100 thousand people protested in Paris. Poland was covered by sanctions. Nobody wanted to play with the staff

Everyone in Poland knows what happened on December 13, 1981. General Wojciech Jaruzelski will declare martial law. Tanks left the streets of Polish cities, patrols of soldiers appeared at railway stations, barriers and military detectors guarded entrances to larger cities. Libra will not even back down from shooting citizens. On December 16, the Special Platoon of the Motorized Odwodw Civic Militia will open fire to the strikers at the Wujek Mine. Nine men were killed and 23 were wounded. Almost 10,000 people – activists of the democratic opposition – were arrested.

Shock in Europe. Poland will be hit by sanctions

These events caused a shock in Europe. Martial law in Poland became number one of all press and television services. Demonstrations against a dictatorship that have declared war on its people have been held in almost every Western European capital. In Paris, on December 14, 100,000 people participated in the demonstration. In front of the embassies of the Polish People’s Republic in London, the protest continues for 14 consecutive days, day and night. In front of the cathedral in Munich, a large cross of flowers was placed with the inscription: “Kein Kriegsrecht mehr in Polen” (“No more martial law in Poland”).

The governments and parliaments of democratic states condemned Jaruzelski’s actions. The United States, whose president was then Ronald Reagan, placed Poland under economic sanctions. All official contacts with the People’s Republic of Poland were frozen. Poland was cut off from the possibility of taking foreign loans. Fishing in American waters was banned and scientific cooperation was suspended. Supplies for agriculture and Poland’s access to modern technologies were blocked.

Apart from these official sanctions, there were also less official ones. They will touch, inter alia, Polish representation in football. At that time, Poles belonged to the world man. In October 1981 – for the third time in a row – they were promoted to the world championship. The staff is led by Antoni Piechniczek.

Summer: Lubaski came to me and asked: do you have a widow?

Martial law was as much a shock for football players as it was for the rest of society. Grzegorz Lato, an early staff member, recalls this moment in an interview with “Fakt”: – I was playing in Belgium then. It was Sunday. I was still asleep when I heard a pounding on the door. I opened it, and on the threshold stood pale Wodek Lubaski, a friend with whom we were playing Lokeren’s attack together. “What are you doing here?” – I asked, because Wodek is going to the country and should be on his way, and he does not wake me up with a pale holy day. “Do you have a Wdk?” he asked with a question. To be very upset. “I have” – ​​nodded my head. “And I have caviar, we drink it” – replied Lubaski. It totally surprised me, because Wodzio is not one of those people who start their day with drinking alcohol. “There is martial law in Poland. Jaruzelski will take the army to the streets” – explains Wodek. We turned on the TV, and there are Belgian news and news from Poland. We immediately tried to call our relatives back home. With no result. There was no signal, nothing. Silence. And this uncertainly. Has nothing happened to them? How serious is the situation? Was there any bloodshed … My parents were dead then, but I am worried about my brother and his family, and she is worried about her mother. The leader could not sit still …

– We wondered how we would continue to function, how we would continue to live. Will we be allowed to prepare? Will we be allowed to play? – recalls Jzef Mynarczyk, goalkeeper of the Polish national team in 1979-86 in the documentary “Mundial. Game for everything”, which had its premiere in 2014.

The world is boycotting the Polish national team

His fears were not unfounded. It was not known whether the importance of the Polish People’s Republic ever sent the Polish national team to the World Cup in Spain. The fact that these were not repeated fears is best shown by the boycott, which took place two years later – in 1984, Poland together with the group of the so-called Socialist countries did not send athletes to the Los Angeles Games.

– The authorities then had the possibility that if they wanted to, they would withdraw us from this world championship and the championship would be held without Poland. It wouldn’t be a problem – Piechniczek is talking about these fears.

On the other hand, Poland was subject to an unofficial boycott by other countries. Teams from democratic countries did not want to play with Poles, so that the matches would not be used for propaganda purposes by the communist weight of the People’s Republic of Poland. Whereas the so-called socialist countries feared that the matches with Poland would be an occasion for anti-socialist demonstrations.

– We had a few friendly matches, but nothing came of it – recalls Lato. – The Belgians refused us, the Russians refused us. We played a few matches with the second and third league teams.

– Everyone withdrew, incl. Belgium, although the match was already contracted. We were planning a meeting with the USSR, but it was our importance, Piechniczek said in an interview for “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

The preparatory camp scheduled for January in the Federal Republic of Germany has not been completed. The team was to prepare in the country in Wile. – We had to in the WOP headquarters [Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza] announces our marches to Stoek. lest we were accidentally shot in the border zone – recalls Piechniczek years later.

Waga feared that the players might flee Poland

The authorities of the Polish People’s Republic feared that each trip abroad would be an opportunity for the representatives to break away from the team and stay in Western Europe. It would be an image catastrophe. Especially if it turned out that one of the stars of the frame would do it for political reasons. The citizens of the Polish People’s Republic were not allowed to leave the country without the consent of the authorities. To stay abroad without permission was also a violation of the law.

In April 1982, two football players – Roman Geszlecht and Wenanta Fuhl – left the youth team, which returned via West Germany after the match with England. The former was one of the candidates for the World Cup. In Poland, it was written that they had been charged with shoplifting in London and asked for political asylum in the courtroom.

Despite all these fears, in April Piechniczka’s team got permission to go to sparring matches with clubs in Spain. The Polish national team won 4: 1 with Athletic Bilbao and 5: 1 with Celt Vigo.

– When we were going with the national team to Spain, we had official colonels who watched us. Well, they supposedly cares about the safety of the team. But they also pointed out that we should not show our sympathy for “Solidarity”, for example, that one of the footballers would not have to put on T-shirts with the logo of the union – says Piechniczek.

Just before the World Cup, the team went to the West again. This time to Murrhardt near Stuttgart in West Germany. Piechniczek recalls this trip very warmly. – In fact, during this martial law we were treated in the West with kindness. We flew to Germany at camp, a new neoplan is waiting for us at the airport in Frankfurt. Pitrowa, all lengthwise covered with white letters on a red background: “Polnische Nationalmannschaft”. We go inside, everyone has a packet: a new Adidas T-shirt, what good cosmetics, frankfurters’ sausages with a cigar-like rim: “Only for the Polish national team”. What kind of thistle of Polish origin will do it – says the Polish selector in an interview for “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

Jacek Jarecki’s romantic escape. He will choose his beloved over the World Cup

There was another escape of a Polish pickaxer. It was a romantic story, not a political one. Jacek Jarecki, Wroclaw goalkeeper, will fall in love with reciprocity with Gabriela Jarosz – Poland’s vice-champion of juniors in tennis from 1977, who immigrated with her family to Germany before martial law. They had not seen each other for seven months, and Jarosz came to see him during the training camp.

Jarecki hesitates for a long time, but just before returning to Poland, from which the squad was due to fly to Spain for the World Cup, left the hotel in the middle of the night and would not return to Poland. Summer will help him escape. The windows in the guesthouse were only tilt and the doors closed at night. Summer had a spare key though, because he knew the owner well. – I opened this door for him, because everyone chooses his fate. I remember it was around four in the morning. Jacek said to us: “Hi, guys”, got into the car with the girls and went – Summer recalls in an interview for “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

Then Jarecki married Jarosz and stayed in West Germany for good. He could continue his career after serving one year in disqualification.

Despite the lack of international contacts, the performance in Spain was a great success for Poles. Team Piechniczka only lost in the finals against the future world champions – Italy, and in the match for the third place in the world they won with France 3-2.