Will Swedes follow in Polish footsteps?

In a bygone era, back when shorts were short and footballers’ hair was much, much longer, Poland became synonymous with the bad old days endured by Ireland’s national side.

Interminable and all too regular trips behind the Iron Curtain to never-heard-before places likes Bydgoszcz came to frame the culture of blazers before players and, in more recent times, our most recent dealings with our cousins from eastern Europe have continued to highlight our shortcomings.

Last summer, the carnival that was Euro 2012 turned into a catastrophe for an Irish team that played its games in Poznan and Gdansk and, excellent hosts though they were, the Poles have not been slow to highlight our shortcomings on the pitch when they have been the visitors.

It is just over four years since Trapattoni’s unbeaten record as Irish coach was brought to a shuddering end after a game at Croke Park where the 3-2 scoreline served only to mask the deficiencies in the home ranks and the chasm in class between the sides.

That difference was, if anything, even more marked last night during a first half when stringing a bead of passes together was beyond the home side while Poland teased and threatened without ever claiming the goal they deserved.

Ireland improved somewhat after the break and, on the face of it, a 2-0 win would appear to be a decent night’s work, given the side that started contained seven players yet to break into the list of those with caps numbering in double digits and others similarly green around the ears were ushered on thereafter.

Still, the side’s stutters for long periods did little to dispel the suspicion that tougher days lie ahead and it is worth noting too that Poland were also in experimental — if slightly less so — mode and yet they joined a lengthening roll call of sides to dominate possession in Dublin.

That said, it was a game that will hardly trouble the collective memory bank all that long and, if it is recalled by anyone beyond those players for whom international football remains a novelty, it will be by those Poles who made up the majority of the 43,100 in attendance.

‘Rocky Road to Poland’ flooded the airwaves here not so long ago and Oceana’s ‘Endless Summer’ was Uefa’s official bilge at Euro 2012 but for anyone who was in Poland last June the strains of “Polska bialo czerwoni…” sang to the tune of the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Go West’ will forever be tattooed into the subconscious.

It was a tune that soundtracked last night’s encounter at Lansdowne Road thanks to the thousands of Polish exiles who congregated on D4 from all parts of the capital, the country and from as far afield as Britain and it was impossible not to warm to the pride and joy they felt.

No one knows better than Irish fans what it is to take over a foreign city — Stuttgart, Genoa, New Jersey, Ibaraki and Poznan can all attest to that — and the ties that now bind two nations that had shared so few until modern times was very much in evidence last night.

Youngsters wearing green and red and sporting Polish names and Irish accents accompanied parents born in Katowice and living in Kanturk. Red and white national flags proclaiming newly laid roots in Ballina, Sligo, Limerick, Youghal and a banner from the ‘Dublin Brigade’ peppered the stands and spoke of the changing demographics of two diverse cultures.

Perhaps the most eloquent was that stating: ‘I love you mum’, a heartfelt and at the same time humorous declaration to a relative and a country that is separated from these shores by 2,000 or so kilometres.

That this was no ordinary evening was only confirmed by the fact that the Poles were scattered in all corners, in contravention to the norms of segregation to which we have become so accustomed in football, and co-existing side by side with the Irish just as they have done day after day since the migration westwards began.

Yet, when it came to abilities on the park, it was impossible to avoid the fact that the countries remain worlds apart and the worry is that it could well be a similar story when Ireland visit Stockholm next month.