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A story of extraordinary madness. His life is governed by the matches of Baník Ostrava

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The dates of Ostrava’s Baník matches have almost sacred weight in Roman Srkala’s family. “Brother knows I’m abnormal in this. I told him that if he gets married on the Saturday when we play Slavia, I won’t be his witness. He made a concession, postponed the deadline by a week, which I still appreciate very much,” says a loyal fan and also the club’s unwritten archivist.

His life’s passion is summed up in the story of the wedding. Srkala, who is a carpenter by profession, readily admits that he plans his life according to Baník’s matches. “It’s not just about the love for the club. “Football bewitched me,” he admits.

One of the most traditional clubs on the sports map of the Czech Republic is celebrating its 100th birthday exactly today, and it is also linked to a dedicated fan base.

Srkala himself turns 50 this year. “Twenty years ago, I told my friends that I just had to wait for a hundred clubs and my logs. I hope I can do that. Back then I took it as my goal, today of course I want to continue working,” he says amused.

He once made a commitment not to miss a single home game for the club. He broke the tradition only this year at the end of August. He was missing in the 1:2 defeat with Teplice. He was traveling in Russia at the time. “Everyone taps their foreheads. I don’t support Putin’s regime, but I wanted to travel there. That’s just the way I feel,” he explains, adding that at least he wasn’t worried in the stadium when he lost.

Photo: archive of Romaa Srkala, Seznam Zpravy

Roman Srkala’s archive includes thousands of different artifacts from the history of Baník.

He has been going to the club of his heart for 43 years. The first visit dates back to 1979, when Baník hosted Dynamo Kyiv packed with Soviet representatives. At the time, the seven-year-old boy was commuting to his grandmother, who lived only a fifteen-minute walk from Bazal. “We were out with a friend. We were interested in where the crowds were going. So we joined them,” he recalls.

The boys wouldn’t get to the match without an escort. “The gentleman who checked the tickets asked us about our father. We pointed to a strange guy and we got there,” he describes his first experiences with Baník.

Since 1981, he has been attending his matches regularly. Only a few of them missed the European cup tours after the revolution. As he says, he is not a typical fan who goes to the stadium to shout and then discuss the match with his friends in the pub. “It grew into an abnormal passion for me. I started collecting programs, newsletters, autographs, I am interested in the personal lives of the players,” he says.

At home, he fills drawers with all kinds of artefacts, visits archives, collects signatures. “I’ve gotten so far that today I’m compiling a database of every player who’s played for the club. I am looking for information about him and his family. I bribe the registrars,” he laughs and mentions several times his friend Roman Popek, who also lives in Baník.

Photo: archive of Roman Srkala, Seznam Zpravy

Srkala also collects documents, awards and players’ autographs.

Srkal’s fandom developed into detective work. And it has no boundaries. “It happened that I went to Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, to secure the roster from the match in 1974,” shocks Srkala.

As he explains, especially ancient reports from summer matches in Czechoslovak sports often do not abound with detailed statistics. And so Srkala finds data wherever she can.

Similarly, he “flew” to Burgas, Bulgaria, for example, where he was interested in one of Baník’s matches in the summer Intercup. He needed to get photos. “They didn’t give me advice in the main library, it was already closing time in the second one. The cleaning lady called a fellow librarian, and she took such a pains to find a record for me two hours after work. We managed to find a photo report in a local newspaper,” he recalls of the research success.

He also has one of the first documents of Baník in his archive. He found it in a battered suitcase that belonged to the grandson of one of the players. “I had to persuade my grandson a lot at first. Finally, he brought me a vintage case and I couldn’t help but wonder. There were photographs in it, one of the documents. That gave me a kick, and then you try to squeeze as much as you can,” reports Srkala.

In addition to many activities, he collects signatures of players, including older legends. He cherishes the memories of meeting players who have already passed away. Archives are obtained, for example, from descendants.

Research also brings him paradoxical experiences. Srkala has chronic breathing problems, she suffers from bronchitis. “I was treated by a doctor who did not give much thought to it. When I found the grandson of one of the players of Baník, I accidentally found out that he is the head of the lung department in Prague. Today, I visit him once every six months for check-ups,” he adds.

His love for Baník and his foster children sometimes helps him even when traveling around the world. “When I was in Turkey, I didn’t get along very well there. But I found a local rock fan, Milan Baroš. He then hosted me at home for two days. We are still in contact.’

Srkal’s wife comes from Armenia, she does not share his passion for football. “It has nothing to do with football. Plus, he’s crazy about cleaning. As it approaches my lockers, it’s bad. It was enough for her to throw the bulletins at me once, so I went on a rampage,” he laughs.

Photo: archive of Roman Srkala, Seznam Zpravy

A loyal fan also keeps very detailed statistics of matches or scorers.

He also lent some valuables to the organizers of a special exhibition for the hundredth anniversary of the club’s founding. “I put old foreign newspapers there, for example. When Baník was in England, the front page of the Times published a huge photo of the football club from Silesia Ostrava, which came there on tour. It was a great honor that such a club made it to the front page,” says Srkala, who also contributed to Tomáš Šiřina’s book We are Baník. It came out last year on the occasion of the round anniversary.

What does not make him happy are this year’s club results. Baník won only once in the opening seven rounds and remains in fourteenth place in the table. “A special edition of jerseys, t-shirts for fans, was released. One proudly wears the inscription one hundred years on the chest, but the performances are poor. There are ongoing internal problems at the club and it is being carried over into the cabin.’

Even his descendants, including his young son, are watching Srkal’s passion from afar. “One would like the children to stumble. That’s mostly wishful thinking, but the result? The fact of escape. So we’ll see,” he adds.

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