XVII Memorial of Kazimierz Górski – Nowy Dziennik

On Sunday, February 19, Polish teams competed on two sports halls in the sports hall in Clifton NJ in two age categories, Open and Over 40. In the indoor tournament ZPKP XVII Memorial of Kazimierz Górski in the Open category, Wisła Garfield won against Stala Mielec NY 3 in the final match: 0. In the Over 40 category, Polonez NY defeated Stal Mielec NY with penalty kicks 3:2 in the final.

Wojciech Ziebowicz

The match ended in a 1-1 draw in regulation time. For the first time in history, a team of oldboys from Poland flew to the ZPKP indoor tournament. Former stars of Ruch Chorzów, one of the most successful clubs in Poland, did not manage to get out of the qualifying group. After a draw with Stal Mielec NY 0:0 and defeats with Polonia Wallington 0:3 and Belveder Rutherford 1:2 they were out of the game. The colors of Ruch Chorzów were defended by: goalkeeper Piotr Lech, Stanisław Gawenda, Krystian Szuster, former Polish representative Mariusz Śrutwa, who scored 180 goals in Ekstraklasa, Grzegorz Wagner, Daniel Tukay, Damian Humski, Adam Poloczek, Dariusz Zając, Marek Latos, Grzegorz Chrust.

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ZPKP has been organizing indoor tournaments for over 30 years. For 17 years, the tournament has been the Memorial of Kazimierz Górski. In the first few years, tournaments were played at the Eagles Arena in Carlstad, NJ.

Then for several years at the Goods Sports hall in Aberdeen, NJ. For 3 years, the players competed in the IKEA hall in Elizabeth, NJ. In this hall they played on the field with bands like in ice hockey. From 2005, for the next 11 years, tournaments were held at the beautiful Kozak Sports Center in Randolph, NJ. The owner of this hall is Eugeniusz Kozak, our compatriot, in whose veins flows Ukrainian blood. Eugeniusz made the entire facility available for ZPKP free of charge, being the largest sponsor of Polish football in those years. This is a unique story, which I will try to describe on another occasion. We felt right at home at Randolph. When Eugeniusz Kozak rented the hall for the volleyball association, tournaments were organized in Norfolk, CT for two years, and for 4 years Polish players have been competing in the sports hall in Clifton, NJ.

OPEN CATEGORY

Only 4 teams took part in the Open category. They played each other in a group, and the winner faced the other team in the final.

Elimination results:

Polonia Wallington – Polonia NY 1:0

Wisla Garfield – Stal Mielec NY 0:0

Polonia Wallington – Wisla Garfield 0:2

Polonia NY – Stal Mielec 1:0

Wisla Garfield – Polonia NY 5:1

Polonia Wallington – Stal Mielec 1:3

Table:

pt. goals

Wisla Garfield 7 7:1

Stal Mielec NY 4 3:2

Polonia Wallington 3 2:5

Polonia NY 3 2:6

Final

Wisla Garfield – Stal Mielec NY – 3:0

Goals: Pawel Kondratowicz, Jorge Salas, Victor Pervushkin

Composition:

Wisła: Anthony Caruso, Sebastian Nitek, Krzysztof Kondratowicz, Mikołaj Kozdron, Jorge Salas, Nicolce Iloski, Paweł Kondratowicz, Sebastian Gostyński, Victor Pervushkin

Coach: Krzysztof Karcz

Stal Mielec NY: Piotr Holda, Marian Jaworek, Mariusz Chlost, Jakub Zając, Sal de Angelo, Mateusz Osiecki, Julian Solarski, Konstantionos Pappas, Patryk Majkut, Paweł Marczenia, Piotr Dublicki

Coach: Miroslaw Pasterniak

President: Artur Kurasiewicz

Anthony Caruso from Wisła was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

The best player was Victor Pervushkin from Wisła.

OVER 40 CATEGORY

In the Over 40 category, eight teams competed in two qualifying groups for the semi-finals.

