Hammers Official Supporters’ Club West Ham Poland made a historic visit to London Stadium in late November, with nearly 50 of the group’s members attending the entertaining Premier League clash against Arsenal.
Though the 5-2 scoreline on the day was ultimately disappointing, the occasion as a whole yielded plenty of happy memories for founder Łukasz Papuda and company, who made the journey to east London from across the continent.
A total of 46 individuals kicked off proceedings by meeting up at the famous Bow Bells pub, before journeying over to the stadium to get stuck into the pre-match activities at the Riverside East Fan Zone, where they were treated to an exclusive meet-and-greet with former Iron Paul Konchesky.
After enjoying the unfolding of the match sat together in the Billy Bonds Stand, which saw West Ham fall short but score two eye-catching goals in a chaotic first half, the group then reconvened following full-time to divulge everything they had just witnessed.
“We all had a brilliant day,” Łukasz said. “It was amazing to visit the stadium as one big group, and enjoy all of the different activities.
“There were a lot of us - some people arrived on the Friday night, and for some it was their first time in London, so it was very exciting. It was a really structured day, and each part was good fun.
“We got the chance to meet a Club legend, Konchesky, and have photos, go to the game, and there was lots of socialising with the pub visits. The event was a great way for all of us in the group to get together, and even I as the group founder was meeting people for the first time which was really cool.
“I think that chance to enjoy games in person as one big team is one of the best things about being part of a Supporters’ Club. We have close to 4,000 followers on Facebook, so we’re well connected and a lot of us are in touch a lot, but being able to go to a match as a community is always special, and to have close to 50 of us there on one occasion was amazing.”
The event marked the biggest visit to the home of the Hammers by any group since the launch of the Official Supporters’ Club portal in the summer, which paved the way for all of the key components of West Ham Poland’s day.
Becoming an Official Supporters’ Club provides a range of benefits for any group and its members, such as group ticket bookings and pitchside photo opportunities which were enjoyed by Łukasz and the rest of his team.
“We first started out as a fan group nearly 20 years ago, so we’ve been in touch with people at West Ham for a long time, but becoming an Official Supporters’ Club is something quite new that has been a really positive step for us,” added Marek Jastrzębski, who leads on building West Ham Poland’s community in London.
“Benefits like being able to do group bookings are great. We have fans at almost every game, but if everyone’s spread out it’s not quite the same experience, and being able to bring everyone together and enjoy the day together is brilliant.
“It’s something we definitely want to do more of. The group had a meet-up in Poland earlier this year, and now we’ve had this, so hopefully we can get another game in the diary and come back to London Stadium with an even bigger group. We’re looking forward to what’s ahead for us as an Official Supporters’ Club and the experiences that we’re going to have.”
To find out more about West Ham Poland, click HERE.
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