Sonoma County Alliance Soccer Club - Andrew's Stagiere Blog Sunday, September 2nd , 2:30pm

In the middle of the Sonoma County Alliance tournament game SCA – Atletico Santa Rosa U11 Boys, my mother gave me a ride to the Sonoma County Airporter bus.

As I boarded the bus it hit me that a new “Football Adventure” was about to begin.

Being an avid reader (mostly about Soccer), I packed several books that I have not quite had the time to read.

The book I dove into on the bus and plane is Behind the Curtain : Travels in Eastern European Football by, Jonathan Wilson. It is a story of how eastern Europe has changed since the Berlin Wall came down – told through football.

Vestiges of the old system coexist uneasily with the new, and the result isn’t working: whatever else has changed for the better, the football – with the possible exception of the game in Russia – has grown immeasurably worse. So in an indirect way, it is a story of capitalism, and its effect on the socialist economies of the east, the story of how football has dealt with the new ideology and its new set of masters.

Searching for more information on Polish Football, I quickly read the Prologue and Chaper 1 - Ukraine : Playing the System.

Chapter 2 is named Poland: The Ugly Daughter and this is what I found out.

In 2000, Jerzy Engel, coach of the World Cup Team, read about a National Survey on the state of the nation. Asked what the worst thing about Poland was, # 1 was the roads and #2 was the National Football Team.

From 1986 – 2002 Poland had been to no major tournaments and the objection of the National Team had become a joke rooted in the Polish landscape.

In the early 1970’s a coach named Kazimerez Gorksi prepared the Polish Team. Before Gorski, there was a socialist thing “ coach was equal to a commanding officer like in the military”. Gorki created a community and treated players like younger friends. He had an assistant, his right hand man Jacek Knoch a tactican who was an expert in scouting the opponents.

Gorski was very calm and famous for catchphrases and a gifted motivator, organizer and delegator with great humor. Most important, he instituted a professional mentality two decades before professionalism was legal.

In 1972, Poland won the Olympic Gold Medal in Munich and in May of 1973 against England @ Wembley in front of 100,000 drew 1-1 and qualified for the World Cup in Germany in 1974. So happy was the Vice President of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) that he jumped into the shower with the players with his suit on.

In 1974, Poland finished 3rd which gave them belief and had two more credible World Cup’s in 1978 in Argentina and 1982 in Spain. In 1986 there were again horrible and then most recently exited in the first round in both 2002 and 2006.

Today, Poland continues to produce top talented players, but do not translate it into competitive success. This is the result of mismanagement at all levels from the government downwards, and especially with the PZPN.

Many claim there is an old style , old fashioned thinking. The PZPN’s director states “ The old guard has dominated too long: Communism died in Poland in 1989, but only died in the PZPN ten years later”.

Stadiums and fields are run down, owners are corrupt, and clubs are not organized with TV and image rights. Although several clubs have a rich tradition such as Polonia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow, most are struggling on all aspects.

Currently, Poland has the so called G4 (the 4 leading clubs) : Legia Warsaw, Wislaw Krakow, Amica and Groclin, with strong investment and some success in European Football.

In 2005, the top clubs disestablished themselves from the PZPN and founded a separate and self governing company. Polish Soccer expert, Stefaniski quotes “ This could be a landmark for Polish Football and a start of a New Age. Defeatism is a common trait in Poland. The Poles are against almost everything and have been fighting the Russians, the Germans and also each other. That is why we do not create anymore. It is a problem beyond sport. We are all children of the Communist regime, even if we were against it or born after the collapse of the system, it is still very , very much inside of us. It’s in the mentality : the long tradition of fighting against occupation, and fighting against Communism.”

“Hopefully this new structure will help us compete more equally with top European Clubs.”