Inside Polish Sports

Episode 11: Debate d'Or

On this weekly review me and Irish Dave discuss whether this is FINALLY the year that Lewy receives the favour he is owed by the (France) Football gods and get his Ballon d'Or. A few things would have to happen first, of course: at least a Barcelona Champions League win, maybe a LaLiga title too, and who knows if they can in fact complete a Treble. Also within his own club Robert has competition within his own dressing room from Yamal and Raphinha.
But then again, all Footballer of the Year awards are fraud. Just look at those that Ronaldo gets in Qatar or the FIFA vote from 2000 when they gave one to Pele just because Maradona got the public vote. This is turn sparks our inevitable last orders at the pub debate on who's (used to be) the GOAT.
As for Iga, she is right now at that stage in the movie when the iceberg has been hit the and the captain is learning about the inevitable. She is now 0-6 against Jelena Ostapenko and could soon lose the World number two to Jessica Pegula, which would no longer mean the shortest possible route to tournament finals.
Hapilly, for a rebound on her beloved (outdoor) clay courts, she won't need anywhere near as big of a miracle as Speedway rider Tai Woffinden achieved when just 10 days after what could've been a fatal crash, he started walking again. No wonder there's next to no free TV coverage of that sport...........
And since were on the subject of life and death, Leo Benhakker has died at the age of 88. Poland's first ever foreign manager might've ended his tenure in tears but before he somehow helped us win an eight-team Euro qualifying group featuring Belgium, Serbia and Finland, while beating Ronaldo's Portugal at home and drawing in Lisbon.
 

Episode 10: Kozakiewicz: The Man, The Myth, The Gesture

On this historical lookback, we remember perhaps the most important Polish Olympic gold medal ever. The moment itself only lasted for a split second and came to the man who did it spontaneously, but its power and symbolism travelled far beyond the walls of Luzniki Stadium in Moscow.
Just 15 days after Władysław Kozakiewicz broke the world Pole Vault record and showed the Russian fans where to stick it, the Gdańsk Shipyard workers, led by Lech Wałęsa, came out on strike and Europe would never be the same.
This is the story of the abuse, disappointment and typical communist-era malfeasance that led Kozakiewicz to defy an entire Evil Empire during its biggest ever propaganda exercise.

Episode 9: Ball Boys and Striker Girls

Irish Dave is back with me for our weekly review. You would hope that I will be most excited with our World Cup qualifying wins over Lithuania and Malta(held last night after our Sunday morning recording), but then you remember: It's only Lithuania and Malta...........and we almost dropped points in the first one..............and our 36-year old star striker bailed us out which we will deeply miss when his career is done.
Whilst Lewandowski is a Ballon d'Or contender again thanks to his exploits at Barcelona, another Polish striker based in the home of Gaudi might actually have a better chance. Ewa Pajor is averaging a goal per match this season and her national team is going to their first Euros ever in July. Dave will talk about his ideas of further growing the Women's Football boom: Have doubleheaders every week so that we might further prefer the matinee women's match compared to the men's inevitable 0-0 in the evening.
After all it's the same format that Tennis uses during its Grand Slams, which brings me neatly to Iga Świątek almost killing the ball boy during her semifinal loss in Indian Wells. In her defense though, almost every famous Tennis player vented out their anger in public at least once. Even Tim Henman, which I found remarkable because he has the most boring demeanour of any player ever.
You might not know this but for me the most wonderful time of the year last about four months, because the NHL playoffs start just after our national championship in Ice Hockey had already been decided. I feel like I have the necessity of supporting dethroned champions Unia Oświęcim simply because they are the closest pro sports team to my hometown which makes us the desert of the Polish sporting map. All we have in Wadowice is Kremówka pie and monasteries. However, I would much rather have Poland getting promoted up to the World Championships top flight than club success, because I would once more love to experience what me and Dave saw in Ostrava last year.

Episode 8: Wojciech Fibak

In this historical lookback(no pun intended), we take a look at the man who first made Poles fall in love with Tennis and without whom my own mother wouldn't right now be an Iga Świątek groupie.
Wojciech Fibak is a renaissance man in more ways than one, a skillful and fluent player on the court and outside of it, one of Poland's best known art dealers. He was a Grand Slam champion in doubles, a Top 10 player in singles, won 67 career titles in the formats and earned more money than any Polish athlete in the 20th century.
And yet, his most famous night was also his most tragic, on the brink of winning the 1976 Masters in Houston his momentum was destroyed, of all people, by Michael Douglas' father Kirk and his wife! The tragicomedic story of that match and more on this Inside Polish Sports.

