Okęcie Airport incident

The Okęcie Airport incident (Polish: Afera na Okęciu) was a dispute between players and technical staff of the Poland national football team on 29 November 1980, starting at the team hotel in Warsaw and climaxing at Okęcie Airport. An incident of footballing insubordination at a time when strike action and other forms of civil resistance were intensifying in communist Poland, it caused a domestic press storm, which led first to the suspension of several prominent players, then the resignation of the team manager, Ryszard Kulesza.

Józef Młynarczyk, the team's goalkeeper, was hungover when the time came to leave the hotel for the airport, having not been to sleep following a night on the town with a friend. Kulesza and one of his assistants, Bernard Blaut, decided to leave Młynarczyk behind, much to the indignation of some players, including Stanisław Terlecki, Zbigniew Boniek, Włodzimierz Smolarek and Władysław Żmuda. Terlecki, a stridently pro-Western intellectual with a reputation for mocking the communist establishment, was particularly angered, and himself drove Młynarczyk to the airport, where the players continued their protests. Kulesza eventually relented and allowed Młynarczyk to travel with the team.

The Polish media took hold of the story and vociferously attacked the rebellious players over the following days. Meanwhile, Terlecki again defied the communist authorities by arranging for the players to meet Pope John Paul II. The Polish Football Association sent Terlecki, Młynarczyk, Boniek and Żmuda home and imposed various bans preventing them from playing at the international and club level over the next year. Terlecki and Boniek in particular were condemned by the association as insubordinate "rabble-rousers". Smolarek received a more modest, suspended ban. Kulesza resigned in protest at the sanctions imposed on the players, saying they were too harsh. Most of the banned players were reinstated during 1981, but Terlecki was not—he emigrated to the United States in June that year and although he returned home five years later, he never played for Poland again.

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