Dado Prso (Croatia) |
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Collection title
Portraits of legendary footballers
First broadcast date
2007
Abstract
Dado Prso was a Croatian and European star of the late 1990's and the beginning of the 2000's. He started his career in his native town, Zadar, then he played in Split, Rouen, Ajaccio, Monaco and finally with the Glasgow Rangers club.
He actively participated with AS Monaco in the European epic of the club, by scoring four times in the memorable match against the Spaniards of Corona, won 8 - 3 by Monaco.
Production companies
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COPEAM - Coproduction
- Radio Croatia ( HRT ) - Coproduction
Primary theme
Sport and games
Credits / Cast
- Devic Tania - Journalist
- Versic Marin - Journalist
- Magdic Lovorko - Journalist
Context
Dado Pršo
Stéphane Mourlane
Dado Pršo was a Croatian football player who became a hero in a country from which he had been forced to flee under conditions that nearly ended his career prematurely. He was born in Zadar, on the northern Dalmatian coast on November 5th 1974. He grew up in a city that, despite being partly destroyed in the Second World War, had managed to keep its traces of a long history marked by the presence of foreigners: Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Hungarians and then, in the nineteenth century Austrians and finally Italians during the inter-war period. Pršo’s family came from neighbouring Serbia which with Croatia and Slovenia had made up Yugoslavia since the end of WWI. In November 1945, the country became a federal republic (to Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia were added Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro) and a communist state led by the authoritarian Tito. In other Eastern bloc countries, including Tito's Yugoslavia despite its declared neutrality, sport was a powerful nationalist and ideological vehicle for domestic and foreign politics. From an early age there was a structure in place to ensure the nation’s vitality and power, which must be seen and confirmed in international sporting competitions.
Dado Pršo made much of his athletic strength (he was 1.90 m) in football, a highly valued sport in Yugoslavia. In 1991, Red Star Belgrade won the Champions’ League against Olympique de Marseille. That same year, Pršo was recruited by Hajduk Split, one of the two major Croatian clubs with Dinamo Zagreb. Since its founding days in 1911, Hajduk, had been considered the standard bearer of Croatian identity, and was many times champion of Yugoslavia. Indeed the Tito’s elite saw the club as an obstacle to a common Yugoslavian consciousness and symbolically replaced the red and white checks (the colours of the Croatian flag) on the club’s crest with a red star. Pršo did not manage to get the striker’s position and was loaned to second division Pazinka. His career also suffered the effects of the war, which, since 1991, had set Yugoslavia on fire following the rise of nationalism. Croatia was fighting Serbia, the linchpin of the Yugoslav federation, which Croatia wanted to leave. Fighting raged (20,000 victims up until 1995), the cities of Vukovar and Dubrovnik were besieged and Croatian Serbs were often forced into exile.
In this poisonous atmosphere, Pršo left for France where he hoped to sign a contract with FC Nantes, a leading club, but quotas on foreign players prevented this. He had to fall back on the FC Rouen playing in second division. In Normandy, his life-style was at odds with the requirements of professional football: the deterioration of his physical strength forced him to end his career. A chance romantic meeting took him to the South of France, to St Raphael, where he played at amateur level, while managing to get a job as storekeeper in a construction company. The Croatian player was then spotted by AS Monaco for whom he signed a contract in 1996, playing with the reserve team. The following year he was loaned to Ajaccio. By scoring many goals, he helped the Corsican club rise through the second division. His performance earned him a place back with Monaco in 1999, a period when the club was playing at its best, winning the championship in 2000 and finalist in the 2004 Champions League. Despite recurring knee problems, Pršo benefitted from this exceptional career on the European stage to sign a lucrative contract with Glasgow Rangers. With them he won the Scottish championship in 2005 before ending his career in 2007.
Previously Pršo had also made an impact on Croatian football. He played for the national team 32 times, participating at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, where Croatia did not up match up to the third place it had won during the 1998 World Cup. However, like its predecessors, Pršo’s team was the pride of the Croats and helped improve the image of a country shaken by war and trying to attract tourists. Pršo became a national hero after his two crucial goals against Slovenia at the shoot-out to qualify for the Euro 2004. He was chosen best Croatian player in 2004, 2005 and 2006. This consecration probably has a special meaning for a man whose career had struggled against his country’s problems.
Bibliography:
"Les Balkans et le sport: talents, exploits and corruption", Les Cahiers du Courrier des Balkans, No. 9, juin 2010, 202 p.
Georges Castellan, Antonia Bernard, Gabrijela Vidan, Histoire de la Croatie et Slovenie: les Slaves du sud ouest, Armeline, 2011, 524 p.
Dietschy Paul, Histoire du football, Paris, Perrin, 2010, 619 p.
Siri Norbert, AS Monaco Football Club, Paris, Calmann-Levy, 2008, 189 p.
