Symbol of the most glorious era of Independentthe one who earned him the nickname King of Cups, died this Monday Alejandro Estanislao Semenewicz, at 74 years old, while carrying out tasks in the recruitment department of the Avellaneda club. The death occurred on the Villa Dominico property, where Polaco – as everyone knew him – suffered a decompensation from which he could not recover. In this way, a man leaves who, due to his characteristics as a soccer player, honored the traditional independence song, the one that speaks of “strength, claw and heart” and that He left 10 titles in his showcases, including the four consecutive Copa Libertadores won between 1972 and 1975.
According to information from Independiente, Semenewicz will be held at the headquarters at Avenida Miter 470 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Emerging from a family of immigrants and working class from the south of the Buenos Aires suburbs. Estanislao did machine maintenance at the old Firestone tire factory in Llavallol. There, in that town, he made his home with Ana, who dedicated herself to domestic chores. Both originally from Poland, they had Ana and Alejandro, who was born on June 1, 1949 and over the years was immortalized as El Polaco. “I never spoke to them in Polish; “I understood, but I didn’t know how to pronounce it,” Alejandro once said on the program Red’s kitchen.
He didn’t like studying. He attended primary school at School No. 4 Bieckert, in Llavallol, but shortly after starting secondary school, he dropped out of school. Football was the strongest thing he had. And with football came the nickname: Polish. It was in the baby of the Juventud Unida club where he started his dreams with the ball. From there he went to a soccer school in Monte Grande, run by the Quiroga brothers, who had been Racing soccer players.
At the age of 15 he accompanied a group of boys to try out for Deportivo Morón. The Pole had a bad toe and stayed in the bus, watching. They went looking for him because they were missing one player to complete the team of eleven. “Come and stay standing,” they told him. They convinced him. He was the only one of the eleven who remained in the test. This is how he began his journey in football. With Deportivo Morón he achieved the historic promotion to the first division in 1968. Fate gave him another wink: at that time, Morón was concentrated in the same place as Vélez Sarsfield, then directed by Manuel Giúdice. The man had his eye on that blonde and temperamental steering wheel. When Giúdice was hired to be coach of Independiente in 1970, he did not hesitate: he asked that Polaco be incorporated.
Independiente bought Semenewicz just at the time when he had to do his military service in Magdalena. “I thought he was losing the year,” Polaco recalled. But the Avellaneda club asked for him and they gave him the exception. They transferred him to Capital and he was able to develop his career in the team that he had trusted in his conditions. Of course: the captain of the regiment was a Racing fan and did not make things easy for him. “I remember that he had to play the classic and he wouldn’t leave me. “He let me go with just enough to get to play,” Semenewicz once said.
His debut in Rojo was not a happy one: he scored a goal against Pepé Santoro, against Unión. However, the team won 3 to 1. But that year, he arrived with a piece of bread under his arm: he was champion of the 1970 Metropolitano, a title that he repeated the following year.
Multifunctional when the term had not yet been well developed in football, the Pole could occupy all the midfield positions and also serve as a central marker. He was the footballer that all his teammates wanted to have by their side: supportive, handsome, strong, temperamental. He ran for everyone else. In a team with great references and leaders (Pastoriza, Santoro, Pavoni), Semenewicz earned an important place due to character and personality.
He wore the number 10 shirt, before Bochini gave it a special meaning. Why did you use that number? “Pastoriza, if he didn’t use the 8, he didn’t play; Then Galván arrived, and if he didn’t use the 5, he wouldn’t play. So, I said: ‘give me whatever you want.’ And they gave me the 10″.
One day, on the Boca field, against Talleres, he says that he lost five kilos due to the wear and tear of the match. “Physically, I was the best,” he once said.
And the Cups of glory arrived. The Libertadores of ’72, which beat Universitario de Perú in the final; that of ’73, against Colo Colo; that of ’74, against San Pablo, and that of ’75, against Unión Española, of Chile. In the middle, the great conquest at the Olympic Stadium in Rome against Juventus, with that goal by Bochini – after a wall with Bertoni – that gave Independiente its first Intercontinental Cup. He also won the 1974 and 1976 Inter-American Championships.
“It was a perfect team in everything. The Wednesday roast was a must and no one could be missing from the table. Sometimes with women and sometimes alone. Always together. That was what united us, it was like a family,” the Pole recalled about the keys to that team that won everything.
His great performance at Independiente assured him a place in the national team. However, an incident in a match against Yugoslavia closed the doors for him forever. The television cameras captured how the Pole clashed with a rival. They were times of dictatorship in Argentina, and of military interference in football. The case of the Estudiantes players imprisoned by order of president Juan Carlos Onganía, for fighting in a match with Milan, was fresh. Semenewicz did not go behind bars, but there was an order that he would not wear the national jersey again. He even escaped sanction at the local level. “I said I understood their language and I got into a fight because they had insulted my country. Thanks to that they let me continue playing in Independiente,” he said.
After Independiente, his career continued in Colombia, where he played two seasons at Atlético Nacional. After a brief stint at Cipoletti, he finished his career where football saw him born, at Deportivo Morón, in 1982.
The union of that winning team is unbreakable to the present. “We still see each other with the boys. Until the guy over there says enough, we will continue seeing each other,” said the Pole in an interview a couple of years ago. A heart operation a few years ago changed his outlook on life. He began to take everything more calmly. Until that same heart, which seemed tireless in his years as a soccer player, said enough this Monday.
The Polish Semenewicz, winner of a thousand and one battles in Independiente, is gone.
Married to Marita for more than 40 years, he had two daughters: Jessica and Macarena. And also a granddaughter, Amparo, who was the other great love of his life.