Pance Kumbev: Half of Mak Players Can't Speak Macedonian
Friday, 02 March 2012
MINA Breaking News
Panche Kjumbev, is a former national team player who currently earns his money at FC Rabotnicki. Rabotnicki fans know him well for scoring crucial goals for the red and white team during UEFA competitions.
In a candid note on his Facebook page entitled "Bolen mi lezi mak fudbal" an homage to an old Macedonian song, Kumbev sent an arrow through the hearts of everyone involved in Macedonian football. The no nonsense player expressed his views in the same manner he scores his goals: quick... catching everyone off guard.
Kumbev discussed the recent loss to Luxembourg...
"It doesn't matter if you understand me or not, means nothing to me if you get upset, I will give you my opinion on the state of Mak football anyways" says Kumbev.
"Yes we lost 2-1 to Luxembourg. This is why sport is interesting, anyone can beat anyone else nowdays. Sure this pains me, hurts a lot. But are we better than Andorra, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, San Marino? We are only better than them in two things: Our kids are a lot more talented, and our sports genes, genes in the Balkans in general are better than theirs. In everything else they are 100 years ahead" says Kumbev.
"Why our media and 90% of us think that the above teams are amateurs and we are not? Do you think that their leagues are more amateurish than ours? Let me clear up some things from the beginning.
Our first football league has 14 "professional" teams. Do you know how many of them are really professional who meet the basic conditions for competition? Maybe 2-3, 3-4 tops!
1. Working conditions (auxiliary facilities, equipment, medical staff, locker rooms, expert teams)
As mentioned only 3-4 teams have what I'd call professional conditions. I won't say names of teams, so people don't get upset. Do you know that our players wear equipment that's 10-15 years old? Only 3-4 teams have an auxiliary field, others don't know the meaning of the word "gym". Majority of clubs have no doctors, masseurs, no one can give you a pill if you have a headache. Our players do not know the meaning of vitamins, minerals or sports nutrition. By eating ajvar you do not get the proper sports nutrition. Do you know that in Tetovo the dressing room has no water, no electricity, no toilet? Two years in a row, the champion came from Tetovo.
Do you know that in Kicevo instead of hangers they have nails in the wall, and that instead of a toilet there is a hole in the middle of bathroom? The guest locker room in Kratovo, Prilep and Stip is around 3 sq meters so not everyone fits in. Do you know our youth trains in parks, some are barefoot! Of course, there are wealthy clubs who are certainly an exception and provide great conditions. Kudos to the very few who can provide that!
And what about the amateurish countries our media speaks of? The San Marinos, the Luxembourgs..? Each of them has a sports complex with extra fields, fields with artificial turf, saunas, multiple gyms with new equipment. Who is an amateur here?? Us or them?
2: Professionalism?
Do people realize thatt 70% of Macedonian football players are amateurs? Do you know that 70% percent of them do not pay any contributions, health insurance or pension? Do you know that if God forbid somebody gets hurt or player is expelled from the club, who will cover their operation, treatment, rehabilitation? The automatic salary for our league players is 150 to 200 euros? Again, the wealthier clubs are always an exception, but this is the reality for the majority of the clubs.
3: The quality of the league
Honestly and without false modesty wre are certainly among the last 3-4 leagues in europe. Not to be misunderstood, I speak for the quality of the league, not the players. In Macedonia it is not surprising at all, particularly in Tetovo for someone to enter your dressing room with a gun and tell you that you have to lose the match today. This is the truth, unfortunately. Referees are frequnetly attacked, both during the match and during half time. It is normal for a referee to come up to players and say "I am sorry, but you are going to have to lose the match today". I can give you hundreds of such examples in regards to our league.
4: National Team
For all of us, the national team is something holy. Most of us feel honor and pride to play for the national team.
The Macedonian national team is a place where managerial deals are made, a place where players are brought when they need to be sold to someone. We still have a rule called "He Must Play" regardless how bad someone is.
When we are playing foreign teams, it's another story. Our plane is filled with 20 players, 10 members of the professional headquarters (FFM) and 70 members of the so called "Lamb Brigade". These are people who have never seen or been in a contact with football in their life, but due to their freindship/ties with the federation get to travel with us.
Do you know that half of players do not know our anthem, half of the team doesn't speak Macedonian! People in the FFM are brave enough to say that we don't have other players! What?
Let's ask openly, where is the best goal scorer in our league Filip Ivanovski? Where is Vlatko Grozdanovski, Zlatko Tanevski, Blagojce Todorovski, Krste Velkoski, Mile Krstev, Dimitar Lazarevski Bazhe Ilijoski, Boban Grncarov, Alexander Bajevski, Zoran Baldovaliev, Stojan Ignjatov... lets not list them all because there are too many. Are the aforementioned not deserving of a call to the national team?
Of course they deserve, howver they are not on the 'list' of certain people at the FFM. All of the players I mentioned are in top form, are standard in their clubs, something which is not the case for half of the current squad.
5: Coach
Kudos to the new coach. But what we do need is someone born and bred in Macedonia. Someone who has authority and will not succumb to pressures from the types of "this one must play or not play". Where are our great coaches: Gjore Jovanovski, Cede Janevski Milko Gjurovski, Djoko Hadzhievski, Dzidzi Ilievski, Vlatko Kostov, Ilco Georgievski, Dragan Kanatlarovski, Zoran Smilevski etc.?
6: Leadership
I can say only one thing here: Where are our legends Darko Pancev, Ilija Najdoski, Sasha Chirich, Georgi Hristov, Tony Miceski, Mitko Stojkoski brothers Gjurovski, Goce Sedloski, Artim Shaqiri? Where are they? Away from Macedonian football, unfortunately.
I have more opinions and thoughts going through my head right now, but my point is this. We are the amateurs here, we are amateurs from the highest rank. So please do net get upset when Armenia shows up and scores 4-5 goals on us, or Luxembourg comes back from 1 down and beats us 2-1.
I don't have excuses here, but the players are the least of our problems for the perpetual sinking of Macedonian football.
That's it,
Pance Kumbev