Poland FA seeking punishments for England over racism accusations
By Tom Gott
The president of the Poland FA has revealed that he plans to ask FIFA to punish England for 'unjustifiable' claims of racist abuse when the two sides met in early September.
The match, which finished 1-1, had a bumpy end the first half after Poland defender Kamil Glik clashed with England's Kyle Walker, sparking a mini-brawl which saw Harry Maguire booked for his incensed response to Glik's actions.
After the game, it emerged that England reported allegations of racist abuse from Glik towards Walker to FIFA, who opened an investigation into the incident but dropped it without making any charges earlier this week.
From the outset, Poland were furious to have such allegations directed towards them and FA president Cezary Kulesza has now confirmed that he plans to seek punishments from anyone who accused Glik of racism.
"I have made a decision that the Poland FA will apply to FIFA to punish those who have unjustifiably accused Kamil Glik of racist behaviour during the match against England," Cezary Kulesza wrote on Twitter.
"I was convinced from the outset that these allegations were completely wrong, so we will officially intervene."
Shortly after the incident took place, Glik was adamant that the on-pitch scuffle was simply your average clash of players and had nothing to do with any discriminatory words or actions.
“It was an ordinary field jostling. It all started with a free-kick for us," he said. “There was a fight for position, a scuffle. I tried to shake Walker’s hand, but he wouldn’t take it. It was a verbal scuffle, nothing else happened.”
England found themselves embroiled in another racism scandal during this international break after a travelling Hungary supporter was arrested for abusing a steward at Wembley.
Hungary are already serving stadium bans handed out by both FIFA and UEFA and are under investigation for further disturbances during the England game.