Czech Republic

These dudes have been around for a while. As far back as 500 AD and through to 700 AD, a major migration of Slavic people moved from the Black sea and Carpathian regions and this was backed up by the slaughter of whoever got in their way – Siberians, Eastern Europeans, Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars met the resistances of the Slavs who settled in the regions of Bohemia and Moravia along with other German settlers who had been migrating south. The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century, followed by the Bohemian state in the 9th century. The kingdom of Bohemia was a significant player during the Middle Ages as it was linked strongly with the Papacy. In the 15th century John Huss a Bohemian religious reformer was denounced a heretic, and his burning at the stake caused two decades of religious and civil war known as the Hussite Wars. The Thirty Years War in the 17th century was even more devastating, the Bohemian state eventually falling to Austria-Hungary. This empire fell apart after WWI and Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, but it all didn’t go too well as the Slavs did not grant its minorities territorial political autonomy, resulting in discontent amongst Germans predominantly. Along came Hitler and used this discontent for his own needs causing fracturing and the eventual split of Slovakia in 1939, the Czech territory went under German occupation and became part of the Reich. During WW2 thousands of Czechs were murdered or sent to concentration camps. The Czechoslovak government was in-exile and was recognised by the Allies. Although the war was devastating, the people had tremendous resolve and as their National motto ‘Pravda vitezi’ (truth prevails) signified a defiant people. But by the late 40’s and into the 50’s Communism was becoming a potent force – the Czechs did not hesitate to have Communists executed. In the 60’s the focus was on reform and democracy but the Soviet invasion (the whole Warsaw pact came on down) threw the reformers into prison in Moscow. The Czechs held their own in the 1970’s and the UN Human Rights team wanted an end to the harassment of Communist dissenters. This eventually led to massive demonstrations where the Czech’s went shopping into the west when the Berlin wall came down. Further down the track the official parting of Slovakia took place and the Czech Republic was born on New years Day 1993 under the nicely named ‘Velvet Revolution’. Hence what the reformers aimed for in the 1960s had finally been won. The Czech Republic has had a tough time over 13 centuries. Franz Kafka once wrote “It is often safer to be in chains than to be free” - yet Kafka’s paranoia no longer rings true today where the Czech Republic ranks highly in Human Rights issues, has an open and free media, have anti-globalisation stances and are giants in tourism where Prague always gets the number 2 vote after Paris as a beautiful city. There is plenty of beauty in the style of football the Czech’s play. Pavel Nedved has to be the most consistent midfielder in Europe over the last 10 years and this tournament is his swansong. Jankulovski, Ujfalusi and Galasek are the defensive guard, whilst Rosicky and Poborsky are still thrilling to watch. Koller, Baros, Smicer and the taking-the-piss Marek Heinz hope to do the damage up front. The toughness of Petr Cech in goal will be critical for a last 16 passage and possibly beyond. The team is a reflection of post-Communist times – one of the most stable and prosperous and free people given that the Czech citizens rank 2nd in Europe as the least believers in God (3 in every 10 people say it’s bollocks), many more Czechs believe that they could win this Cup without even a prayer.

The future? The Czech’s won’t be too excited about a final meeting in Group E v Italy, but here’s to the whipping the United States will get in their opening game and then they’ll destroy Ghana so that it may just be a friendly in the last game.
Bottomless pit ranking? You’d have to think that the days of political strife are over in the Czech Republic. An intense history created a hybrid of possibility that turned out tough, non-conformist and determined to be proud and honourable, hats off to the writings of Milan Kundera as well as he so rightly said, “Life is Elsewhere” as is the Czech mentality – here’s to continued peace.