Faz in The Indo

**Guts&Glory** · 03/05/2006, 8:55 AM

Sizeable article on our Faz in the Sports section of todays Irish Indo.

Talking about the obvious tough times in his homeland as well as SRFC start to the season.

Interesting reading.

**Red Soldier** · 03/05/2006, 9:54 AM

would anyone be able to post the article?,as im outside the country.im sure it would make interesting reading.thanks in advance.

**Jeebus** · 03/05/2006, 10:14 AM

Here ya go red soldier:

FAHRUDIN KUDOZOVIC is currently making some Atlantic-sized waves around Rosses Point and beyond.

The 21-year-old Bosnian native has been ever present in the Sligo Rovers midfield since his arrival last season and is currently having a large bearing on his team's heady position in the eircom League Premier Division.

Fahrudin, or 'Faz' as the locals call him, was coaxed to Sligo by Sean Connor, having been at Derby County for seven years and Notts County for a short time, but there is a more serious side to his and his family's arrival in this part of the world and it involves Europe's last major war, the Balkan conflict.

Civil war

Originally from Vlasenica, around 70km from Sarajevo, Kudozovic spent his first eight years in Bosnia. The civil war that plagued the region in the early 1990s caused his family to flee, first to Slovenia and then to England where they still live.

"I remember everything," reflects Kudozovic. "The last year I was there the war had started and all the men had to go out to guard houses and go on night watch. My dad, uncle and grandad all went, it was a scary time. Ordinary people had to pick up guns and patrol, but before it really spread to our region we had evacuated.

"My grandad died during the war, but that was through sickness and food not being available. But my uncle was in a concentration camp for the duration of it and we had assumed he was dead because we hadn't heard anything from him. Then when the war ended he was released as part of a prisoner exchange programme."

Luckily none of Kudozovic's extended family were directly affected by the genocide, but they have been displaced all over Europe and beyond as a result of the war. Kladanj is now home whenever they return, which they all try to do every summer.

The Irish experience has been fruitful and with Sligo's promotion to the Premier Division, Kudozovic has been able to test himself against the "best players at the best venues" in the domestic game.

Last night he came face to face with his friend and countryman, Cork City's Admir Softic. The two first encountered each other while at Derby. As usual, though, all pleasantries were put to one side last night.

"I'm happy with how we are playing, but not with the type of goals we are conceding," says Kudozovic of Sligo's start to the season. "As far as general play is going, though, we are not conceding too much from that.

"We just need to put more goals on the scoreboard. Coming up from the First Division people may have written us off, but we are happy to prove them wrong. With the start we've made there is a great atmosphere."

Sean Connor is undoubtedly instilling a belief in his players and, judging by the attendance of 3500 at the Showgrounds last Saturday night, the town too. It's a club full of Irish and now Eastern promise.

Eoin Dunne

**Red Soldier** · 03/05/2006, 12:07 PM

cheers jeebus!

**south sligo red** · 03/05/2006, 2:32 PM

Poor lad gettin an awful lot of slack lately. Dont tink he deserves it! How did he play last nite anyway? Was it much of an improvement from the last game?

**Fivesilver** · 03/05/2006, 4:18 PM

I thought he had a decent game - some of the team were better than him, some were worse.
Some people won't let up no matter what a player does - as someone reminded me last night, there was a section of the Rovers support who had themselves convinced that Ian Gilzean was useless. Still, thankfully, we got rid of him - I wonder what ever happened to him after we consigned him to the dustbin of football.