It was 1959, a match between Hajduk and Crvena Zvezda with Hajduk winning 4-1 and listeners of Radio Split were able to hear every minute of the game for the first time in the city’s history.
Hajduk and Croatian Radio – Television commemorated the 57th anniversary of the first live broadcast of a football match between Hajduk and Crvena Zvezda, on March 22, 2016. The year was 1959 and it was the biggest derby in former Yugoslavia, and since supporters usually had to wait until the end of the game to find out the result if they were not lucky enough to attend the game, Radio Split organized a live broadcast which was a technological sensation at the time.
The reporter selected for the broadcast was Mr. Davorin Rudolf, a young radio reporter who would later become a famous Croatian scientist, a member of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and an esteemed politician. To mark this anniversary, he was presented with a Hajduk jersey bearing number 57. On the occasion, he said that he was one of three candidates for the reporting gig together with Miljenko Smoje – a legendary writer and Marinko Bojić – who later even became the vice-president of Hajduk, but Mr. Rudolf was chosen as he was once a player of Hajduk’s junior team. Unfortunately, just a day after this anniversary, the news of death of Mr. Marinko Bojić was announced.
There is one more connection between Hajduk and its first live broadcast reporter; both celebrate their birthdays on February 13. Mr. Rudolf has concluded that Hajduk is more than just a football club, it is something one loves and lives with for a lifetime. Zvonko Bego, Hajduk scorer in that game, remembered he scored from a penalty kick, and in a way that would not be allowed in modern days, as he tricked the goalie while approaching the ball.
Croatian Radio Television celebrates two anniversaries this year; on May 15, it will be 60 years for Croatian Television, and 90 years for Croatian Radio, and as Hajduk celebrated it’s 105 this year, Hajduk’s president Mr. Marin Brbić has congratulated HRT representatives on this occasion.
