Ljubo shoots back at the Roar of the Crowd

Ljubo sure stirred up things in the swamp. I admire his nonconformism. A lot of people think they are personally or nationally offended, but actually they are offended that someone doesn't keep his mind shut. I always liked people who say what they think, even if I thought they were wrong.

Its not a racist thing Ljubo we just don't like you. We'd probably like you more if you weren't such an arrogant prick.

What has gone wrong with technical development of players? Let's have a look at history. NSL was enjoying it's best period in mid 90's. The style of football was of a high quality. Teams such as South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights, Adelaide City, Marconi, Sydney Olympic and Sydney United were dominating the league. Their coaches included Zoran Matic, Frank Arok, Manfred Schaefer, Mirko Bazic among others. Zoran Matic, with perhaps the best record in Australian coaching history was overlooked for the national job, and left the game a broken hearted man. He was perhaps Australia's answer to Mourinho, a very astute, tactical coach who actually used players such as Mori, Mullen, Tobin etc.: Anglos but played in a style that was reminiscent of Italian coaches. At Sydney United, Branko Culina inherited some great talent from Manfred Schaefer who should rightly credited with forming the basis of what Johnny Warren described as the best team ever in Australian football: Sydney United 1997. They were conistently beating teams with high scores, something never seen then or since in the history of Australian football. What transpired the days and night before the Grand Final against Brisbane Strikers one will never know, but the team of Kalac, Babic, Popovic, Trajkovski, Moric, Enes, Plesa, Culina, Marusic, Zdrilic, Milicic (Rudan, Bilokapic, Jermen)...played exemplary football. It was a shame that the d___head David Hill was brought in to "kill the ethnic element". I was there at Parramatta Stadium for the semi-final match vs SOuth Melbourne and saw how the boys were fed alcohol. The police actually incited the crowd. Someone blew a horn and then a few of the cops went in to get the horn. When no-one owned up, they manhandled someone and the crowd erupted. One police officer fell to the ground while others came into the crowd arresting people. It came out later that there were Serbs in the crowd who carried the Serbian flag, something that caused some of the boys, fuelled by alcohol to run onto the field. hence that front page photo. I was greatful not to have been involved. I remember sitting behind Michael Cockerill the week before who was enjoying the game with his girlfriend. Unfortunately some bogan (who happened to be Croat) called him c--khead. It is understandable why he has not been that privy to ethnics in his columns over the years. So bigotry and stupidity has worked on both sides. Some of the young Croatian males appeared to use to the matches as a springboard for expressing themselves and their frustrations, usually in a good way but someitmes fuelled by alcohol in a bad way. However I will never forget the racism I experienced at Suncorp the day of the 1997 Grand Final, soemthing that was played on by the media. There was a lack of respect that the rent a crowd showed us. It was and still is exemplary of the attitude which many anglo-australians hold of non-anglos. There were only a few hundred of us but we were sprayed with beer and yelled at and it was very uncomfortable being there. We left heartbroken. Getting back to my point about coaches: Les Scheinflug was the master youth coach who formed Postecoglou but was unceremoniously dumped. Such a shame that the new regime treats the game as if it has never existed before the A-League. It is time to give that history it's due, to embrace it. The old days of Granville being the pioneer club, Joe Marston, the 70's with teams such as Polonia, Prague, Croatia, Western Suburbs, Hellas, St George needs to be embraced. As well as the 80's, 90's etc. We should not be ashamed of the ethnic period of our game, nor of the ethnic working class roots in newcastle and Sydney's western suburbs. It needs to all be embraced. It's not just about the money.

lol Where did you get that notion that most Anglos are mixed race? If they're mixed race then they clearly aren't anglo

Ian - dear sir, you've shot yourself down in your first sentence. You fail to distinguish between "thletic performance enhancing drug testing" and testing for recreational drugs use. It makes you sound like John Howard on 3aw in the 2007 election campaign. For someone claiming to have a PHD you seem to have wasted the effort, as your ability to research has been stunted by something. You persist with the 1871 date. That was the date of the formation in England of the Rugby Football Union. The game of football dates back 5000 years. Nice. Funny that the old 'mob' or 'folk' football played in England really didn't resemble anything. And good old Sep Blatter reckons soccer was invented in China 2000 years ago. However, we know that 'football' like games (and I use the broader meaning of 'football') have been played for quite some time, including Australian indigenous variants like Marn Grook amongst others. It's a very broad idea. NOt one specific set of rules.

