Nine years ago, the volleyball world championship match between Poland and Russia that took place in Gdansk ended with a loud scandal . Angry fans throughout the meeting insulted our players and still managed to provoke them. One of the athletes was even credited with spitting at the deputy.The policy of the Polish authorities towards Russia was unequivocal back in 2014. Therefore, the world championship in volleyball potentially looked extremely unpleasant for the national team. Although such a lawlessness that local fans staged, hardly anyone could have imagined. Fans terrorized our volleyball players even before the match with Poland. During the meeting with Germany, Alexei Spiridonov, the under-gamer, could not stand it and «shot» the audience with a gesture.The situation reached its climax already in the face-to-face game with the hosts of the tournament. The sports aspect of the fight was also important — the winner went to the semi-finals, and the loser went to fight for fifth place. Both teams did not want to be left without medals.
It all started with the fact that 12 thousand rabid Polish fans booed the Russian anthem. The rumble did not stop for several minutes, and the fans constantly shouted insults at the volleyball players, hung posters about the return of Crimea and much more. A whole sector in the stands was occupied by a banner in Russian with the words «Goodbye».
Did Spiridonov spit on the Poles?
Andrey Voronkov's wards, unfortunately, could not cope with their emotions in the first two games and lost with a score of 0-2. Then, however, managed to get together and take the next two sets. As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided in a tie-break, where the hosts turned out to be stronger. Russia lost its chances for medals, and the Poles got through to the semi-finals of the World Cup.After the meeting ended, the vile behavior of the fans continued. People no longer chose words for insults. Ours held out to the last, but their patience came to an end. Blocker of the Russian national team Artem Volvich and libero Artem Yermakov showed middle fingers to the fans. And the same scandalous player Spiridonov, according to the Polish media, spat in the direction of the stands.
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“I didn’t do anything to him. All the fans shouted ‘goodbye’, there was no aggression on our part. Spiridonov walked by and just spat at me. Once again he showed that he was a boor,” Sport.pl quotes the Polish fan .
Some publications wrote that the spit flew to the member of the European Parliament Marek Matuszewski in response to the cries of «Return the Crimea.» However, Aleksey himself categorically denied the information from the Poles and, in a conversation with journalists, told his version of events. spat. I have no idea where that wave of dirt came from! The local fans were very aggressive and made obscene gestures towards us and were rude. But what about the spit? I can declare with all responsibility that I didn’t spit on anyone. – said Spiridonov.
The Russian national team player was still disqualified for two matches, and head coach Voronkov was fired for unsatisfactory results. Since then, the confrontation between Russia and Poland has acquired a political character. Each meeting was extremely emotional and sometimes escalated into new scandals.