On Saturday, Bartosz Frankowski was the referee for the GKS Katowice – Raków Częstochowa match in the PKO Ekstraklasa. On Tuesday, he was supposed to be a VAR referee for the third round of the Champions League qualifiers between Dynamo Kiev and Rangers FC.
He had to, because he was eventually replaced. All because the night before the match he got drunk, went out on the town and caused trouble – that’s the short version.
At night (at 1:43) he was stopped by the Lublin police together with Tomasz Musiał. A breathalyzer test showed that one of them had about 1.8 per mille of alcohol in his blood, while the other had almost 1.7 per mille. However, the reason for the stop was not the sobriety of the referees, but their behavior: they stole a road sign and moved with it towards a shopping center.
It is certain that they will face severe consequences for this offense, as already confirmed by the Polish Football Association. The referees’ board will apply to the secretary general of the federation to terminate the contracts with the referees.
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Musiał was the first to break the silence (—-> STATEMENT HERE). Then Frankowski spoke for TVP Sport.
– In fact, I am still trying to find the words that will adequately express how much I regret that this incident happened and how sorry I am. I am aware that with one such misdemeanour I have erased 22 years of working with the whistle and building my position. It was stupidity, a lancer’s fantasy, I don’t even know what term to use. I should have been preparing for the match in peace and not going anywhere. Probably then nothing would have happened – said Frankowski.
Instead of preparing for the match, the Polish referees spent several hours in a sobering-up room. – From what one of the policemen later told me, our escapade was noticed on the monitoring. They asked for intervention. I would like it to be clear that we were not behaving aggressively in any way. These were stupid jokes. We did not suspect that it could be perceived that way. We had no bad intentions. This sign was an idiotic game… Now, when I look back on it, it was not a sensible idea – stated the referee.
– It was a sign that was lying around during roadworks, a temporary solution. We passed by and that was it – said Frankowski, when asked about the now famous sign.
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