What’s the Goalden Word?

We football fanatics often come across terms and phrases that we start using without knowing its meaning. We hear them on television or read them in magazines wondering what the word is all about. WTGW will endeavour to focus on such terms and their usages helping us create our very own footballpedia. If you would like to know about any such word associated with the football world, do toss in a mail at editor@goaldentimes.org

Poznań[1] : (pɔz̪n̪aɲ) : [Masculine – Noun – Singular]

Goal is something we all love to see. The thrill, the joy, the panache – we love everything about a goal. And we love goal celebrations. Who can forget a certain Roger Milla wiggling in the Italia ’90? Or the Samba team doing a Bebeto in the World Cup of 1994? In this feature, we shall talk about one of the most famous goal celebrations – the Poznań.

The Poznan

Lately in the news for the buoyant Manchester City fans celebrating their hard-earned draw against Stoke City, this unique goal celebrating technique dates back to early last century from the Polish club Lech Poznań, based in Poznań. It is no wonder when the club visited the Etihad stadium in January last year for a Europa League match, the visiting fans embraced the occasion with their very own goal celebrating style. It can be called a dance (really?) of sorts, where a group of people turn around, huddle together and start jumping up and down. Initially the move was restricted to celebrating a goal but with time it has gathered storm and has become a kind of chant to lift the tempo of the game. Poznań has been followed by many countries in Europe like France and Netherlands by the name of Grecque.

These little wonders make a game of football all the more fascinating. The idea to cheer the team by charging up the atmosphere in the stands is certainly a novel one. The excitement, entertainment and ecstasy attain an all-new high. Such a pulsating and throbbing atmosphere makes a match even more rejuvenating. It is like a breath of fresh air where common sense is so rare and supporters love to boo their own players for a mere harmless miss pass.

[1] Poznań (Latin: Posnania; German: Posen; Yiddish: Poyzn) is actually a city located in west-central Poland. It is one of the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań’s cathedral. It is also renowned as the first capital of the kingdom of Poland.