OzFootballSherrin, I see that you and Shane Warne have a few things in common.Firstly, your command of the English language is as good as your capacity to understand the history of sport and that of the procurement of athletic performance enhancing drug testing. I have a PHD in this precise area. As most of your comments are illinformed and based on google searches with no real understanding of the history of either sport or the previously mentioned ( APEDT) . You are completely wrong in relation to WADA and the uptake by the AFL. I could mention numerous names of AFL players who in fact breached both AFL and WADA and were not penalised to legal loop holes in your beloved AFL 3 strike policy (APEDT) due to it's rushed and auld nature as it was in part taken from the EPL version of the same auspice. As for understanding of the history of sport it is extremely limited. The game itself is actually called Australian Rules Football. The game was originally nothing like it is today, it was a game ' made up' to keep cricketers fit during the winter 'off season" somewhere around 1870 give or take a few years. The national competion started in 1990 . As I said some 20 -25 years ago. The game of football has been around for in excess of 5000 years and played in several continents , over time the game obviously has evolved( unlike some people ) . The FA cup has been in existance ,as it is today , since 1870-1871. This league gives all divisions of registered FA the opportunity to compete with each other, one of the few football leagues in the world where this occurs. Very special and allows the less mortals to compete with the giants. Just to give you some figures, in Aust there are more registered Football players in this country playing Football than all of the other football codes combined.( Aus kick is not an offical register of offical players). World wide for every registered Australian rules player there is approx 65,000 players of Football. Brazil have almost 100,000 players who are professional ( they are paid to play in some way). As for the sports specificity skill transition between sports , I can't say I have heard of any Australian sports star of any sport making the cross over to the elite level in Football. That cannot be said for Australian Rules where the complete joke of this football code is seen. This is exactly the reason the AFL did not want the World Cup here, as it would be lose massively in finances and could not compete with the Giant of world sport. The World Cup is the single largest sporting event in the world. Maybe one day we could see a world cup in Australian Rules Football. That's right they do , Ireland and Aust and they have to modify the rules as they do not understand the rules of the game you love. I was in LA when the AFL cnducted an exhibition match a few years ago, what a failure. LA Galaxy were here recently which was sold out.Just goes to show the power of the World Game. Sport is wonderful no matter which sport you choose but do not try comparing a minnow with the king and produce false and inaccurate facts. This is all I have to say in realtion to this matter. Good bye

After reading Ljubo rant about "racist Australia" towards AFL again. I'm convince that Ljubo is the type of person who can give it but can't take it. He's happy to be offended about generalisation amongst his culture and play the victim but willing to make the same generalisation about other culture and expect them just to take it without offense. I really couldn't care less if he has some sort of teary eyed story about racist abuse in his childhood that makes him react this way because quite frankly it doesn't excuse anyone behaviour. The cause of racism is often racism itself and Ljubo is just continuing the racist cycle of hate.

I have to ask whenever people accuse australia of being a racist bogan country. Really a few bigots calling talk back radio is hardly conclusive evidence. I wonder what country in the world isn't racist. Which country is the model of multiculturalism that Australia should follow I have no doubt that there are probably some countries in the world that may handle race relations better than Australia does but I seriously doubt there would be many and Australia would still be up there in the world. Right wing nationalist party such as one nation party don't have a single representation in parliament but you'll find that throughout europe they do have seats in parliament and do win council elections. I haven't even mention the monoculture policy that is prevalent throughout Asia.

