Busted!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for Polish football, politics has reared its ugly head again.
Through the Reuters line yesterday came the story of continued arrests and deeper corruption in the Polish national football association (aka the PZPN).

Reportedly, some four referees and officials were busted for match-fixing last week. The detentions, said those in the know, “were part of a wider probe into a match-fixing ring and that they suspected other officials in PZPN could be involved.”

Aside from reminding readers that the word “probe” is pretty much always funny, the statements and investigation do little more than darken the already thickly clouded skies over Polish football.

Indeed, Poland PM Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz recently unleashed the tax dogs, announcing an audit of club books. “We did not take these steps earlier due to the preparations for the World Cup finals,” said Marcinkiewicz last week, causing thirty-eight million-plus to wince at still fresh memories. “Now we have to.”

Naturally, this brouhaha will do the Poland/Ukraine joint bid to host the 2012 European Championship no good whatsoever. Folks in Italy, Croatia and Hungary have got to be experiencing some nice schadenfreude, though the last example might want to ease up on the smugness and bit while checking their own clubs’ closets for commie-caused skeletons.