Edward Cetnarowski (3 October 1877 Rzeszow - 3 September 1933 Krakow) was a Polish sports official,

gynaecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with ...

and one of the most famous personalities of the sports club

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh cen ...

. Even though Cetnarowski was regarded as one of the top Polish gynecologists (he was an assistant to the famous doctor

Henryk Jordan Henryk Jordan (23 July 1842 in Przemyśl – 16 May 1907 in Kraków) was a Polish philanthropist, physician and pioneer of physical education. A professor of obstetrics from 1895 at Kraków's Jagiellonian University, Jordan became best known for o ...

), he is most renowned as director of Cracovia, which in the 1920s and 1930s was one of the strongest sports clubs in Poland. During this time, Cracovia, in spite of financial crises shaking Poland, became a team known all over Europe. It was he who organized Cracovia's tournee to Spain in the mid-1920s. He cared for all sections, including

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Cetnarowski was co-founder of the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national footb ...

(PZPN), and in the years 1919-1928 was its official director, and after that the honorary director. However, when in 1927 most Polish soccer teams, against the will of the PZPN, decided to organize the Soccer League, he realized that he had lost and quit. Soon afterwards the seat of PZPN was moved from Kraków to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

which indicated that Cetnarowski lost almost all influence. He had always been keen on preserving the amateur character of Polish soccer, and this attitude became old fashioned as time went by. Cetnarowski died suddenly, at the age of 55, during the game of Cracovia's female

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

team. Most probably, heart failure together with excessive weight contributed to his death. The funeral was a big event in Kraków, thousands of mourners gathered to bid him final farewell.

External reference

Edward Cetnarowski in KS Cracovia online encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cetnarowski, Edward 1877 births 1933 deaths Polish obstetricians and gynaecologists Polish referees and umpires People from Rzeszów Sportspeople from Podkarpackie Voivodeship