THE Polish referees who nicked a road sign hours before a crucial Rangers clash have been banned for five months.
Bartosz Frankowiski and Tomasz Musial were removed from VAR duties for the Scottish giants’ Champions League draw with Dynamo Kyiv after the incident.
And local outlet TVP Sport say the Polish FA have banned them from matches for five months, with a further seven suspended.
Experienced referee Frankowski was initially appointed as VAR, with Musial backing him up as assistant VAR.
Rangers drew the game 1-1 to crash out of Champions League qualifying with a 3-1 aggregate defeat.
TVP Sport reported that the duo and a third individual were caught allegedly stealing a road sign by police in the early hours of the morning.
It claimed the trio were arrested at 1.43am for “destroying road infrastructure.”
The men, who were reported as being intoxicated, were then taken to a sobering-up centre – which will cost them money as police charge for use.
Drunks tanks are used in many European countries when the crime is deemed not serious enough to be banged up in a cell.
Senior Superintendent Kamil Golebiowski said: “At around 1:40am we received a report of three men carrying a road sign down the street.
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“Police officers were dispatched to the scene.
“All of the men were intoxicated and had over 1.5 per milligrams of alcohol in their blood. They were taken to a sobering-up centre.”
As always for Uefa matches, the refereeing team was confirmed 48 hours before the match.
Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas was confirmed to be leading the officials.
Frankowski and Musial were listed as his VAR officials but were taken off the listing.
Instead, fellow top flight Polish ref Tomasz Kwiatkowski is now the VAR, with Pawel Malec his assistant.
Frankowski, 37, is one of the top referees in Poland and an experienced international official.
Fifa-listed for ten years, he was an official at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 – acting as VAR in the latter.
I HAD spent the summer desperately hoping VAR and the standard of Premier League officiating would improve this season, writes Karren Brady.
But we’re one game in and it already looks like we are set for another campaign of anger and confusion caused by people who don’t understand the pain and anguish their mistakes cause.
Newcastle’s Fabian Schar was sent off for a “headbutt” on Southampton’s Ben Brereton Diaz — even though the Saints striker thrust his head forward with as much “force” as Schar.
Yet at Arsenal, Wolves’ Yerson Mosquera was not even booked despite appearing to strangle Kai Havertz and squeezing Gabriel Jesus’ backside!
So infuriating VAR inconsistencies are back, it seems.
No referee or VAR sets out to deprive teams of goals, deliberately award dodgy penalties or send players off for no reason.
They are honest, genuine mistakes. But that’s what VAR was supposed to sort out. Instead, it has made things worse.
The whole thing needs a complete rethink and a fresh approach.
Sadly, as the summer is the best time to implement change, it seems that ship has sailed for another 12 months.
Read Karren Brady’s take on the latest VAR shambles in full…
Or check out all of Lady Brady’s SunSport columns.
