text: okęcie airport incident the okęcie airport incident ( polish : na ) 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 . background in june 1976 , a series of protests took place across communist poland soon after the government announced plans to increase sharply the fixed prices charged nationwide for many basic commodities . violent incidents occurred in płock , radom and ursus as the protests were forcibly put down , and the planned price hikes were cancelled . these demonstrations and the events surrounding them brought the polish workforce and intellectual political opposition together , and by 1980 , a campaign of civil resistance for political change was intensifying strongly . industrial strike action in lublin in july 1980 — the so - called lublin july — preceded the formation of solidarity ( solidarność ) in the port city of gdańsk during the following months . this was the first non - communist trade union in an eastern bloc country . the government took several steps to obstruct solidarity 's emergence , enforcing press censorship and cutting off telephone connections between the coast and the hinterland , but despite these efforts four out of every five polish workers were members of the union by late 1980 . poland 's national football team , managed by ryszard kulesza , was then regarded as one of the world 's best , having finished third at the 1974 world cup . in november 1980 it was ranked sixth in the world by the elo rating system . late that month , the team was preparing for a 1982 world cup qualifying match away against malta on 7 december . the squad 's departure was scheduled for 29 november , 10 days before the game , so the players could attend a training camp in italy , then contest a warm - up match against a team representing the italian league . one of poland 's key players at the time was stanisław terlecki , a forward whose club was łks łódź . the son of university lecturers , terlecki held a degree in history from the university of łódź , as well as fervent anti - communist political views and a strident attitude regarding their display . he was known for openly mocking the establishment with subversive abandon , and regularly made jokes in public about communist authority figures and organisations , prompting the ire of the polish football association ( pzpn ) and the warsaw police force . the first polish international player with a university degree in anything other than physical education , he eschewed the polish sports magazines read by many of his team - mates on road trips in favour of western news journals such as newsweek and time . like many polish intellectuals , he sympathised with movements such as solidarity ; following their example , he twice attempted to unionise polish footballers during the late 1970s . the pzpn blocked both attempts , banning terlecki from all organised football each time ; first for six months , then for a year . incident main incident late on 28 november 1980 , the night before the team 's departure for italy , goalkeeper józef młynarczyk and forward włodzimierz smolarek , both of widzew łódź , left the team hotel in warsaw , the hotel vera , without permission . according to smolarek they did this to get some dinner because they did not like the food at the hotel . they met a friend of młynarczyk 's , sports journalist wojciech zieliński , at the adria nightclub . according to andrzej iwan , another member of the team , the main topic of conversation was zieliński 's estranged wife , who had been caught prostituting herself around warsaw , and had since moved to italy . several poland players knew her , and młynarczyk had just been to italy to play for widzew łódź against juventus . according to iwan , the journalist encouraged młynarczyk to drink as they talked , hoping the goalkeeper might have news of her . smolarek left the club around 02 : 00 , but młynarczyk and zieliński stayed until about three hours later . a senior national team official , colonel roman of the polish army , said he saw the goalkeeper and the journalist reach the hotel in a taxi soon after 05 : 00 — but rather than going to his room , młynarczyk then left again with zieliński before returning again around 07 : 00 . tired and hungover , młynarczyk joined the rest of the players for breakfast , and according to terlecki spent most of the meal getting worked up about possible managerial retribution . młynarczyk was in such bad shape that he was unable to carry his own bags ; smolarek took them for him . next to the team bus , one of kulesza 's assistants , bernard blaut , confronted smolarek and told him that młynarczyk was to stay behind . smolarek , terlecki and two other polish players — zbigniew boniek and władysław żmuda , both of widzew łódź — angrily objected and nearly came to blows with blaut . grzegorz , one of the team 's forwards , did not join the protest but later said that he had not thought młynarczyk drunk enough to warrant exclusion . the team eventually left without terlecki or młynarczyk . terlecki , whose own car was to hand , drove himself and młynarczyk to the airport , where the confrontation continued . terlecki tried to stop the many pressmen at the airport from photographing młynarczyk by running around , yelling , and snatching cameras and microphones from their hands . meanwhile , the other players attempted to talk kulesza around , telling him that młynarczyk had serious personal problems . kulesza eventually relented and allowed the goalkeeper to travel with the team . press storm ; players meet the pope among the journalists at the airport were jacek of polish television , bogdan of polish radio , and remigiusz hetman of the weekly football journal piłka nożna . news about the incident quickly spread across the country , partly because of terlecki 's outlandish actions in the reporters ' presence — iwan later reflected that terlecki had " made so much commotion it was impossible to sweep everything under the carpet " . boniek corroborates this version of events : " terlecki was massively to blame . he brought młynarczyk to the airport in his own car , then pulled the plug powering a tv camera out of the wall . " grzegorz majchrzak , a historian of the polish institute of national remembrance , questions boniek 's words , positing that he might have distorted events in an attempt to distance himself from terlecki . the government attempted to use the scandal as a popular distraction , aiming to deflect attention from the strikes and other industrial action . a number of journalists attacked the players who had supported młynarczyk ; the przegląd sports magazine ran the headline " no mercy for those guilty of the scandal at the airport " while tempo , another journal , was similarly severe , proclaiming " this cannot be " . piłka nożna condemned the " magnificent men ... who think they can do what they want " , but at the same time questioned the conduct of the team 's non - playing staff . in the italian capital , terlecki continued to defy the establishment . the players were under strict instructions not to associate with the vatican while in rome , but terlecki arranged for them to meet pope john paul