"Some things are a secret until they come to Ćira, and then they become a sensation", is one of the most famous in the sea of famous statements of Miroslav Blažević aka Ćiro, a football expert who made Croatian football famous. This man holding his uncle, a native of Travnik in Bosnia, turned 84 years old, but he still manages to bring himself to the center of "attention" both in Croatia and in the "entire region" with his public appearances.
This is how it was in the last few days, when, after a series of shameful attacks on Milorad Pupovac and other members of the Serbian community in Croatia gathered in the Serbian Independent Democratic Party, Blažević released a pre-election video in which he called for an end to attacks on Serbs, Pupovac and those who are not Croats. because they are also citizens of Croatia and have all the same rights as everyone else. Namely, SSDS, as well as all other parties on the territory of the European Union, participate in the campaign for the elections for the European Parliament scheduled for Sunday, May 26, 2019, and the deputies of the future EU Parliament are elected.
How did the football coach's statement become so important for the two largest countries that passed from the former SFRY? And how did it happen that a Croatian nationalist stood up in defense of a minority that has been trying to survive in Croatia since the beginning of the collapse of the SFRY in 1991?
In Croatia, Blažević has the status of a football legend, a man of the people and a "coach of all coaches", he completely changed football in Croatia on at least two occasions so that today it is a world football power. With his gesture, he completely managed to debunk the hypocrisy of those parts of Croatian society that build their identity on the negation of Serbian identity and to show that for the bravest moves, you still need to have balls - even if you undergo prostate surgery, as Ćiro was. Although it has been a member of the EU for six years, Croatia has not managed to deal with its past and there are numerous examples when that part of the historical heritage was used to primarily show the Serbs where they are and what will happen to them if they "raise their voices" too much. As a rule, whenever one of the members of the Serbian community who contributes to its cultural and political life would appear, and these were, as a rule, people from the Pupovec area and the Serbian National Council, ominous Ustasha symbols, messages and threats. Namely, as if in a country where everything should be quite relaxed and orderly, there is some background force that must always and everywhere highlight the Ustaše as the most important component of Croatian identity and Croatian independence.
This and such a "nameless system" was opposed by Miroslav Blažević, the most unusual phenomenon in the world of sports decades ago, a man who always and everywhere expressed his views loudly and clearly, so I guess because of this characteristic of his he felt the need to step forward and somehow himself stood up for the protection of his fellow citizens of Serbian nationality. Blažević learned this knowing that he would be targeted "short and long", and that every nationalist madman on the Internet would rise up, but, aware of his place in that society and what he had done for that society in his life, he spoke in the protection of Serbs in "Ćira's way", slightly joking but with a clear message that people of other nationalities should not be attacked in any way.
SOCCER IS A STORY ABOUT SOCCER
There are few personalities like Blažević in this part of Europe. Some other countries, some other systems, love and appreciate their great coaches and they have the status of demigods in those environments; this is especially the case with coaches in England.
When it comes to the Balkans and when you look back, there were no big names except for Miljan Miljanić, partially Vujadin Boškov (and he is a much bigger name in Italy than here anyway) and Velibor Vasović. In football, there were simply no coaches who could surpass the fame of players, clubs and national teams.
Nevertheless, Ćiro Blažević has always been just that, the biggest name where he worked, ever since the time when he first managed Zagreb's NK Dinamo in the early eighties of the last century. Then he brought the team from Maksimir, which after the Second World War was the best in the former Yugoslavia, to the title of national champion after a full 24 years. A man with a bow tie, with a white scarf around his neck, came from Switzerland, where he learned business for years and joined the legends of Dinamo, the team led by Marko Mlinarić in those years, in which the brothers Bora and Zvezdan Cvetković played, where they grew up Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinečki.
Those of us who were children at the time and who spent Sunday afternoons next to the radio listening to the radio broadcasts of the First Football League of Yugoslavia, remember well that team of the "Zagreb Blues" and their return to the "Big Four" under Ćira's leadership. Years ago, Crvena zvezda, then Hajduk, then Partizan were in charge, so the title for Zagreb in those years was like enlightenment. And Ciro was branded as a nationalist in those years and had to leave the club after three seasons.
He was "outside" for a short time, then he returned to Yugoslavia, took over FC Priština from Priština and kept it in the First League, which was celebrated as a national holiday in Kosovo. In those days, Ćiro was a big star and a kind of separate character with his white scarf that he didn't take off even when the Pristina fans were wearing it on their arms.
This was followed by a return to Dinamo and a decision that would follow him throughout his life: in the summer of 1987, he let the young Robert Prosinecki go to Crvena zvezda as a free agent, where he became famous. Already in the autumn of that year, it was clear what kind of player Blažević "dropped" claiming, allegedly, that "he will eat his diploma if Prosinečki becomes a footballer". When at the World Championship in Chile in the fall of 1987 Yugoslavia became the world champion in the youth category and Prosinečki was declared the best young footballer in the world, Blažević was attacked as a great ignoramus and everyone somehow forgot the title that he returned to Zagreb for several seasons earlier.