ian - Ljubo made reference to the AFL drug policy as the 'joke', you have I noticed decided to expand upon that. It's disappointing that the mods have let such an inflamming post through. I wonder if a measured response will be permitted? I find it odd that you feel a game that has existed since the late 1850s, and has been in WA and SA longer than most Bundesliga clubs have been in existance - I find it hard to comprehend your claim that up to 25 years ago it was a Victorian sport and claim that it was only played in Adelaide and Perth by expat Victorians. And only exists due to TV rights? TV rights is a very, very modern phenomena. The game existed up to the modern era of massive TV rights (really only the last 10 years) on the back of......well, gee, people playing, watching, attending, listening etc etc. Y'know - like sports do. re the AFL drugs policy -....nowhere near as tough as most other sports.....such as please. You do realise do you not that the AFL, like FIFA (and by extension the FFA), like the ARU, CA, NRL etc are signatories to WADA and meet at least the minimum required testing for performance enhancing drugs (which includes a VERY limited component of what might be termed 'recreational' drugs). Testing beyond the minimum is expensive. The FFA can't afford to. You do realise, do you not, that the AFL illicit drugs policy is above and beyond but additional to the WADA policy. The AFL runs both. You do realise that expansive testing of a broad range of drugs is ruddy expensive, about $1000 a pop. The AFL now runs around 1,500 per year. That's a cool $1.5 million......expensive pee. That's above and beyond the number of ASADA conducted WADA tests for PEDs. You do realise do you not, that in Australia, the AFL was the FIRST sport to introduce a league wide compulsory illicit drugs policy - the much politicised 3 strike policy. Whether you agree with it or not, the harsh reality is the ARU and FFA do not have a specific illicit drugs out of competition drugs policy. It's actually too hard in international sports with x-border player movement. Wendall Sailor was dopey enough to get outed by WADA testing....however, not that WADA was unable to detect Ben Cousins in the AFL or Andrew Johns in the NRL. Both played the vast majority of their careers before effective illicit policies were adopted. When the NRL left it to the clubs, the Knights weren't testing. For Cousins, it all started falling apart around the time the AFL policy got enacted. Prior to that, it was WADA testing that he was avoiding and yet he SHOULD've been targetted. Basically though - - no code reliant upon only WADA testing has any right to jump on an illicit drugs moral high horse. Ignorance is not a clean bill of health. The Aust Sports Commission in Oct last year instituted a policy very similar to the AFL 3 strike policy. Please peruse section 13 of the PDF, 'Consequences of Breach', it talks about the 3 first 'breaches' and then the termination on the 4th breach. I have no idea what you believe the AIS policy to be. The irony is that the ASC AIS policy is a govt agency, and it was the then LIberal Govt in 2006/2007 that so ignorantly attacked the AFL. btw - what's Brendon Fevola got to do with it? To public knowledge, he's never been done for illicit drugs. Stupidity of course. And I agree that Carlton retained him for too long, and thought the Lions were taking a massive risk but like most, hoped for the best. At this point, it looks like he's about to be terminated as a player. btw - re exhibition matches internationally - you really don't know what you're talking about.

Maybe you were not paying attention during your media course at the AIS. If you want me to continue and tell the public more I would quit while you are losing your debate. Thank Australia for what we have done and move on before I let the cats out of the bag.

Ljubo, I have listen to your slander , defamation and abuse of our support of you. I worked for the AIS and I can't say I remember running into people like you, thank God. As for paying the cost of your AIS scholarship back, you are not being truthful as to this. As for the laws of the game in relation to paying for the AIS , that is BS. Grow up and develop a bit of humility, decency and acceptance of what is right on a global level. I have been to Croatia on 3 seperate occasions, love it and the people. My advice to you is change before you go back because one thing all humans don't like is somebody who is ungrateful and makes racist comments especially when they have been hospitable.

Not enough CAPS to be the real Ljubo, unless he's on some kind of downer....everything cool Ljubo?

Eyeswideopen , I read your note in relation to our " friend Ljubo. That was a brilliant letter and stated so accurately. You definitely owe your parents a lot and I see you really respect and honour that. You are a true human being and a good guy. Well said mate.

