DUNDEE’S BURGEONING Polish population will go for goal this week as the city’s amateur league welcomes their own football team.

Now that they have new jobs and new homes, the players and their families are hoping to cement their lives in the city with regular games.

As well as bringing a whole new language for the city’s amateur referees to digest, FC Polonia are promising a touch of eastern European flair and organisation as they bid to clinch promotion in their first season.

Club secretary Marta Strzelecka told The Courier there had been a ground-swell of support for the team since her husband and some of his colleagues enjoyed a simple kick-about at Riverside Drive.

She said, “Sebastian came to Dundee three and a half years ago and started to play football regularly with some of the other Polish guys at Riverside.

“They would turn up and start games with anyone who was there and it became a regular thing, but eventually they got fed up of some people not turning up and we decided to try this.

“I’m not the biggest football fan, but I speak the most English, so I’ve been helping to set everything up.

“Everybody at the amateur association has been really friendly and helpful—they even learned a few Polish phrases to welcome us.

“Since we got the go-ahead, we’ve been training for a few months and played two pre-season games, so we’re really looking forward to the start of the season.”

Dundee’s first-ever Polish food store has lent a hand to the promotion push by sponsoring the team’s red and white kits, and the current squad looks set to expand to 22 by the league opener with more of Dundee’s adopted Polish population desperate to join the club.

Mrs Strzelecka explained, “We’ve had a great response.

“At first we didn’t know if we would have enough players, but more and more people are coming forward to ask about joining us.

“It helps people who have come from Poland to meet more people and make more friends in the city.”

While both Dundee clubs have boosted the city’s eastern bloc population with the arrival of Polish, Czech and Slovenian players this summer, FC Polonia will not be lending their support to either half of the Dens and Tannadice divide just yet.

Instead, they will be focusing on their own on-pitch fortunes, with high hopes the squad—which boasts several players with semi-professional experience in Poland’s many national and regional leagues—can overcome their lack of knowledge of the opposition.

Mrs Strzelecka said, “Five of the team, including Sebastian, played semi- professional in Poland.

“We don’t know much about who we are going to be playing.

“We’ve already played one team from the top amateur league and they beat us, so we’re not ready for that, but we hope that we can perhaps win promotion in our first season.”

With a 3-2 victory over FC SiTel under their belt, it seems FC Polonia may dazzle with more than just their language.