“Is it for congratulations or condolences? Probably both,” Jindřišek smiled into the television camera. He had a big night: his Bohemians won 1:0 in Jablonec and he himself definitely became the king of the league’s veterans. The unusual guy once again fulfilled the cliché that age is just a number. On Sunday, he ran onto the league square at 42 years, 8 months and 8 days.
To clarify: we are talking about the Czech and Czechoslovakian leagues. We don’t have exact statistics until 1925, when the Association League began to be played, but… “Forty years and more used to be a rarity that would be generally known,” football historian and statistician Roman Jašek wrote on the X social network.
If you had tried to predict Jindřišk’s record 20 years ago, you would have been surprised. The honest man from the Jizera Mountains always had to work hard for everything, and he only got his first minutes in the league at the age of twenty-two. A few years before, he almost gave up on football and wanted to give priority to plumbing, as a boy from a modest background, he was used to living on a few thousand a month. By the way, he still does his craft in his spare time, which makes him stand out among football professionals.
“My wife scolds me a bit for my little ones, but what’s at home is what counts,” Jindřišek was amused. “I also have a coach’s B, so I’ll see if I will follow this path after my career. I believe that the Goddess will offer it to me. When that moment comes, I will decide.’
The energetic defensive midfielder, who can comfortably catch up with opponents a generation younger, has nowhere to rush. Bohemians fans adore the sprightly 40-year-old as one of the club’s legends, and the coaches also need him, currently as a joker. “In September, he had a very strong course of the virus, he was completely out of action for 14 days and took antibiotics. Then he played just over 60 minutes in the cup and had enough. Over time, however, he will get back in shape,” assured coach Jaroslav Veselý. “It’s unbelievable what a career he’s had. With Pepa, I have already experienced a record several times, and in this case, it is a reward for him that it happened in Jablonec, that is, almost at home. Plus with a win, it’s all the stronger.”
By the way, Jindřišek played league match number 436 in Jablonec and equaled the famous Spartan gunner Horst Siegel in seventh place in the historical ranking. He can still move into the elite five during the fall through goalkeeper icons Jaromír Blažek (439) and Martin Vaniak (440). The Slovak midfielder Milan Petržela (493), who turned forty in June, holds the record and continues to push it every weekend.
Will it be the holder of Petržel who eventually takes away from Jindřišek the honorary position of the league’s oldest player? There are three more 40-year-olds on the current roster: midfielders Tomáš Hübschman (Jablonec) and Marko Matějovský (Boleslav) and Teplice goalkeeper Tomáš Grigar. Now they are ruled by a natural phenomenon from Ďolíček.
2023-10-23 20:46:57
#Fanfare #ageless #Jindřišek #record #fortyyearolds #Sport.cz
