October 2, 2022, eight months after the Russian invasion. Three thousand spectators are present in the stands of Ergo Arena in Gdańsk, among them: the mayor of the city Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, the president of the Polish Volleyball League Artur Popko and the owner of Barkom, Oleg Baran. The season opener between local Trefl and the Lviv team, which will soon make its debut in the Polish competition, is a unique setting. The mayor of Lviv, Andrey Sadov, speaks from the big screens above the square.
Exactly two years after this debut, the shareholders of the Polish Volleyball League, i.e. the participating clubs, will decide to reform the competition: from the 2025/26 season, the league will be smaller – instead of 16 teams, there will be 14. No one reads the meaning of the changes. The idea is to shorten the difficult season and minimize the risk of overload and injuries that plague players. However, the reform will keep weaker clubs awake at night: if the league is smaller, it means more teams will be at risk of relegation. Degradation means a decrease in advertising and broadcasting revenues and a decrease in attendance at the stands. Therefore, a plan is born among the average players of the league: if we exclude the Ukrainians from the league, instead of two, only one will be relegated from the league. The most important thing for the clubs participating in this alliance is that Barkom is a typical mid-table team. If he's not in the relegation zone, so much the better: getting him out would help the Polish side keep their place in the top flight.
According to the media reports so far, as well as our findings, the clubs supporting Barkom's ouster are Czarni Radom (currently bottom of the table, 16th place), Warta Zawiercie (3rd place) and Trefl. Gdansk (5th place).
We have asked each of these clubs and their owners and sponsors for comment. Only the city hall, one of the sponsors of the blacks in Radom, responded to us. “The Commune of the City of Radom is not a shareholder and does not participate in the work of any body that influences any decision or request of the club Enea Czarni Radom. The city also does not participate in the work of organizers of volleyball league competitions,” we read. The rest – including Gdańsk City Hall, led by president Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, and the Tricity team's title sponsor, Trefl – have been silent for several days.
Apparently, it is not easy to admit that he was the author of the idea to remove the Lviv club from the league at a time when Russian rockets are flying in the hometown of the team. Or maybe the idea is no longer valid?
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