One of the most absurd statements that could be heard in the media after the match between the Czech Republic and Poland was made by the former world boxing champion, Ewa Piątkowska. In the “7 Days of Sport” program, she said: – I think that the Polish national team is a tragic creation that should be dissolved. The performances of this team are tragic – she said.
In the GDR, Piątkowska’s idea was implemented
I was immediately reminded of the times rightly past. At one time in the GDR – the German Democratic Republic – they came to the conclusion that East Germany in basketball had no medal prospects. And then the Socialist Unity Party of Germany decided that the East German national team would not play any more international tournaments. And in 1973 the staff was dissolved.
Nowadays, Piątkowska’s postulate makes no sense. We are not some GDR to forbid anyone from association and international contacts. But that wasn’t what it was about. Piątkowska’s statement was supposed to cause a storm and it is not surprising that football fans were outraged. The boxer wanted to put a stick in an anthill. And she succeeded. She got five minutes of fame.
We live in some kind of illusion. This approach no longer exists
However, there is a certain intuition in this statement, which is worth the so-called the football community thought about it. We still live in some kind of illusion. Such that the matches of the national team are to be a football celebration, the peak of sports emotions and emotions. That the whole nation cheers for its players, etc.
Meanwhile, it is a relic of the previous era, just like the GDR. Only such Sunday fans as Piątkowska or others who agree with her, still live some afterimage of those times. Read real experts. They will explain to you that the fans have no right to demand anything from the team, because the first matches (against the Czech Republic and Albania) do not matter, secondly Fernando Santos – as he said – he is still learning, and thirdly only points count. Admittedly, the first and third observations do not quite fit together, but only because they have to be considered on two different levels.
Matches that should be a celebration are anti-advertising
And in general, the experts are right. Santos is just getting to know the players, looking for the optimal setting, etc. Added to this is the fact that the current season is completely absurd with the so-called. the target event, which is the world championship inside. And this, in turn, made the leader of the Polish team unrecognizable after the World Cup. There are dozens of excuses for the team’s hopeless game. But what does it mean for a fan who would like to watch a good football match once every six months? None. After all, only the national team is interested in the vast majority of the football audience in Poland. That is why several million people – the fact that fewer and fewer – sit in front of screens. And instead of emotions and emotions, a show of sportsmanship and ambition, they get a product not to be seen. No wonder they want to unsubscribe later. Matches that should be an advertisement for football are its anti-advertisement.
This, of course, is only partly the fault of the players and coaches themselves. It is rather a consequence of the absurdly extensive football calendar, in which FIFA and UEFA add more positions to the races. Football behaves like a monopolist in the market. The activists are so confident that they don’t care about the quality of their product, but about its quantity. Matches are played under the slogan of three “Z”: play, earn, forget. Only the toughest electorate can withstand such an approach. And here is no good news for those who would like to watch the ball from the jump. Unfortunately, it’s like in politics – the toughest electorate is the most important.
