Football: 'Clown' Tomaszewski under fire for racism

(WARSAW) - Iconic former Poland goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski is under fire for a tirade against players in the Euro 2012 host nation's squad who were born or raised abroad.

The 1974 World Cup hero, now a lawmaker with Poland's conservative opposition, has repeatedly faced criticism for such outbursts.

"I don't want to see the White Eagles' shirt worn by Frenchmen and Germans who've already played for France and Germany, didn't make it in their own national team and are taking away slots from our own, true Poles," Tomaszewski told Poland's Radio Zet.

Rafal Pankowski, Poland watchdog for an anti-racism monitoring unit backed by UEFA, said such remarks were out of line.

"Euro 2012 is an historic event for Poland and a great chance to promote respect for diversity," he told AFP.

"Unfortunately, Tomaszewski's negative comments are linked to an ethnic nationalist notion of Polish identity, which I hope will fade away. Football unites people of different backgrounds," he added.

In Tomaszewski's sights are players such as defender Damien Perquis and attacking midfielder Ludovic Obraniak, Frenchmen with Polish roots who played a handful of matches for Les Bleus' under-21s but later answered Poland's call.

Those from Germany, meanwhile, include defender Sebastian Boenisch and midfielder Eugen Polanski, both born in Poland but who emigrated as toddlers.

Polanski has been a particular Tomaszewski target, because he even captained Germany's under-21s and repeatedly said his goal was to join the senior side -- but never made the Mannschaft and answered Poland's call.

FIFA allows youth internationals to switch country relatively easily, but senior side members cannot change flag.

The Polish football association began scouting abroad after criticism for losing the likes of Germany striker Lukas Podolski, born in Poland but raised in Germany.

Poland fans have high hopes for Euro 2012, as they pine for the glory days of Olympic gold in 1972, silver in 1976, and third place at the World Cup in 1974 and 1982.

Tomaszewski is better-known abroad for heroics during a World Cup qualifier at London's Wembley stadium in 1973.

Dubbed a "clown" by English icon Brian Clough before the game, he had the last laugh by holding the score at 1-1 and denying them a tournament berth.