The Government's Auto goal

The news (in Politika daily) was worthy of an entire page, the denouncement not even a single line since the source of the news, state agency Tanjug, didn't deem it necessary to carry the main actor´s version of the previous "across the entire page" news item. The denial was carried by the Beta agency, which had previously been denied, along with other media, the "exclusive" news item, obviously reserved for Tanjug only. "The hero" of the news is Sinisa Mihajlovic, along with the volleyball player Zeljko Tanaskovic, the main actor of the denouncement is Sinisa once again, this time without Tanaskovic. And the news was: Sinisa Mihajlovic and Zeljko Tanaskovic have become new SPS members. The festive occasion of their newly acquired ruling party "membership" cards occurred in the municipal SPS board in Savski Venac whose president Velizar Djeric is the federal sports minister.

And while Politika daily festively announced the new membership of two well known sportsmen to the Socialist Party of Serbia, international agencies aired the news, taken over from RTS, which shocked the international public, still a bit resentful towards Mihajlovic because of his gesture following the murder of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan. That would explain captions such as "The Mihajlovic Scandal" in the Spanish press or "Mihajlovic signed for Milosevic's party" in the Italian newspapers.

That very same evening Mihajlovic denied his SPS membership to the Italian news agency Ansa´s correspondent in Belgrade, and repeated the same thing the next day upon returning to Italy. From Rome he forwarded his denouncement to Tanjug and Beta while independent media carried his words from Italian TV:

"I didn't become an SPS member. I signed some papers thinking that I was signing forms for acquiring a diplomatic passport. If I had signed a membership form for SPS too, it was pure deceit", said Mihajlovic adding: "I give the Ministry of Sport three days to deny this; in case they don't, I will no longer play for the national team and won't take part in the European Championship nor play for the national team ever again." The same agencies which carried the news of Mihajlovic's SPS membership on Wednesday hurried to carry his denial in its entirety, seasoned with politically juicy titbits aimed at the mutual favorite enemy - Slobodan Milosevic. Therefore Reuters carried that "the angry Mihajlovic is threatening to abandon the Yugoslav team in case this news item isn't denied", AFP quoted Mihajlovic himself who demanded that "the news item be denied as soon as possible, otherwise he shall drop out of the state team", the Spanish Efe agency also carried Mihajlovic's demand adding that the "government in Belgrade, or so it seems, has landed itself an auto goal". All sports magazines throughout Europe had their say on this topic last Friday. Some, like Mundo Deportiva from Barcelona, remained exclusively on sports terrain and carried the statement of Branko Bulatovic, general secretary of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, that Mihajlovic will definitely play in the European Championship, while others, following a 24-hour delay, combined both news items, the "signature" and the denials.

In the meantime, a heated debate spread in Belgrade on whether Mihajlovic was duped or whether he got scared and changed his mind when he realized what proportions his political engagement could take. The second most important player of this story, the minister of sport Velizar Djeric, gave his version to Frankfurt´s Nachrichten, with a statement that conveyed nothing: "It isn't important whether Sinisa Mihajlovic signed to become a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia or not, the important thing is that he is a patriot." Therefore, neither confirmation nor a denial but rather, in line with the well known scheme, suitability depending on patriotism ... It remains yet to be seen how Mr. Minister shall extricate himself from this entire mess. What amounted to a huge plus on Wednesday turned into a huge minus by Thursday which might influence his, as rumors have it, diplomatic aspirations.

Djeric is totally right when he says that Mihajlovic is a patriot, which was never contested by anyone anywhere, yet he is also right when he says that it doesn't matter whether he became an SPS member or not. It really is totally irrelevant now whether Mihajlovic, consciously or not, had signed that famous form, the most important thing being that he had energetically DENIED it and that that denouncement, thanks to international agencies, had travelled the world turning into a real propaganda boomerang which will cause SPS a lot more harm than good. If one was to analyze the genesis of this news item, the circumstances from which it emerged, how and when it was presented, all points to the conclusion that it was a big game in which a great sportsman got mixed up. Here are the arguments for this hypothesis:

- Had Sinisa Mihajlovic truly signed that SPS membership form, that act wouldn't have occurred in the office of the municipal SPS board in Savski venac, the news wouldn't be leaked exclusively to Tanjug but rather all  media would be informed of it, all TV camera crews would be present, the cameras would film till they dropped.

