Clashes between Cracow's leading football teams, Cracovia and Wisla, are amongst the most notorious events of the sporting calendar. The encounters usually prompt city-dwellers to hide in their apartments until the last hint of trouble has passed. But yesterday it was a different story.
Putting aside their differences, some twenty thousand football fans gathered in a huge open-air mass at Cracovia Stadium. A vast circle of candle-light ringed the terraces as fans held aloft candles in tribute to the Pope, who was himself a keen footballer in his youth and noted for his flair as a goalkeeper.
Pope John Paul may have been a fan of Cracovia but this did little to inflame the rivalries of the teams last night. Chants came in trios as the names of Hutnik, Wisla and Cracovia echoed around the stadium. Down on the pitch itself, numerous big names in the world of Cracovian football, from the trainers to the players themselves, stood as one in a tearful tribute to the departed hero.
Later that evening cries rang out across Cracow from the fans: 'Nie ma lepszego od Jana Pawla II' ( There's none better than John Paul II!"
The same evening, a crowd of about 200, 000 students and young Cracovians made a march to the Central square from the north-west of the city. For an hour, the historic thoroughfares of Karmelicka and Szewska transformed into rivers of light as mourners carried candles to the Great Market Square.
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