After the league classic Gornik Zabrze - Legia Warszawa, most of all they talk not about the game of the players, but about the decisions of the referee of this match, Bartosz Frankowski. We ask renowned arbitrator expert Rafał Rostkowski about controversial arbiter decisions.
Fans of the team from Lazenkovska are outraged that the referee did not give red cards to the home team for deliberately kicking an opponent without the ball and knocking out two teeth to Legia defender Rafal Augustyniak. We asked Rafal Rostkovsky, a former referee, and today a well-known expert in the field of refereeing, about all these questions.
The difficult relationship of the Legia of Warsaw with Bartosz Frankowski
Adding to the piquancy of the whole case is the fact that the head of the judging panel at the PZPN, Tomasz Mikulski, appointed Frankowski to manage the Legia match, despite the fact that he was well aware of the bad past linking the referee to this team. Club activists from Warsaw a few seasons ago were convinced that Frankowski made too many mistakes to their detriment, so they wrote a letter to the trade union not to put this referee on the matches of the team from Lazienkowska.
Despite this, Frankowski was still assigned to Legia matches by the then Chairman of the Referee Board, Zbigniew Przesmicki. The union did not want to create a precedent for clubs to choose their own judges. After the match between Legia and Śląsk Wrocław, when serious disagreements arose again in favor of the team from Warsaw, the opinion changed. In that match, the fault was not the chief referee, but his assistant Marcin Boniek, who prematurely raised the flag, signaling offside, which confused the Legia players. One way or another, since then Frankowski has not judged Legia for 1.5 years. Now he’s back and… Meatballs again.
We asked Rafał Rostkowski, an expert referee, as he himself emphasizes, independent of FIFA, UEFA and PZPN, to evaluate the decision of the referee in the match between Gornik Zabrze and Warsaw Legia.
Dariusz Tuzimek (“Wprost”): Do you understand the tenacity of the head of the refereeing board in appointing this particular referee for Legia matches? Maybe something is really wrong in the Frankowski-Legia match and it is worth giving him a break?
Rafal Rostkowski: Indeed, the matches between Legia and Frankowski are unsuccessful, these are the facts. However, I would not like it to follow from my statement that this is Frankowski’s fault, because he does not choose the matches he will play.
The fault lies primarily with the one who makes such a mold, knowing what happened in the past.
On the other hand, it is clear that clubs should not choose their own referees. This would be a harmful practice. However, it should be noted that many foreign federations, led by FIFA and UEFA, take into account situations that can lead to disagreements, misunderstandings or tensions regarding refereeing. It happens that clubs or national federations ask not to appoint one or another referee to them. These requests are sometimes - in justified cases - taken into account. The point is to avoid unnecessary arguments and situations that lead to tension. Nobody needs it.
I am not accusing Bartosz Frankowski of being biased, it just reminds me of proving something by force, to the detriment of all interested parties. What is the reason for such stubbornness of the head of the Board of Judges? This undermines the credibility of all arbitrators. This reminds me of the situation when the former head of the Polish Football Association, Zbigniew Boniek, insisted that Tomasz Musial, also from Krakow, lead the match against the Krakow Vistula. The referee was so careful not to be accused of supporting White Star, and in the end delivered one of the very unfavorable decisions for the Krakow club.
In both FIFA and UEFA, it is welcome if a referee declares that he does not want to referee a match in a given country or referee a team for some specific legal reason. Such applications are taken into account, because it is better to be safe than to provoke disputes.
This is a maturity that instills confidence in the bodies that make decisions in football. The judge must be like Caesar’s wife, above all suspicion. Therefore, I do not understand the purpose of Frankowski being appointed to manage Legia matches. Who needs it?
Source: Wprost
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have been an author at Daily News Hack for the past 1 year. I mostly cover sports news, but I also have a keen interest in current affairs and politics. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis and spending time with my family.
