Polish FA sacks official after Dublin ticket touting

A prominent Polish Football Association board member has been sacked after gardaí caught him ticket touting at the Aviva Stadium.

Following a court prosecution in Dublin in connection with his March 29 arrest at Lansdowne Road, the Polish Football Association (PZPN) conducted an inquiry.

As a result, its disciplinary committee this week found that Kazimierz Gren broke ethical principles.

Gren — a well-known figure in Poland — was on the board of the PZPN and was also head of the Podkarpacki ZPN, a regional football association.

The PZPN has confirmed that on June 2, its disciplinary committee gave its decision and have banned him from holding a position in Polish football for the next 10 years.

The senior official had travelled to Dublin for his national team’s match against the Republic of Ireland on March 29, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

The 52-year-old and a Polish woman were arrested and found in possession of 12 match tickets on the day of the crucial game in Group D of Euro 2016 qualifiers.

He ended up spending a night in a cell and the pair were charged under section 3 of the Casual Trading Act for failing to produce a licence allowing them to sell the tickets in public places.

Gren, who is from Popieluszki, Rzeszow, in south-eastern Poland, and the woman were brought before Judge Michael Walsh at Dublin District Court the following day, March 30.

A garda sergeant gave a summary of the facts, telling the judge that the case involved selling tickets without a licence at the Ireland-Poland match.

“This is ticket touting” the judge had said.

During the hearing, Gren’s solicitor confirmed that his clients, who had the proceedings translated, were pleading guilty and told the court that they had been “nearly home and dry”.

However, he asked the judge to note that “they are holding their hands up, pleading guilty”.

The tickets had been sourced in Poland and Gren had been trying to accommodate some Polish people residing in Dublin, the judge was told.

Judge Walsh noted the pair had spent a night in custody. He had said he was marking the case as facts proved but in view of the extenuating circumstances he was striking it out, leaving Gren and the woman without criminal convictions.

After reports of his court case were published in the Irish news media, the story went viral in Poland, resulting in a scandal dubbed “Grengate”.

It also led to further allegations that Gren originally had 49 match tickets.

On his return to Poland, he held a press conference disputing that a guilty plea was entered but he later blocked attempts by the Polish Football Association when it formally asked Judge Walsh to order the release of a copy of the court’s digital recording from the hearing.

The judge had adjourned making a ruling on whether he would let the Polish FA have the recording until July.

PZPN media officer Jakub Kwiatkowski said: “The disciplinary committee of the Polish Football Association, at its meeting on June 2, 2015, decided to consider Kazimierz Gren as guilty of ticket touting for the Ireland-Poland match in Dublin.

The committee said that it was in contravention of the Polish Football Association’s ethical-moral principles and disqualified Kazimierz Gren for 10 years.

“The decision of the disciplinary committee was based on the content of collected documents, written and oral testimony of witnesses, and the explanations of Mr Gren,” the committee said

The PZPN spokesperson said that some evidence from the Dublin District Court trial could not be obtained, adding that this was “ due to the attitude of the accused, who, through his attorney on May 20, 2015, before the Irish courts, objected to the disclosure of the documents in the case”.