21 October 2010

The president of the Serbian players‟ union, Mirko Poledica, said that the players‟ union will call a strike if they are targeted by hooligans again.

 The union, set up in March 2009 and amassing 60% of professional football players in Serbia, was responding to hooligan attacks on goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic in Genoa.

"This could not be prevented by any measure. This should not go unpunished. The players should have been safe, and in Serbia they are considering whether or not to withdraw. It used to be an honor to play for the national team, and now it seems to be a punishment. If I was Stojkovi?, I would be wondering whether I would play for my country again," said Poledica to the BETA Agency. Poledica said that the assault on Stojkovic, the former Red Star goalkeeper, who became a figure of hate among Red Star supporters after last summer's move to Partizan, its rival club, is not the first attack on Serbian players. In April 2008, Red Star defender Paul Ninkovic's car was set on fire. Marjan Markovic had already suffered a similar incident. Hooligans slapped Ognjen Koroman during a Red Star training session in 2008. That same year, a dark-skinned player from Borac, Mike Tamvanjera, was attacked in Cacak. Numerous attacks have taken place during Red Star and Partizan training sessions, as well as verbal insults and even threats to basketball players who were transferred to rival teams, like Milan Gurovic and Dejan Tomasevic. "I don‟t think this is happening anywhere else in the world. This is the moment to change the situation, because if the problem is not fixed now, it will never be fixed," said Poledica. „The players are the victims of someone else's laziness. Either there are no laws or if there are, they are not enforced. No one knows who owns the club, or who is responsible. Everybody talks about privatization of clubs, sports legislation, and no one mentions the Serbian players who are certainly the most vulnerable in Europe," he added. Poledica compared players to modern slaves. "In Serbia, players mostly earn around 200 or 300 Euros; very few clubs actually contribute to social security or health insurance. Many football players left school early, and once their career is over, more than 90 percent suffer social problems. Few of them earn enough money to live off", said Poledica.{jcomments on}

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