Polish commandos who fight with sticks

BHUBANESWAR : WKS Gunwald Poznan is the hockey side to beat in Poland. In May, the domestic team were crowned as league champions for the fifth time in as many years. There is a reason why Grunwald, one of the winningest club hockey sides with 23 league titles, are considered invincibles. They are, for all practical purposes, an army side. That the national team relies heavily on Grunwald is evident. Of the 18 players in the squad for the FIH Series Finals, half of them call Grunwald their home. Curiously, the national team’s coach, Karol Sniezek, also happens to be Grunwald’s coach. 

He explained the symbiotic relationship between Grunwald and the national team, ranked 21 in the world. “Army is supporting one of the clubs in Poland,” he told this daily. “Nine players from that club are with us here, all of them have the freedom to play hockey. So they are able to combine work (for the Army) and hockey so easily.” 

This is nothing new for Poland, whose men’s team last qualified for the Olympics in 2000. Their team has historically relied on the Army.When asked how this relati­onship has existed for a such a long time, Sniezek said the pl­a­yers find time to do both without conflict. “They train four times per week and they also have competition. The Army also send players out for small camps (4-5 days) to play small club sides in The Netherlands and so on.” 

While the players — captain Pawel Bratkowski and lead drag-flicker Mateusz Hulboj are also part of the pack — haven’t been in an active warzone, most of them are trained to shoot guns. “They are soldiers but they do things in the force (that does not have anything to do with combat). They are trained to shoot but they don’t go abroad to fight.” 

On Thursday, Bratkowski and Hulboj scored braces to thump Uzbekistan 4-0 before facing the hosts on Friday. And that task won’t be as simple, and here’s one reason to illustrate that. Poland have two FIH accredited astro turfs. That’s the amount of accredited astro turfs the Kalinga Stadium alone has.