Croatian Ivan Kelava, the goalkeeper of Granada, said something considered pretty common in Croatia, but in Spain, there are other rules.
As the last round of the Spanish Football League – La Liga will be in order this weekend, there are two contenders for the title. Barcelona is in the driving seat, as they need the win in the match against Granada to clinch the title. Real Madrid will hope for their Catalonian rivals to slip, and the Croatian player Ivan Kelava, the man between the posts of Granada, has announced the match for Goal.com. On May 11, 2016, we bring you his words and reactions which followed.
Asked about the game which will be just one for the glory for his team, he said that Real Madrid could pay some bonuses to Granada players if they succeed in the effort to stop Barcelona and help the Madrid team to get the title. The problem, in this case, is that La Liga has strict rules forbidding this kind of encouragement for the players of the other clubs, so the Spanish media have published harsh commentaries regarding his statement.
To be fair, maybe Kelava was just joking, but we wanted to point out that he was raised in Croatia, the country with shady football rules, where this kind of encouragement is not forbidden. More so, the football officials have spoken many times about bonuses prepared for players of another clubs, and it is not illegal as long as it is paid out to win a game.
The modern football is all about the money, but in Croatian football, it seems that everything is for sale, and it is a widespread opinion that even the titles can be bought. With this in mind, words by the Croatian player should not come as a surprise. Also, Dinamo’s boss, Zdravko Mamić spoke openly to the media about “working with referees” as a must in Croatian football in past times. Nothing was ever investigated after his words.
Few years ago, Croatian refereeing officials were sentenced in court for corruption, and even though it was confirmed by the court that the referees were involved in the case, there was no follow-up investigation to find who the referees were and as a consequence, the same referees are still directing the games in Croatia.
As there should be at least some fair play left in modern football, the question is how can any athlete need any other motive for the game but the win itself? How wrong is the process of raising players in Croatian football if they can speak this kind of words? We will end it with a hope that Ivan Kelava was joking, but we have to say, if it was a joke, it was not funny at all.