ii , who was himself polish . seeing this as a second act of defiance , the pzpn promptly sent terlecki , młynarczyk , boniek and żmuda home , escorted by general marian ryba of the polish army , who was also the football association president . lech poznań 's piotr replaced młynarczyk for the match against malta , which poland won 2 – 0 . aftermath hearings and suspensions ryba announced on 1 december 1980 that he intended to bar the dissenting players from the poland squad . when the rest of the team returned to poland , terlecki once again attempted to form a footballers ' union . securing the support of 16 other poland international players , he wrote a letter to the pzpn declaring their intention to do so , leading the authorities to order them to face a tribunal . only terlecki , boniek , żmuda and młynarczyk continued to endorse the letter when challenged in court . on 15 december , pzpn officials attempted to reconstruct the night 's events , asking various players and staff to give accounts of what had happened . several journalists were present . the stories told contradicted each other in several places , notably regarding how much młynarczyk had had to drink . the team 's technical staff said that he had been obviously intoxicated when they had seen him , while the goalkeeper insisted he had taken only " three glasses of champagne and a sip of beer " with his friend . another point of contention regarded the conversation at the airport , which had caused kulesza to yield . it was generally agreed that the players had talked the manager around by telling him that młynarczyk had personal problems , but the non - playing staff now accused them of emotional blackmail . the players said their intention had been to explain the goalkeeper 's off - field issues to help the manager make a more informed decision . terlecki 's answers at this meeting under the questioning of general ryba , a former military prosecutor , were typically provocative ; when the general asked what time terlecki had left the hotel on 29 november , the łks forward said 08 : 00 . " are you sure it was 08 : 00 ? " ryba pressed — " are you sure it wasn 't 08 : 02 ? " the player replied that he wasn 't : " no . maybe it was even 08 : 03 . i don 't know this time exactly , because i have one of your russian watches . " a week later , the pzpn announced its final verdict . the only versions of events accepted for consideration were those recounted by kulesza and blaut ; those of all the players and of the team physiotherapist and sport psychologist were dismissed . żmuda and młynarczyk were barred from playing for either poland or their clubs for eight months , and terlecki and boniek for twelve . smolarek received a two - month ban , which was suspended for six months . citing their previous records of insubordination and misconduct , the pzpn called terlecki and boniek " rabble - rousers " . reactions kulesza left his job soon afterwards ; according to majchrzak , he resigned in protest at the players ' punishments , which he thought were too harsh . officials at widzew łódź accused the pzpn of bias , saying the association had not supervised the players properly and should shoulder some of the blame . directors at widzew and łks łódź briefly considered resigning their pzpn memberships and organising their own league championship , but did not . the national team players ' council , at that time comprising marek , paweł and wojciech rudy , wrote an open letter expressing surprise at what they saw as excessive sanctions against terlecki , boniek , żmuda and młynarczyk . they admitted the goalkeeper 's conduct had been far from exemplary , but contended that the incident was only minor , and had been exacerbated by disproportionately prominent and negative press coverage . despite being without some of their top players , widzew łódź were crowned champions of poland at the end of the 1980 – 81 season . ryba left his post in april 1981 , along with a number of his contemporaries , described by stefan , a sports journalist and football historian , as " honest officials , together with some football - friendly polish army officers " . in their place came a number of communist officials , most prominently włodzimierz , an erstwhile politburo member , who took over as head of the football association despite a reputation for not liking the sport . młynarczyk , boniek and żmuda had their bans cancelled early . żmuda and młynarczyk returned in the 1 – 0 home win over east germany on 2 may 1981 , and boniek was reinstated four months later . the players ' recall was partly due to the efforts of kulesza 's replacement , antoni , to secure their return . according to majchrzak , boniek and żmuda apologised for their actions before the general committee for physical culture and sport of the polish people 's republic , the pzpn 's governing body , but kept this from terlecki , who appealed to have his ban lifted several times , but to no avail . legacy terlecki openly participated in students ' strikes at his old university in łódź and across poland over the next few months , providing food to the students by the car - load . łks cancelled his registration in early 1981 . majchrzak stresses that terlecki was the only player involved in the incident not to regain his place in the poland team , and claims that this was down to an intense grudge held against him by the ministry of internal affairs and secret police ( sb ) . terlecki developed his own theory that the media circus following the airport incident had been deliberately engineered by the sb to head the players off forming their own trade union . there were several other incidents of drunkenness involving młynarczyk , majchrzak writes , but this was the only occasion when any player was punished for it . in october 1981 , when the team travelled to argentina , młynarczyk arrived at okęcie " completely drunk " , according to iwan , but far from reprimanding him , team staff gave him even more alcohol during the flight to help ease the pain of his broken finger . poland qualified for the 1982 world cup with a perfect record , and performed strongly in the competition , losing to italy in the semi - finals but beating france in a play - off to claim third place . kulesza became the manager of tunisia , and later founded a coaching school in warsaw . saying he was " being treated like a leper " , terlecki emigrated to the united states in june 1981 , and joined the pittsburgh spirit of the major indoor soccer league . he pursued a new life in america with great vigour . terlecki 's on - field displays in the u.s. were widely praised — in three seasons with pittsburgh he became the club 's all - time top goalscorer — but managers reportedly had trouble " harness [ ing ] terlecki 's fiery temper " , and his wife ewa became intensely homesick . terlecki announced his intention to move back to poland in 1985 , saying that he believed the political situation had improved and that he wished to reunite his family . he returned home the following year , and resumed his career in polish club football . he expressed a desire to play for the national team again , but was never selected .