The article aims to analyse the evolution of governmental policy in regard to football-related violence in Poland. The investigation is seen through a broader political prism of the country’s modernization efforts that were symbolically framed by two major events: the partially free parliamentary elections in 1989 and the finals of Euro 2012 co-hosted by Poland. The paper offers a discussion on policy dynamics stemmed from politicization and instrumentalization of the complex problem of hooliganism. By doing so, it demonstrates how, under external political pressure and in search for internal popularity, the governments introduced superficial legal and institutional solutions thoughtlessly imitating policies adopted in other countries (mainly England), and how this approach led to masking and sidelining social problems rather than offering actual solutions.