Two years ago, the then chairman of Sokol Živanice ran out of patience and wrote an open letter to the management of the Football Association of the Czech Republic about practices in the third highest competition. Petr Špaček did not receive an answer. Instead, he lost his membership in the FACR. He was even more surprised when the head of the association, Martin Malík, now said that everyone who works in football could be to blame for the situation in football, because they did not want to burn their fingers.
When Petr Špaček pointed out the non-standard practices of referees in the CFL in October 2018, the officials of the association tried to persuade him to withdraw his statements.
“I was pressured to call it off, he apologized, he made himself a mistaken jerk,” recalls now “only” the honorary chairman of football Živanice.
Last year, he lost his membership in the association because of his letter. Roman Berbr and Martin Malík are signed under his exclusion.
The reason for the proceedings, at the end of which a long-term official lost the opportunity to work in football, was “disregarding the name of the FACR in front of the general public”. He could have escaped with a lesser punishment if he had succumbed to pressure from the association’s leadership.
“No one dealt with my arguments and suspicions. They only dealt with being a pest for the football association,” he returns to his two-year-old letter.
“Mr. Malík also put pressure on me. I was reproached for publishing the letter. I consider it absolutely impossible. To keep my mouth shut and so it was set. Nobody talked to me,” says Špaček.
After Friday’s arrest of Roman Berbr and other officials, he considers it incomprehensible that Malík remains chairman of the FACR. He therefore wrote another open letter after the meeting of the Executive Committee. Malík’s words upset her.
“He said he had no idea what was going on. It occurred to me that he was talking out of the way or from Mars not to know about it. I was angry that he thought it was a collective fault and that the teams were to blame, because she did not draw attention to unfairness in the CFL and the division, “Spacek wonders.
“Not only did I point this out several times, for example in a letter two years ago, I named specific matches and referees, but I never even bore an answer to anyone. I was very angry that Mr. Malík said that they had no suggestions from anyone. In addition I was not the only one, others in front of me and after me spoke. Every time someone spoke, they were silenced and others suffered, “describes Špaček.
In the case of Živanice, unusual situations began to increase in matches after the club’s open letter to the football association. “I’m sorry that the boys who kick the third league, go to work, train four days a week and go somewhere to the match on the fifth day and the referee cuts them or laughs at them on the field,” says the former official and player.
In one of the matches in Živanice, which was supposed to be influenced in favor of the opponent from Vyšehrad, the police are involved in the current case. “It got worse and worse. With every match, even in the fall. By speaking, we were told we were unwilling. We were bullied, fined, expelled. In general, we were told we were unnecessary. “They would rather the team disappear, especially so that they have peace from us,” he thinks. “I’m calling officials from other clubs who have a similar experience to me.”
According to him, the last match less than two weeks ago proves it. “We played at home with Velvary and referee Ježek cut us off in an incredible way, really, unbelievably,” Špaček describes his feelings.
By the way, Marek Pilný, known from the case of drunken judges in Příbram in 2016, waved on the line. At first, the FACR was expelled for life, but in 2019 he was readmitted again.
Team captain Sebastien Langr was subsequently given an additional stop five matches for obscene words in the Živanice-Velvary match. The club fined 30,000 for poor organizing service. “Apart from the organizers, there were of course no fans at the match,” says Špaček.
Fans also got used to it
Since the autumn of 2018, Živanice had to get used to the non-standard actions of the referees in the matches of the Czech Football League. “It was crazy back then. They intentionally injured our player. The referee told him during the match: You can’t finish. And so it happened,” says Špaček.
He points out the fact that in Živanice, players do not make a living from football. They train after work. “For example, after two liquidation operations, Tomáš Kakrda had a knee in such a condition that they had to put it together. He did not play for a year and lost his job due to injury. These are tragic things. The basic duty of the referee is to protect players. This is absolutely monstrous. no one wanted to deal with, “is the honorary chairman of honor.
Some spectators who watched the CFL match subsequently became accustomed to the state of affairs. “We came to some courses and people already told us that the referees would cut us. They reckoned it was the standard. The spectators accepted it as their own.”
Hope for change
On Friday, the police arrested twenty people, including Vice-Chairman Roman Berbr and some referees. Berbr subsequently resigned from the position within the association, and the chairman of the league’s referee committee, Jozef Chovanec, was removed.