Group A

Movement – Polonaise NY 0:0

Polonia Wallington-Belveder 0:0

Polonia Wallington – Ruch Chorzow 3:0

Polonaise NY – Belveder 1:1

Movement – Belveder 1:2

Polonia Wallington – Polonez NY 0:2

Table pt. goals

Polonaise NY 5 3:1

Belvedere Rutherford 5 3:2

Polonia Wallington 4 3:2

Ruch Chorzow 1 1:5

Group B

Vistula – John Paul II Linden 2:2

ZPA – Stal Mielec NY 0:1

Wisla – Stal 1:1

ZPA – John Paul II Linden 3:1

ZPA – Wisla 1:4

John Paul II Linden – Steel 1:1

Table goal point

Stal Mielec NY 7 4:2

Wisla Garfield 5 7:4

ZPA Perth Amboy 3 4:6

John Paul II Linden 1 4:7

Semi-finals

Both semi-finals were decided by penalty kicks.

Polonez NY – Wisła 1:1 in penalties 2:0

Stal Mielec NY – Belveder Rutherford 1:1, in penalties 7:6

I co-organized and commented live all tournaments organized by the Association of Polish Football Associations, except for one, and I must say that in the 30-year history of indoor tournaments, there has never been an event as balanced as this year’s.

Both semi-final matches and the final ended in an identical 1:1 draw, and the winners were decided by penalty kicks.

Final

Polonez NY – Stal Mielec NY 1:1, in penalty kicks 3:2

Team compositions:

Polonez NY: Grzegorz Machnik, Zbigniew Wojtowicz, Jerzy Jankowicz, Ireneusz Zagrobelny, Artur Bielawski, Grzegorz Kaplan, Grzegorz Panek, Marcin Kulak, Marcin Januszko, Dariusz Kaczorowski,

Coach: Jerzy Jankowicz

Stal Mielec NY: Krzysztof Subemat, Mariusz Chwiejczak, Sławomir Balon, Dominik Brudziński, Wojciech Kwolek, Jacek Ławniczak, Paweł Kuziora, Stavros Zomopovlos, Sławomir Styko, Mariusz Boczek

Coaches: Artur Kurasiewicz, Miroslaw Pasterniak

The best ZPKP activist of 2022, Jerzy Jankowicz, together with the Polonez NY team, which he has been leading for 15 years, started the new year 2023 with a victory in the indoor tournament, repeating the success from last year.

The players of Stal Mielec NY, who advanced to the finals of the tournament in both age categories, were very successful.

The official part and the awarding of the cups took place at the headquarters of the Wisła club in Garfield, NJ. It began with the singing of the Polish and American anthems. Then, the president, Piotr Gołąbek, thanked the players for sports competitions, congratulated the winners and asked the activists and players of Ruch Chorzów to hand out the trophies.

Then, the following spoke: president of Oldboys Ruch Chorzów Stanisław Gawenda, team manager Marek Latos and former Polish representative Mariusz Śrutwa. They thanked Gołąbek for his hospitality and presented him with a Ruch Chorzów shirt and other memorabilia. They wished further fruitful activities of the ZPKP.

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It was another well organized ZPKP tournament. Words of thanks are due to tournament director Mieczysław Panek, who was assisted by Marian Jabłoński, as well as to the activists: vice president Wojciech Ziębowicz, Artur Kurasiewicz, Ryszard Dziedzic Łukasz Hausner, and Zbyszek Dera and DJ Daro for the excellent sound system in the sports hall and the Wisła club during the official ceremony, and President Piotr Gołąbek supervised everything.

The main sponsor of the tournament was the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, thanks to which it was possible to pay for the costly rent of the hall, buy insurance and purchase all cups, and after the tournament, treat the finalists and guests from Poland with the best pizza at Garfield.

Coach Kazimierz Gorski left us forever in 2005. From that moment, the ZPKP indoor tournament is his Memorial. Kazimierz was an outstanding coach, but also a wonderful honest man. He liked to come to us very much (he was there several times). We enjoyed his arrivals even more. Honor his memory!