Tomaszewski gets party red card after Euro 2012 remarks
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
27.05.2012 23:56
Jan Tomaszewski, the former goalkeeper, now conservative politician, has been suspended for a month by his party for saying he would not support Poland during Euro 2012.
Jan Tomaszewski: photo - arch PAP/Grzegorz Jakubowski
The Law and Justice (PiS) press bureau says that the suspension is in response to Tomaszewski’s remarks about Poland’s national football team, when he said he would not be cheering for them during Euro 2012, as they include someone who has “been convicted of corruption”, “a Frenchman” and “two Germans” who have already played for France and Germany at junior level.
Coach Franciszek Smuda has argued that he has had to call on Polish-German (Sebastian Boenisch and Eugen Polanski) and Polish-French (Damien Perquis) players after a shortage of talent led to Poland being ranked a lowly 65th in the world by FIFA.
The France-born Perquis, who received Polish citizenship in September last year, scored his first goal for the international side, when they beat Latvia 1 – 0 in a warm up friendly on Saturday.
MP Tomaszewski - who as a goalkeeper was known as the man who stopped England qualifying for the 1974 World Cup finals by his brilliant performance during the 1 – 1 draw at Wembley the year before – said that coach Franciszek Smuda has chosen foreign players at the expense of “true Poles”.
The politician - who legendary British football coach Brian Clough once called “a clown” for his sometimes eccentric antics between the posts - added he was ashamed that he ever played for the Polish national team, wearing the eagle, Poland's national emblem, which has “now been profaned”.
Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski admonished Tomaszewski for his remarks, insisting that “all of Law and Justice will be supporting Poland”.
Tomaszewski repeated the comments about the Polish national team in media interviews, however, despite the disapproval of his party leader.
Jan Tomaszewski played for Poland in the 1974 World Cup in Germany, in which the team placed third and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. He was also a member of the national team which won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976. (pg/mk)