A blast from the past in the Balkans
That a nation should glory in a retrospective name, the like of which hasn’t been given such currency since Prince went bonkers and opted for something not dissimilar, is something which can only be attributed to the byzantine nature of Balkan history and politics. And given how, not so long ago, that all turned especially ugly, the casual visitor to this country is best advised to approach the whole subject with caution, if at all.
One tip though: if you do find yourself getting bogged down in the complexities while chin-wagging with a local, it would be advisable not to express your confusion by throwing your hands in the air and cheerily announcing: “Ah, sure, it’s all Greek to me, bud.”
Anyway, we’re the ones to talk. Since there appears now to be a consensus that we have surrendered our own sovereignty to an unholy alliance of the IMF, the ECB and the bond markets, perhaps tonight’s meeting of our two great nations here should be more accurately billed as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia versus the Former Republic of Ireland.
Furthermore, we might even be closer spiritual neighbours than we think, to judge by a report in one of the local papers yesterday which observed that “Macedonia is surrounded by countries which face bankruptcy.” According to the report, Greece is in the least favourable position of all the countries in the region, with Croatia taking 10th place in the roll of dishonour followed by Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Macedonia is not on the list – hurray! — but the daily paper warns that “local politicians should learn the lesson and avoid too much debt.”
Quite.
An aggressive campaign to encourage overseas investment seems to have paid dividends for Macedonia in the short-term but, with a hard-fought general election to be held here tomorrow, it could be that the incoming government will find that long-term problems are already being stored up by the digger-full.
You don’t need to be a refugee from the Celtic Tiger — though it helps — to detect an ominous portent in the massive urban renewal project unfolding on the banks of the river Vardar in the centre of town.
Dubbed ‘Skopje 2014’ and regarded as a wildly ambitious yet long overdue response to a devastating earthquake in 1963, it involves the ongoing construction of some 40 buildings, monuments and public spaces, including a triumphal arch and, lording it over the river, an enormous new museum built in the classical style, with a row of Corinthian columns supporting a roof topped by twin domes.
Right now, the whole project is half-hidden by scaffolding and cranes, and peopled entirely by men in hard hats producing an unceasing metallic drone, a frankly nostalgic sight sound for Irish visitors who can only hope for the locals’ sake that it all continues to fruition and Skopje doesn’t end up boasting the world’s first unintentional ghost museum.
In the meantime, the Irish are showing the natives that while they may be down, they’re definitely not out, and we’re doing it in the time-honoured fashion. By standing on stools, swaying a lot and drinking their pubs dry.
Just around the corner from our lodgings is St Patrick’s Irish Bar wherein has been established the field HQ for the advance battalion of the Green Army.
Consequently, through the balcony door of my hotel room, left open to the balmy night air, I went to sleep last night — or tried to at any rate — to the sound of a raucous rendition of ‘Spancil Hill’, only to be awoken in the first light of dawn by the rather less familiar cry of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer from a mosque on the other side of the river.
At the end of a couple of weeks during which questions of national identity migrated from the Queen of England via the President of the United States to the uncertain make-up of the latest Irish football panel, there can be no doubting the commitment to country of the footsoldiers of the Green Army. Yes, some of them might drink too much and even more of them might even fall over quite a bit but, fair play to the lads and lassies, they always show up. Thus it is that, just a few days after I managed to pick out the tricolour bearing the familiar legend ‘Davy Keogh Says Hello’ amidst all those Manchester United and Barcelona banners at Wembley, that most distinctive of flags is once more on display here in the heart of Skopje.
And speaking of national identity — warning: tenuous link coming up — in so far as I’ve ever devoted any thought to Mother Teresa (no, Roy, not Quinny, the other one), it has always been in the certain knowledge that she was the world’s most famous Albanian.
Not a bit of it. Turns out she was born and bred here in Skopje and the city is happy to trumpet the origins of its most famous daughter, even if civic pride didn’t extend to actually saving the family home from demolition in order that it could make way for the City Shopping Centre. (Insert mandatory God and Mammon reference here). Only a modest plaque now marks where the house once stood but across town there is a small museum dedicated to her in front of which stands a statue of Mother Teresa with her toes oddly crossed — a legacy, so they say, of being forced to wear too small shoes as a child.
As for that Albanian connection, well, the wisest thing might be to quote a local tourism guide: “At the time of her birth Skopje was part of the Ottoman Empire, the state of Macedonia didn’t exist and her family was Catholic ethnic Albanian — so there’s no saying what her nationality exactly was.”
Ah, I think this is where we came. Better for the befuddled visitor to withdraw onto the kind of disputed territory with which we are much more comfortable: the football pitch of the National Arena Filip II where tonight Trapattoni’s men will be hoping to shake off the oppressive hand of the Irish team’s own unhappy history in this part of the world.
Fingers crossed. And probably toes too.
0 Ireland are unbeaten in 8 qualifying matches away from home under Giovanni Trapattoni.
1 Tonight, for the first time in 18 qualifiers since Trap took charge, Ireland’s defence must cope without Richard Dunne (suspended).
3 of Ireland’s yellow card risks for the next match against Slovakia (Keiren Westwood, Darron Gibson and Kevin Doyle) are missing through injury tonight. Glenn Whelan and Sean St. Ledger are the other players with one booking.
6 shots at goal by Ivan Trichkovski for FYR Macedonia in Dublin in March (one goal, three saved by Westwood, two off target).
7 players have scored for Ireland in Group B so far: Robbie Keane (3), Keith Fahey, Kevin Kilbane, Doyle, Shane Long, St. Ledger and McGeady (1 each).
8 goals make Kilbane the second-highest scorer in tonight’s squad behind Keane (49).
14 goals have been scored in five qualifying matches between FYR Macedonia and Ireland since 1996 (Ireland 9, FYR Macedonia 5).
21 players have been used by Trapattoni in five Group B matches to date.
34 Ireland’s place in the latest FIFA World Ranking (FYR Macedonia are 85th).
90 goals conceded by Shay Given in 112 international matches.
100% Dunne, Kilbane, Whelan, McGeady and Keane started each of Ireland’s first five matches in Group B.
