, Rafał (30 September 2019). "Gać - małe piłkarskie miasteczko Foto-Higieny z atestem Włodzimierza Lubańskiego". Gazeta Wrocławska (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Padewski, Andrzej (11 September 2023). "Koniec legendarnej nazwy. Charakterystyczna flaga zniknie ze stadionów". dolfutbol.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Red (21 August 2020). "Brzeg zagra z Foto-Higieną Gać". brzeg24.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Kowalski, Jakub (2 December 2022). "Flaga z Gaci paraduje na mundialu". rp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Hydzik, Rafał (30 September 2019). "Gać - małe piłkarskie miasteczko Foto-Higieny z atestem Włodzimierza Lubańskiego". Gazeta Wrocławska (in Polish). Retrieved 17 June 2024.