Heroes of Veszprém

In a middle age context, the title could mean a battle that was won near Veszprém. However, Life put this expression into another light. Unfortunately... I'm talking about the handball team MKB Veszprém. They've advanced to the quarterfinals in the Champions League (CL) without one of their best players. He isn't injured, retired, or a member of another team. Mariam Cozma is dead.

As many of you might have already heard, Cozma was stabbed to death in Veszprém on the night of the 8th of February. Two other members of the club also got seriously injured. Members of the team had a little celebration in a club when suddenly things went wrong. What those things were exactly, we might never know. Only the plain facts are clear: a group of 20-25 people, mainly gypsies, exchanged words with the sportsmen, then most of them went outside where weapons were drawn. Cozma was stabbed in the heart, another player, Ivan Pesic, in his kidney. The third player, Marko Sesum, was kicked in his head multiple times. The former could not be saved, the latter two needed emergeny surgeries.

As for me, I had just come back from a week-long ski trip. Eager to cath up with all the news, I opened a Hungarian sports page just to face the cold truth. At first I didn't want to believe it. A professional sports player, member of one of the most famous clubs in Hungary, was killed in "his own" city. I don't want this to become a racist post so I won't mention some other things that came into my mind. The main suspect had been caught since then, but heaven knows if we'll ever learn the whole story.

As for the team, it is almost impossible to imagine what they went through. A friend, a teammate of them died; some of them were even at the crime scene. And they had a CL match next Sunday, exactly one week from the tragedy. In the Main Round, there are no easy opponents, and every game is important. Also, because of the tight schedule, it is not agood opportunity to postpone a match. So the team made probably the best, but also the hardest decision: they would play. I don't have any data about how many people watched that game on television, but I think it must have been a quite high number. The team won that game, and after the final whistle every home player burst into tears. Since then, Veszprém have won 2 of 3 games, and won its group. Ironically, that got them Ciudad Real, last year's CL champion, as their next opponent. Chances are that Ciudad will win. But you can't underestimate the heart of the champion. And, to some extent, our team can already be called as a champion, no matter what happens next.

Fight On, Veszprém! Rest in Peace, Marian!