According to Špaček, this is not enough to clean football. “Roman Berbr’s resignation and the end of Jozef Chovanec are very few. I consider it cowardice that Mr. Malík remains. These people were to make the positions immediately available, it was to be solved. This is a half-baked solution,” the football dissident is convinced.
“It would help the most to reach people who thought well about football and used to be in football. For example, lawyer Markéta Haindlová or Petr Mlsna. But just because they had reservations, they had to leave. I wish football was again “about sports, not about behind-the-scenes and financial games. If it is not cleaned up today, then never,” comments Špaček on the current situation.
He has not yet been persuaded by what is happening to return to the football movement. “Given the situation, if the people who stayed there remain in football, I don’t want my membership back,” he said, noting that enough changes had not yet taken place.
“I don’t want to take part in it. It hurt me terribly, I did the chairman in Živanice, but after the exclusion I couldn’t do it officially. I’ve been involved in football all my life, I enjoyed it, it’s my great love, but if nothing changes, so I don’t want anything to do with it anymore, “he explains.
“A lot is wrong. Now there is hope for something to improve. If it doesn’t improve, it won’t clear up and people who think well will come, so there’s no point in dealing with football anymore.”
Starling does not want to throw clubs, referees or delegates into one bag. “There are referees who are honest and whistle fairly, just as there are fair delegates. The best matches in terms of football and smooth running are matches with B-flats, whether Pardubice, Hradec or Bohemians. They are not interested in anything, they have no other interests than to “Of course I don’t mind losing when the match is fair. I don’t have a problem with that, but I don’t mind if the boys cut someone like horses and still make fun of them,” he adds.
Open letter to the Chairman of the FACR
Mr. Malík,
When I read your statement on how surprised you were by the events in the Saturday issue of Sport, I thought you might be kidding. After all, you are the chairman of the association.
However, when I heard your statement on Monday evening after the meeting of the Non-Executive Committee, I was very angry. How can you express that all this is collective guilt! It seems to me that you have gone back in time. How can you point the clubs at the point of not wanting to burn your fingers and not drawing attention to football situations? That’s right, you’re not telling the truth. I should just remind you of some cases, such as Zličín, Jihlava, etc., but last but not least, my personal experience. It has been two years since I tried to draw attention to the conditions in our football with an open letter. You personally put pressure on me to withdraw the whole case, apologize and make a mistake. Several more times, during the proceedings with me, I submitted suggestions in writing and also asked for a review of the video on the regularity of some matches by guided arbitrators such as Štuk, Hanousek. Zadinová etc. And lastly Hedgehog. The only thing I achieved was to impose nonsensical fines on our club, and in many matches we were shown what you want to do with us through the referees. Unrecognized goals, imaginary penalties, dozens of yellow cards and red ones. And you say you had no stimuli…
You lack complete self-reflection. I expected you to apologize to all the honest people in football, for the unfortunate events, for the players for the intentional injuries they suffered under the auspices of the referees and delegates, for the spoiled weekends after the spoiled matches to the club owners for the wasted money and last but not least to the spectators.
I would also like to state that on behalf of TJ Sokol Živanice I will demand the return of funds for fines unjustifiably imposed, on behalf of Župa Sokolská, where I am an executive in the local Gymnastics Union, because you fired me from the FACR, but you cannot leave Sokol. These funds are Sokol, and will be spent on youth.
On my behalf, I would like to point out that the proceedings with me lasted half a year, where I was humiliated by the FACR authorities, in my free time and at my own expense many times summoned before nonsensical commissions, where I was pressured clubs and some individuals who directly or indirectly wanted to express their support for me. On 4 April 2019, I was expelled from the FACR by a Decision personally signed by you and Mr. Berbr, which is the highest possible punishment according to the FACR statutes. It was mentioned in “the nature of the perpetrator of irreparability, the possibility of continuing criticism, etc.” a total of three parties to the Decision. With this exclusion, you prevented me from further activities in my beloved football. I suffered from this, my health deteriorated, sleep disorders appeared and I was generally socially disqualified. I will therefore ask the FACR body for an apology or compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
Where there is a little decency to apologize to people who dared to comment on the situation in our football and were criticized or punished for it, such as the International Mr. Bartoš, Vízek, Šmicer, and others. You have apologized to the honest people you alienated from football, such as Mgr. Haindlova, JUDr. Mlsna, Mr. Popper and many others? Don’t you want to ask them to return to the FACR leadership?
There are still more questions than answers in this unfortunate case.
Sincerely, citizen
Petr Spacek
In Pardubice 20.10.2020
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