My father was a football referee therefore I spent my childhood on stadiums watching matches and learning to swear. But I also learnt quite a lot about the game itself. such knowledge helped a lot when at the end of July I got a phone call from a Scottish journalist desperate to find more about Artmedia Bratislava which was to meet Celtic Glasgow.
I had a hard time trying to explain the differences between a Slovak football club and a Scottish one in terms of budget and management but, again, such exercise helped me a lot because I keep getting phone calls from Scottish journalists:) Some irritate me because I don't like when people tend to believe that there is a Western Europe (wealthy, democratic, etc) and "the rest". And usually when this "rest" manages to achieve something, they become "exotic".
What's fantastic about Artmedia is that they walk through this Champions League with the eyes wide open.It is not that they managed to knock out Celtic or FC Porto and give a hard time to Rangers and even Internazionale Milano that's so important, but the fact that these young players travel, play in front of thousands of people, see how other clubs are organized, and bring all these to Slovakia. It motivates other to try to improve and what's very important for the Slovak nation, it gives self confidence. I hate to hear "but yoy know, we are a small country, what can we do?"
I've enjoyed very much hearing Dominik Hrbaty at the end of the semifinal against Argentina saying that he hoped that the success of the Davis Cup team would encourage other athletes tostart to believe that they can make performance too.
It is a wonderful year for the Sloval sport, isn't it?
