Industrial cities ruled Polish football, so the slight change from mining town Zabrze to the metallurgical Mielec hardly impressed. So little, that for years I thought Stal’s colours were green and white – the first photo of the club I saw had wrong colours. Players ment nothing in 1973. In 1974 everybody knew Lato and Kasperczak. Add Domarski, Rzesny, and Kukla. Good enough squad in Polish terms, where no club swallowed whatever talent existed in the country. Stal never lived up to their fearsome name (‘Steel’), but were one of the best Polish teams during the 1970s. Hard to believe today.
