Pawel Raczkowski was to referee the game. Niels Boersema
Four Polish referees were to lead the AEK-Aris Salonika meeting in Greece. But after arriving drunk and having a fight on a plane, they were finally pushed aside.
Scandal in Greece. Four Polish referees – Pawel Raczkowski, Radoslav Siecka, Adam Kupcik and Kristof Jakubik – had been chosen to officiate the Super League play-off clash between AEK and Aris Saloniki on Sunday April 10. But according to the local press, the quartet would have arrived drunk in Athens.
And that’s not all. The four officials also reportedly fought on the plane with passengers. Result of the races, the Greek Football Federation dismissed the Polish referees and appointed local referees to officiate the match.
Referees deny
«During the flight (Saturday evening), they fought with Greek passengers who lived in Poland and had come to visit their country. The four referees had a conversation about the context of Greek football, saying terrible things while consuming copious amounts of alcohol on the plane» details the Greek media Gazetta.gr. The latter also reportedly got angry with two Greek citizens, while continuing to provoke them until they received their luggage. One of the two Greek citizens, annoyed by the attitude of the referees, would have even received a spit from them.
Informations “wrongAccording to Pawel Raczkowski, the referee who was to be at the whistle of the meeting and who agreed to answer questions from the Greek media. “Everything written about us being drunk is a lie. We are professional referees and would never behave like this. During the flight, the following thing happened: two passengers, who spoke both languages, started insulting us for no reason. They told us that they support Panathinaikos and that the next day they will tell everything to the press and that we will not referee this game».
“We weren’t drunk”
«I don’t understand what happened. When we landed one of them verbally attacked us and spat in my face. With the intervention of the police, the incident ceased. We weren’t drunkadded the Polish referee. Before continuing and explaining that they did not go to a bar.
«I went to the hotel where I spent the whole night, not to a bar as you can easily see from the CCTV footage. In the morning, when no one had contacted me Mr. Bennett (member of the Federation) came to pick me up at the hotel and told me that the match would not be whistled because of these rumors“. A controversy that swells in Greece and should not stop there.
”
data-script=”
>