- In the statement carried by Politika daily, Sinisa Mihajlovic does not mention SPS nor his membership in the aforementioned party by a single word. His words pertain to his belief that our country will move forward and will come out of its crisis.

- By statements given following the assassination of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, whom he regarded as a friend, Mihajlovic showed that he is a man of principle and strong character regardless of the fact that his words could  produce (and did) only damaging consequences. In comparison with the Arkan "homage", signing the SPS membership form is a mere joke, the consequences of that action would have been a lot milder and many wouldn't have even been surprised since, thanks to his earlier statements in which he always strongly defended the "Serbian issue" Mihajlovic came to be known as a "Serbian nationalist", although the Italian press never fails to mention, with modest incredulity, that he was born in Vukovar and that his mother is Croatian. In other words, had he wanted to become an SPS member, he would have gone ahead and done it. Be what may, it appears that Mihajlovic had comprehended that he had been (ill) abused for  political purposes.

- When he tried to denounce that news item, he came upon a non-penetrable wall of controlled state media. In his statement for B2-92 he admitted that he himself didn't believe that we had "such censorship" here. He also told the same radio station, in a slightly more conciliatory tone, that there is plenty of time for all to be denied and explained until May 20th when the national team assembles, but he isn't nearly as categorical as Branko Bulatovic who claims that "all has been explained and Mihajlovic will definitely play".

Coach Vujadin Boskov confirmed on Monday evening that "everything will be OK", i.e. that Mihajlovic will play. Boskovic will spend this weekend in Rome together with Branko Bulatovic, and both shall have an audience with the Pope in the Vatican, to which representatives of many football federations have been invited. Boskov and Bulatovic will use their trip to Rome to meet with Mihajlovic and carve out a definitive deal. The selector added for VREME that he "can't talk about everything that had happened on the phone ".

The "Mihajlovic case" has caused a storm and pushed out rumors which have been circulating through Belgrade for days on pressure being placed on the Yugoslav Olympic Committee (JOK) to withdraw Vlada Divac´s candidacy  for membership in the Sports Commission of the International Olympic Committee (MOK). Following a (unanimous) suggestion made by the Basketball Association of Yugoslavia, JOK voted (Divac got 6 votes, Jasna Sekaric 4) and decided that Divac will be our candidate, and that candidacy has been dispatched to MOK. In the meantime, possibly following a certain interview Divac gave over the Internet which was later carried by Blic daily, someone came to the conclusion that Divac, as a certified opponent of the ruling regime in Belgrade, isn't the most suitable person to "represent Yugoslavia". The topic is very touchy and all are actively avoiding it, yet the truth shall have to come out at the session of JOK´s presidency on May 5th,: the candidacy will either be confirmed and rumors thus quenched or withdrawn which would bring about a scandal of international proportions.

In the meantime, Divac received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award on Sunday evening (he was the NBA commissioner between 1963 and 1976), which is awarded each year to a player or a coach who has excelled in humanitarian and community work during the season. Divac was awarded the honor of being the first foreigner to receive this award. During this season Divac was very active as a goodwill ambassador in the battle against drugs. He took part in a California campaign for the passage of a bill which would increase funds for the battle against drugs, and last year's "Group 7" tour in Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska, whose revenue was intended for disadvantaged children, also influenced the decision to present the popular player of the Kings from Sacramento with this prestigious award: "I am extremely honored, but the most important thing is that all of us together continue to help the children who desperately need our help ", said Divac prior to the third game with the Lakers, in which he helped  his team win with 15 points and 12 jumps, thereby narrowing the overall score to 2:1.

Since he has conquered America a long time ago with his sportsmanship, Divac is now repeating it with his humane values, yet someone from his own country finds him disturbing on account of his different political beliefs. Had he not criticized NATO and American policies in such a harsh way during the campaign against Yugoslavia, they would have accused him of a lack of patriotism.

No one in their right minds has anything against those sports people who were politically engaged with SPS or JUL such as Dragutin Topic or Jasna Sekaric, their undeniable patriotism while sporting their national team colors was proven by countless medals and records and not by party membership cards. However, by that logic, the same would have to apply to those sports people who don't share the SPS or JUL beliefs but who equally love their country and successfully represent it not only in their team colors bearing national insignia but by their overall activities...