Stan
Allez les Lionceaux !!!
- 12 September 2002
At present i'm reading an excellent footballbook: Behind the Curtain - travels in Eastern European Football by Jonathan Wilson.
There is a large chapter about former Yugoslavia and football. In this chapter Wilson talks about the stereotype racistic villain Sinisja Mihajlovic. And guess what although thye man has flaws in his character (but who hasn't) you see get the picture of a somewhat different human being.
Mihajlovic is the son of a Serbian father and a Croatian mother born in eastern Croatian town Vukovar. He grew up in the Serbain part of Vukovar which is called Borovo Selo. The war between Serbs and Croats started in Borovo Selo after Croat nationalists launched three missiles in that part of Vukovar. While Mihajlovic himself was in Belgrad playing for the famousRed Star team, his parents still lived in Borovo Selo.After the town was recaptured by the Croats his parents became targets of harrassment of the Croatians. Mihajlovic set up an escape for his parents. It is widely believed that the escape was performed by Serbian war criminal Arkan. After this Mihajlovoc became somewhat of a symbol for ultra-nationalist Serbs and so hated by Coatian people.
And then there are the two famous incidents: the spitting incident with Mutu and the racist insult of Viera.
Both incidents were reported rather one-sided according to Wilson in his book. Mutu admitted himself that he had wound up Mihajlovic deliberately during tha much and that hedid not mind the spitting (which is a serious offense in our Western perception, but far less in the Balkans).
Mihajlovic called Viera "black shit" in response to Viera's "You Gipsy Shit" (Mihajlovic' fathr is a Roma Gipsy)...both were racist here. But the press only reported about Mihajlovic response....not the best reply by far...but still "he did not start it"....It seems that our indignation is rather selective...
And then of course Mihajlovic reamins an absolutely outstanding player, nobody scred more goals from free kicks in Serie A, not Platini, not Maradonna, not Zico, not Zola....
While in training camp with the Yugoslav national team his tea mate Albert Nadj offered to buy the whole team dinner of Sinisja could hit the crossbar from the halfway line with two shots out of three. he didn't need a third attempt...
It seemed a good idea to me to begin a thread about misunderstood football villains...if you have someone to propose (and defend), please do so in this thread.
There is a large chapter about former Yugoslavia and football. In this chapter Wilson talks about the stereotype racistic villain Sinisja Mihajlovic. And guess what although thye man has flaws in his character (but who hasn't) you see get the picture of a somewhat different human being.
Mihajlovic is the son of a Serbian father and a Croatian mother born in eastern Croatian town Vukovar. He grew up in the Serbain part of Vukovar which is called Borovo Selo. The war between Serbs and Croats started in Borovo Selo after Croat nationalists launched three missiles in that part of Vukovar. While Mihajlovic himself was in Belgrad playing for the famousRed Star team, his parents still lived in Borovo Selo.After the town was recaptured by the Croats his parents became targets of harrassment of the Croatians. Mihajlovic set up an escape for his parents. It is widely believed that the escape was performed by Serbian war criminal Arkan. After this Mihajlovoc became somewhat of a symbol for ultra-nationalist Serbs and so hated by Coatian people.
And then there are the two famous incidents: the spitting incident with Mutu and the racist insult of Viera.
Both incidents were reported rather one-sided according to Wilson in his book. Mutu admitted himself that he had wound up Mihajlovic deliberately during tha much and that hedid not mind the spitting (which is a serious offense in our Western perception, but far less in the Balkans).
Mihajlovic called Viera "black shit" in response to Viera's "You Gipsy Shit" (Mihajlovic' fathr is a Roma Gipsy)...both were racist here. But the press only reported about Mihajlovic response....not the best reply by far...but still "he did not start it"....It seems that our indignation is rather selective...
And then of course Mihajlovic reamins an absolutely outstanding player, nobody scred more goals from free kicks in Serie A, not Platini, not Maradonna, not Zico, not Zola....
While in training camp with the Yugoslav national team his tea mate Albert Nadj offered to buy the whole team dinner of Sinisja could hit the crossbar from the halfway line with two shots out of three. he didn't need a third attempt...
It seemed a good idea to me to begin a thread about misunderstood football villains...if you have someone to propose (and defend), please do so in this thread.