This can't be the real LM! But his statement about the other day about Australia being a racist, bogan country is just too true. We are seeing it once again all over the media as we speak. One guy called up SEN and was explaining how it's because of the ethnics that soccer is violent LOL such as the Serbians, Croatians etc etc http://www.sen.com.au/audioplayer/Audio/Casual-Friday-talking-Melbourne-Victory-supporters/1831

Wow...... Hahaaaa i have to treat most responses with humor because they are nothing more than a joke....... Before I attempt at replying en masse..... Let's just say your entitled to your opinions, I have purely come on to explain a few things that some of you are too ignorant to understand! When you talk about my parents and what they went through you are delving into territory you know nothing of! I'm not about to share their stories with you needless to say they had it harder than most! As for me being grateful etc: hahaaaaa every cent that was invested in me at the A.I.S was given back as soon as I transferred to Switzerland if you knew the laws of our game, you would know that already! I know can't expect much from a dimwit like you eyeswideopen but I thought I'd make it clear that you my friend are the one with no idea! Go back to living in anonymity that's where you belong, obviously! Peace!

What a sad episode from one blessed with so much talent. My parents suffered extreme poverty during WW2 and my dad gave up everything he had to come here to give himself and us a better life. You may do well to remember the suffering of your own father who escaped an oppressive communist regime to afford you the same luxury and opportunity. If you don't care about your own opinions, then that's fair enough. But how about you stop to think about the damage and hurt your vitriol causes the same family that you purport to love? Be proud of your heritage by all means.. we all are. But I suggest you grow up and stop shitting in the faces of those who gave you the lifestyle you now have. Time to grow up and take responsibility for yourself. Did some of my tax dollars pay for your stint in the AIS? You know, they joint that nurtured your talent? Being such an honourable man, perhaps you can write a cheque to the ATO? Your replies on here show disturbing evidence that all is not well with Ljubo's headspace. So do yourself a favour and seek help before you destroy yourself and all those around you. Sure, your little flock of ignorant sheep wil be your cheerleader... but do they really know who you really are? Do they Ljubo? Congratulations mate, your racist remarks have given the xenophobes of this country one more reason to spout their hate filled views... and made the task of those of us who teach acceptance all the much harder.

OZfootballSherrin we must live on different planets . Race has nothing to do with sport at the domestic level . On that point I agree with you, although that's the only point that you make that is correct. AFL , played in only 1 country in the world and up until 25 years ago a Victorian sport which a few Victorians who travelled to Adelaide and Perth played.The only reason it exists is due to the massive amount of $$ from television rights. The game is a joke at the International level and always will be. Exhibition games have been played in Asia, Africa,UK and America/Canada. These games failed to draw decent crowds and those that did attend were given free tickets and most thought the game was ridiculous.Then in the after party, in every country they have played there has been trouble with excessive drinking, fighting and abuse by some players.With no appropriate player suspension.In Ireland 2 Irish players were hospitalised 1 with serious facial fractures from an Aust player. Remember Ireland and the recent Hong Kong fiasco?? As for the AFL drug enforcement, you are completely WRONG. The AFL drug policy is no where near as tough as most other sports, they have a 3 strike policy ( football - Not the hand ball shiet, is 1-2 strike policy depending on the type of drug and other legal criteria. Go take a look at the AIS drug policy and compare it to the AFL policy.In the case of the recent removal of a Brisbane Lions player , well he had 7 chances before they got rid of him. Do i need to go on, how about good old FEV ? How many chances will he get ... and that is for criminal matters. Enjoy...

I just want to know, is a child of Danish parents a wog, an anglo, an Aussie,......or something else entirely in which case I don't know whether to be offended, or repulsed, or what? Given I thought this to be a sports website - all the talk of racism is disappointing. And Ljubo has gone on the attack against the AFL - who actually run an acclaimed racial vilification program that certainly looks more effective than anything the ICC has concocted.....at very least. And Ljubo has attacked the AFL over drugs policy - - and yet, the AFL runs WADA plus illicit testing, and it's illicit program, so attacked by the Howard (who admitted to Neil Mitchell that he didn't realise the AFL policy was in addition to WADA testing) Govt back in 2007, is now the blue print for the Aust Sports Commission 3 strikes policy adopted in Oct 2010 by the Aust Institute of Sport. Go figure. But, no, only the AFL is evil.

What a total crock this article is. What an embarrasment you have become. Just blame everyone else, hey?

Well, why not? His girlfriend is Serb. lol.