“It will get better. It has to!” With these words Polish Football Association (PZPN) President Grzegorz Lato summed up last Saturday’s ‘Round Table Meeting’ to discuss the present parlous state of Polish football.

The difference between the original Round Table meetings and this one is that back then everyone knew what was wrong and what needed to be done in order to put things right. The problem was communism which had to go, although the biggest problem was how to get rid of it without Soviet tanks backed by its ‘fraternal allies’ rolling into Warsaw. How they succeeded in doing this is one of the most remarkable events of twentieth-century history.

The problem with Polish football is more complicated and therefore its going to be more difficult to solve. Although there is one thing that might give it a tremendous boost and get it on its feet fairly quickly – money. But Polish football does not have an Abramovich or Rinat Akhmetov who has turned Shakhtar Donetsk into a major European football force, to rescue it.

The Chief of the Sejm’s Sports Commission Elzbieta Jakubiak who attended the meeting  agrees that money has to be at the heart of a revival. She said after the meeting: “The key to success (in Polish football) is through business. Only sponsors can bring to bear the necessary changes which will lead to permanent improvements.” However, Polish football currently finds itself in a classic Catch 22 situation. Money won’t be forthcoming from the world of business until companies can see something worth investing in. But in its present state Polish football is not worth risking ten grosze, never mind the tens of millions of zloty it needs.

This 21st Century Round Table meeting didn’t really specify exactly how PZPN intends to get the business community on board, concentrating instead on looking at and trying to improve the same old problems which have beset Polish football for decades i.e. corruption, hooliganism etc. Although several interesting initiatives were suggested such as encouraging clubs to open up family sections in their stadiums and involving lower-league clubs more.

But none of this is going to attract the better and more professional footballers from abroad who can motivate themselves to give 100% for their clubs during each and every match, in order to get clubs back into the higher levels of European competition. This includes Polish players who have been playing abroad and still have a few seasons of good football left in them, such as Jacek Krzynowek or even Ebi Smolarek, who is being wooed by Widzew Lodz. The second division club has offered him regular first team football until he sorts himself out and manages to find a permanent, richer club. However, to get these sort of players – costs money.

The general concencus within Polish football is to forget immediate improvements in the league for the time being and just concentrate on building a national team that won’t disgrace itself in the UEFA EURO 2012, which will be held in Poland and Ukraine.