The following is a translated excerpt from the Czech
magazine HATTRICK (the full article in Czech is at http://hattrick.cz/slavni-romove-ve-fotbale-aneb-proc-nehral-s-kollerem-v-utoku-narodaku-gabco/):
Italian footballer Andrea Pirlo, the Swedish star of
Bosnian-Croatian origin Zlatan Ibrahimovič, the French legend of Manchester
United Eric Canton, Portuguese bomber Ricardo Quaresma, the “Carpathian Maradona”
Gheorghe Hagi, Golden Ball winner Christo Stoičkov of Bulgaria, the Serb Siniša
Mihajlovič, and many other footballers on the world scene are all Romani. They
have no problem admitting it, either.
In the Czech Republic, Romani people are seen as problems
today. That’s a fallacy. Romani people have extraordinary talent for crafts,
football, and music. Youth trainers here have seen many young Romani boys with the
same kind of talent as Cristiano Ronaldo, but few of them ever show up on the
youth teams. Why? In the next edition of HATTRICK on 11 April, we reflect on
the problem of why, for example, neither Josef Gabčo of Neratovice, who turned 40 this
year, nor Jan Koller, the
best cannoneer in the history of Czech football, ever played on the national
team.