Years later, he will say that Croatia is much worse than Serbia when it comes to not recognizing success and that Croats are just waiting for things to go wrong for you so they can declare you ignorant and incompetent. Prosinečki went to Zvezda, with whom he won everything a player can win in football, he was one of the best players of his time, Zvezda was the champion of Europe and the world, and Blažević disappeared from the football map of Yugoslavia at the time.
Nevertheless, some of his statements and "assessments" are still remembered from that period.
For Zvonimir Boban, he claimed that he is a much better player than Prosinecki, that he plays "in three gears" and Robbie only in "the second", and he explained that he did not drive Prosinecki away, but that he motivated him and actually helped him because he went to the right club at the right moment.
In addition, his unfulfilled dream was to be the coach of Red Star. It was a big European club until the breakup of Yugoslavia, and everyone was impressed to play in it or to lead it from the bench. However, Ćiro said, he can't join Zvezda even though Ivan Stambolić contacted him, because he is a big name, and big names don't work for a Zvezda coach because Zvezda makes coaches big. From a historical perspective, this seems true, but not because Zvezda was like that, but because Zvezda's team was led by Dragan Džajić and the coach was just someone who implemented ideas on the field. Ciro, of course, despite his great respect for the club and for Džajić, could not agree to that, so his career went in a different direction.
RAT, HDZ, TUĐMAN AND THE GREAT RETURN
From the moment when Croatia became a recognized independent state at the end of 1991, it seemed most normal that the Croatian national football team or Dinamo would be led by Blažević. Since the founding of the HDZ, he has declared himself a member of that party and a great friend of Franjo Tuđman, the first Croatian president.
He will remain a great friend with him until the last days, and Tuđman was a great fan and patron of football since the time after the Second World War, when he participated in the work of FC Partizan as a high-ranking army officer. The two of them transferred their love first to Dinamo (which often changed its name in those years) and then to the Croatian national team.
After the end of the war in 1995 and until the autumn of 1999, the most brilliant period of football in Croatia will last, excluding last year's World Cup final in Russia. Namely, tiny Croatia, led from the bench by Ciro Blažević, and on the field led by Davor Šuker, Robert Jarni, Prosinečki, Boban, Dražen Ladić, almost reached the finals at the European Championship in England in 1996 and the World Championship in France in 1998.
Third place was won in France, which is probably the biggest thing that could have happened for the promotion of the newly created country, and Ciro and the players became equal to gods in the Croatian public.
In that period, the myth of Ćira as a great coach was born: he created something big and important in football so that in the end he will not be remembered only for free statements, curses on television and a specific way of communicating in general. Coming third in the world, behind Zidane-led France and Ronaldo-led Brazil, beating the Netherlands in the third-place match seemed tantamount to a miracle for a country struggling with post-war trauma.
That success and that joy are largely Blažević's contribution. He succeeded in what no coach from the former Yugoslavia did: to prepare the team, unite the players, motivate them properly and ensure that they give their maximum in the most important moments. Croatia had a great generation of players, but the former Yugoslavia also had them, so it didn't even manage to come close to those heights.
Nevertheless, the duel with FR Yugoslavia in the qualifiers for the European Championship in the Netherlands in 2000 will bring great pain and disappointment for Blažević - the powerful Croatia was just kicked out by FRY and prevented from going to the competition. The double match with the bombed country in 1999 had a cathartic significance for Belgrade: the elimination of Croatia in the qualifiers became a kind of compensation for all the lost wars since 1991.
Many years later, Blažević will talk about those matches as an example of chivalry and a moment when athletes were above politics and the "situation". Also, from that double match, a detail will be remembered when Zoran Mirković Bata, FRY player, grabbed Robert Jarni's balls at the game in Zagreb, which is essentially a hogwash, but was read here as proof of Serbian supremacy over Croats.
Defeat against Serbia cost Ćir a lot: he again came to the post of shame and the public returned to the "Ćiro fag" thing, which followed him throughout his career.
COMMENTATOR AND LEGEND
In recent years, Blažević is not in football as a coach, but appears as a commentator, but also as a person who is always fun to talk to: he is always expected to say something spectacular or swear in the middle of a live program. There are dozens of such examples and on YouTube there are series of recordings of compilations of his "statements". The public loves simple language, so Ciro often throws it out to make people laugh or shock, but it always remains that his evaluations of football or daily politics are correct. He, although in his late years, does not stop shocking and is somehow more of a pop icon today than a former football coach.
He never "disowned" Tudjman, although he sometimes said that he was not aware of everything that happened during the 1991-1995 war. His statement when he visited Tuđman on his deathbed is also known. Then the latter allegedly told him not to approach him because he would pass on the disease to him, and Ciro said that he also wanted the disease from him.
He is a frequent interlocutor of Serbian tabloids who like to call him to comment on football and political events. Now they are grateful to him since such a Croat as Ćiro came forward to protect the Serbs from the stupid and dangerous Ustasha threats.
It would be good if others emulate Ćir Blažević. His colleagues primarily, but also those who have some authority and who often turn a blind eye to all that is real life both in Serbia and in the region.
