Entire Soccer Team Defects

[YankeeFan]

Even Cuba laughs at Eritrea.

Or maybe they were just sick of 0-0 ties that were decided by penalty kicks. Kidding. Funny story though.

Eritrea football team 'absconds'

Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.

The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.

But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8412651.stm

 

[93Devil]

Even Cuba laughs at Eritrea.

Or maybe they were just sick of 0-0 ties that were decided by penalty kicks. Kidding. Funny story though.

Eritrea football team 'absconds'

Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.

The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.

But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8412651.stm

maybe it cost too much to send them and their luggage?

 

[Pastor]

Even Cuba laughs at Eritrea.

Or maybe they were just sick of 0-0 ties that were decided by penalty kicks. Kidding. Funny story though.

Eritrea football team 'absconds'

Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.

The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.

But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8412651.stm

maybe it cost too much to send them and their luggage?

Should have taken Southwest. Then the bags would have flown free.

 

[GB-Hack]

Even Cuba laughs at Eritrea.

Or maybe they were just sick of 0-0 ties that were decided by penalty kicks. Kidding. Funny story though.

Eritrea football team 'absconds'

Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.

The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.

But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8412651.stm

As was pointed out on the soccer thread, Eritrea is a pretty terrible place, and I wouldn't find these guys defecting to get away from the repressive regime there funny.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1070813.stm

 

[tapintoamerica]

Upon hearing foreign athletes were defecting to the United States, several representatives of the New York Yankees descended upon the Miami airport in eager anticipation of signing as many as possible.

 

[qtlaw]

Had the opportunity to meet a member of the Hungarian water polo team that defected en masse after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was staggered at this response:

"How long did you guys think about this before defecting?"

"Two days."

Amazing life story. Guy probably did not get to speak or see to his family for over thirty years.

 

[YankeeFan]

Had the opportunity to meet a member of the Hungarian water polo team that defected en masse after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was staggered at this response:

"How long did you guys think about this before defecting?"

"Two days."

Amazing life story. Guy probably did not get to speak or see to his family for over thirty years.

I've never heard this story. Can you tell me/us more or provide a link. Sounds pretty interesting.

And GB-Hack, get a life. I don't think that life in Eritrea is funny -- just the thought of the plane coming back with no players. I'm thrilled for them, hope they find a better life, and that they can be reunited with their family at some point.

 

[GB-Hack]

You're the one finding it funny that these guys are running away from their country, and most likely their families, not me.

I'd say that's pretty sad.

 

[YankeeFan]

You're the one finding it funny that these guys are running away from their country, and most likely their families, not me.

I'd say that's pretty sad.

Don't you have some other board you can post on?

 

[GB-Hack]

You're the one finding it funny that these guys are running away from their country, and most likely their families, not me.

I'd say that's pretty sad.

Don't you have some other board you can post on?

I am a sports journalist.

How about you?

 

[qtlaw]

Had the opportunity to meet a member of the Hungarian water polo team that defected en masse after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was staggered at this response:

"How long did you guys think about this before defecting?"

"Two days."

Amazing life story. Guy probably did not get to speak or see to his family for over thirty years.

I've never heard this story. Can you tell me/us more or provide a link. Sounds pretty interesting.

And GB-Hack, get a life. I don't think that life in Eritrea is funny -- just the thought of the plane coming back with no players. I'm thrilled for them, hope they find a better life, and that they can be reunited with their family at some point.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/blood-in-the-water.html

At the time, Zador was a 21-year-old college student. When the Hungarian revolt began, in October 1956, he and his teammates were training at a mountain camp outside Budapest. They could hear gunfire and could see puffs of smoke in the city. Before they could determine the outcome, they were bused out of the country and flown from Czechoslovakia to Melbourne. At the Olympic Village, Zador recalled, they were desperate for news. A water polo player who was fluent in English read a Melbourne newspaper and told his teammates what had happened: after freedom fighters had tried to overthrow the Soviet-dominated Communist regime and establish a democratic government, about 200,000 Russian troops poured across the Hungarian border, their tanks rumbling through the streets of Budapest. They left more than 5,000 people dead. The first thing the water polo players did in the Olympic Village was tear down the Hungarian flag with the Communist emblem and replace it with the banner of Free Hungary.
...

Of all the members of the Hungarian water polo team who defected to the United States, Zador's sacrifice was the greatest, in Nick Martin's estimation. "Most of us were older and our careers were coming to an end," Martin said. "Ervin was the youngest player on the team. He could have been one of the best—if not the best—in the world. Water polo is the second most popular sport in Hungary, after soccer. Ervin would have been a major star in Hungary for many years—a national institution."