President Milanović Attends “Trnje“Football Club’s Centennial

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended a formal session this evening to mark the centennial of the “Trnje” football club where he also trained as a boy.

In his address, President Milanović recalled the time he spent in the football club having played there for five years in the 1970s and 1980s. He said that he arrived in the “Trnje“ football club opportunistically, when a new field was built and that it was the only club where one addressed the coach as Mr. “Here we say Mr. to the coaches. In all other clubs they were addressed as comrade, without a name. The coaches were people who were different from other coaches”, President Milanović noted.

“The club had a civic-worker tradition. It was the club that was closest to the city centre. I grew up with that club in some of my first formative years. Later, I completely gave up football and played other sports actively, but for those five years it was my life”, said President Milanović, and told the current leadership of the “Trnje” football club to continue to be ambitious and to continue working with youth, without big pretensions.

Speaking at the formal session in addition to President Milanović were the president of the organizing committee of the centennial of the “Trnje“football club Dinko Bilić, the president of the “Trnje“ football club Jakov Sivrić, the delegate of the mayor of the City of Zagreb and head of the City Office for Education, Sport and Youth Luka Juroš, the president of the Sports Association of the City of Zagreb Vjekoslav Šafranić, the secretary of the Zagreb Football Federation Davor Blašković, the director of Olympic Programme Office of the Croatian Olympic Committee Damir Šegota, and the State secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and delegate of the Prime Minister Tomislav Družak.

A monograph on “100 years of the Trnje Football Club” was presented at the ceremony by the author Stjepan Blažanović, and former presidents, players, coaches and employees of the Club were presented with plaques of the “Trnje” football club.

The “Trnje” football club is an amateur football club that has withstood time and challenges for a hundred years, and throughout its history, it has developed quality football players primarily thanks to its exceptional love for football and sports competition. Top players, including Vladimir Firm, Snješko Cerin, Lovro Majer and Niko Janković, have grown up in the club and their talents have enriched the Croatian football scene. It was often said that the “Trnje” football club is the “biggest small club” in Zagreb and Croatia, known for its tenacity and resistance to all adversity.

Alongside President Milanović was the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić and the Commissioner of the President of the Republic for Sports Tomislav Paškvalin.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek