We wrote about the stadium in an article published in November 2022: Councillor Warchoł asks: how much did the owner of MP Trans want to pay for the stadium in Raciborowice, and for what purpose?
“I am afraid that the club will stop operating for residents. The stadium is already closed, and that is how it functions. And all questions about the transparency of its activities are perceived as my attack on the club. But that is not the case,” said councillor Michał Warchoł.
The councillor is a UEFA B coach and a long-standing sports activist. He runs two football schools in Warta Bolesławiecka municipality: one in Iwiny and the other, since 2023, in Raciborowice. Around thirty children attend his classes in Raciborowice. He has achieved considerable success training young players in Iwiny. At the end of January 2023, the youth team of GKS Iwiny returned from the Mayor of Złotoryja’s Cup Tournament in first place. Raciborowice could also have such a winning youth team.
It is important when training the youngest players to show that children’s teams are just as important to the municipality as senior victories. This is a major motivation for children. That is why Michał Warchoł asked village head Haniszewski to make the GKS Raciborowice stadium available to the children for tournaments and training sessions that would not conflict with the senior team’s training.
Village head Mirosław Haniszewski replied to the councillor that all stadiums in the municipality—Iwiny, Raciborowice, Tomaszów and Warta Bolesławiecka—have been made available to sports clubs for many years, and that the Municipality is bound by previously signed agreements with the clubs and cannot make the stadiums available to other entities.
Our editorial team is currently checking the village head’s claims. Agreements between the municipality and the clubs are public information, so we asked the village head to send us the agreements. After they are published, residents will be able to verify whether they actually contain provisions that would prevent children training in football from playing at any of the municipality’s stadiums. The village head has 14 days to respond; we sent him the letter on 20 March 2023.
“The village head suggested that the children from Raciborowice and Jurków, who are temporarily training in the gym at the primary school in Raciborowice, play on pitches around 25 km from Raciborowice: in Tomaszów-Osiedle or Szczytnica,” Michał Warchoł reports. “Distance is not the only problem. The pitches proposed by village head Haniszewski are neglected and are more suitable for rubbish dumps than for playing football. Below are several photographs showing the terrible condition of the places the village head agreed to make available to the children for playing,” the councillor adds.
Michał Warchoł also asked the GKS Raciborowice Board to make the stadium available for free football classes for children from Raciborowice and Jurków on days and at times that would not conflict with the club’s activities. Here too, he was refused. Dariusz Białoń, president of GKS Raciborowice, wrote:
“The club’s Board kindly informs you that, because we have the only pitch with a natural grass surface, it does not consent to additional classes being held at the above-mentioned facility (the natural-grass pitch in Raciborowice—the editor’s note). We justify our decision by the fact that approximately PLN 50,000 a year is allocated to various treatments intended to keep the grass in optimal condition. The frequent organisation of training sessions on the Orlik multifunctional pitch is proof of this.”
President Białoń will not let the children onto the stadium pitch, but recommended the Orlik pitch to them. He also accused councillor Michał Warchoł, who is additionally chair of the Culture and Sport Committee, of failing to obtain money for the stadium leased by GKS Raciborowice.
“I emphasise that I support the club through the municipal and village-fund budgets,” Michał Warchoł rejects the accusations. “Primarily, this covers its upkeep. As a long-standing activist, I also looked after the pitch. Moreover, the construction of the tunnel and the new changing-room and shower facilities upstairs resulted from my initiative,” the councillor adds.
The question remains: will small children damage the pitch during training or a tournament? We asked a specialist coach. The man knew about the stadium in Raciborowice, but did not want to be quoted by name.
“As far as small children and a tournament itself are concerned, this should not damage the pitch, especially since these children do not wear studs but turf shoes,” the coach explained. “This footwear is intended for harder and mixed surfaces. The small studs do not dig in and do not damage the surface. As for training, everything depends on the coach—the person running the classes. I have experience with various pitches and have trained on many natural surfaces. I have been able to hold five training sessions with a team of boys over an entire weekend on a natural pitch, with 12-year-old boys, when the grass could come out from under their studs. After several days on such pitches, there was no trace of the damage. I assume that younger children training at a much lower sporting level will not cause damage. Of course, it is all a matter of the coach: how they arrange the exercises and whether they change the zones of the pitch during training,” the specialist added.
The coach also gives examples of natural-surface pitches—though not as carefully maintained as the one in Raciborowice—where training sessions are held regularly without damaging the grass. On Spacerowa Street in Bolesławiec, there are pitches where youth teams, including junior groups, regularly train. League matches are also played there. The pitches are watered during dry periods, though not at the beginning of spring, and nevertheless remain in good condition and serve their purpose. The same applies to the municipal stadium, which is used very intensively by teams, particularly the youngest age groups, with several dozen people gathering there at the same time.
“As for the grass at the municipal stadium in Bolesławiec, it is very good and has excellent density. The only issue is that the pitch is uneven because it is not rolled. If someone wanted to exclude children from there in the name of protecting the surface, they would be looking for a problem where none exists,” the specialist adds.