The words of the new Deputy Minister of Sport, Żaneta Cwalina-Śliwowska, have sparked a wave of comments on social media. Speaking about the need to better promote women’s sport, the politician confused the name of the head coach of the Poland women’s national team. “They are appointing complete amateurs to positions,” assessed former volleyball player Marcin Możdżonek. Meanwhile, Anna Krupka stated that the politician “humiliated female athletes”.
Żaneta Cwalina-Śliwowska, who recently took office as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, has once again found herself at the center of attention. This time, the reason was her statement regarding the situation of women in sport.
In an interview with the media, the politician announced measures aimed at increasing the presence of female athletes in the public sphere. As an example, she pointed to the recognition of Robert Lewandowski and the much lower popularity of Ewa Pajor. She also highlighted the need to more frequently showcase the successes of women’s football.
“Polish female footballers are also successful, yet very little is heard about them in the media. Have we had interviews with Ewa Pajor, with Nina Patalas? This still does not break through in the media,” she said.
The problem is that the deputy minister got the name of the women’s national team head coach wrong. The coach of the national team is Nina Patalon. The statement quickly became the subject of commentary by politicians and people associated with sport.
Former Polish national volleyball player Marcin Możdżonek wrote on the X platform: “What arrogance and conceit of the government. They are not even trying to hide that they are appointing complete amateurs to positions. Here we have someone who has not even watched sports competition on television.”
Former Deputy Minister of Sport Anna Krupka reacted even more sharply.
“Never before has any politician humiliated female athletes as much as another woman – Minister Żaneta Cwalina-Śliwowska,” she assessed.
In the further part of her post, she emphasized that the popularity of individual sports disciplines primarily results from the interest of fans and sponsors, not from political decisions. Bartosz Bocheńczak also commented on the matter, drawing attention to the very fact of appointing another deputy minister.
“The problem here is not even whether MP Cwalina-Śliwowska is right or not. The problem lies in the fact that Prime Minister Tusk promised Poles a modest Council of Ministers. (…) Does a person whose only task is to maintain contact with the media really have to be a deputy minister?” he asked.
This is another widely discussed statement by the new deputy minister. Earlier, her appearance on the program “Dzień Dobry TVN” was broadly commented on, when asked about the number of voivodeships in Poland, she replied: “I have never counted. I cannot answer that question.”