Episode 7: Blaugrana's Sweet 16

Irish Dave is back with me for our weekly(monthly?) review of the big topics in Polish Sports.
Whilst Barcelona are today in mourning following the sudden death of first team doctor Carles Minarro Garcia, they are in by far the best position since Messi left; leading the LaLiga, having gone 16 matches without defeat and last Wednesday Wojciech Szczęsny rolled back the years with a dominant clean sheet vs Benfica in the Champions League Last 16 1st leg. We'll talk both about him and at the very end give flowers to Łukasz Fabiański discussing why Poland always had no shortage of goalkeepers.
Robert Lewandowski now has 686 career goals for club(s) and country. It seems that we shouldn't just argue whether he's Poland's all time GOAT(maybe let's think of another animal-related acronym), but whether in the last 15 years only two other footballers has achieved more than him and been more consistent.
Poles love their country and athletes, but always complain about it. That's the case with our domestic league, even though two Ekstraklasa clubs have can yet make the Conference League quarterfinals. You have to go back to 1971 for multiple Polish sides to continue in Europe this deep into the season.
Poles are also so cynical that whenever a corruption scandal comes along in our Sports, we typically just shrug. That is the case with Polish Olympic Committee boss Radosław Piesiewicz, who is now accused of defrauding close to $3 million through VAT fraud, which is almost $1 million more than the entire cost of Poland's historically dismal Olympic effort in Paris over which he presided. I list off the other major cases surrounding Polish sporting supremos in recent years.
And with Poland drawing Great Britain in the Davis Cup qualifiers I will explain how the Davis Cup has changed its format for both its survival and detriment.
 

Episode 6: Gołota Part 2

In Part 2 of this story I will talk about the last 15 years of Andrzej Gołota's professional career. There is an consistent thread through that time period, because every time it seemed that he had ran out of road or could not redeem himself, he proved you wrong.
Whether it was after losing to Michael Grant and quitting against Mike Tyson, the assault charges in Sopot, being robbed against Chris Byrd and John Ruiz, losing in 53 seconds to Lamon Brewster and getting injured against Ray Austin, Gołota has always found a way out and recovered both his career and personal life. This is why he will always have a place in the hearts of his countrymen.
He may be the Foul Pole, but he is also Our Pole.

Episode 5: Gołota Part 1

Hide behind the Foul Poles everyone! Because this is part 1 of a two-part story of Poland's best known pugilist export. The man who when toe to toe, sometimes too literally, with some of the all time great heavyweights. Even despite his flaws, we Poles will always have a special affection for "Andrew".
This is Andrzej Gołota, from his Olympic exploits in Seoul, through his first bout with the law and emigration to Chicago to dominating Riddick Bowe twice and being humbled by Lennox Lewis.
Part Two of the story(1998-2013) next week.

Episode 4: Meronk's LIV and Let Die

Irish Dave is back for a recap of the major stories in Polish Sports.
Since we last talked Iga Świątek had her run in the Australian Open ended by the eventual champion, Madison Keys. Considering the personal crisis she experienced in recent months, a semi should be considered a massive success. Also don't ever call Melbourne the "happy slam", because how can Tennis players be happy in those temperatures thousands of miles from Europe AND without easy access to grog?
Robert Lewandowski scored another five goals in the past three weeks, helping Barcelona keep their noses up in both the LaLiga title race and Champions League bracket. Arkadiusz Milik meanwhile should be thankful he's still injured because we as a nation only ever see him for the national team shoot over the bar(Maybe he can replace Harrison Butker for the Chiefs).
At least what they're earning is not blood money, compared to the $4 million that Adrian Meronk got for winning the LIV Golf season opener in Riyadh, the biggest Polish golfing success to date. Why has Poland only taken to Golf recently you might ask? A large part of it is that the courses are nowhere close to anyone.
Who knows though if in five years' time Meronk's tournament wins will help Golf exceed Ski Jumping in popularity(which would please Dave because he hates the latter). God knows that would be a welcome change because so far this season none of the Polish jumpers have finished on the podium.
But still their situation is not as bad as that of the Men's national Handball team, whose head coach has been sacked, top player left without notice and who beat the Americans in their last World Championship consolation round game in an arena with less fans than insects.

Episode 3: Wembley '73

This week we take a look back at Polish Football's greatest ever night 52 years ago beneath the Twin Towers of the old Wembley. It was when Kazimierz Górski's Eagles led by Brian Clough's favourite clown Jan Tomaszewski put the Three Lions on their tails and started a decade of glorious success. Ever since we have dreamt of emulating that night and tried unsuccessfully to repeat it.
This is the story of how Poland qualified for its first World Cup finals since the war by humiliating England not once, but twice. This is the story of the Wembley Miracle of 1973.

Episode 2: Weekly Roundup

Join me and Irish Dave for our weekly round-up of all the hottest stories in Polish Sports
This week Robert Lewandowski is staring father time in the face and we discuss whether he should return to Poland for his last dance.
Iga Świątek may be dominating her opponents in the Australian Open, but has her legacy forever been tainted by her doping suspension? Will we ever hear the full story?
We then dive into a discussion about the Polish Olympic Committee and more broadly compensation globally for medalists before touching on the sad story of champion weightlifter Agata Wróbel.
Finally Kuba tries to explain the woes of Polish Men's Handball before Dave interrupts and explains nobody cares about Handball.