Between the 60s and 70s of the last century, Mihajlo Prezelj-Mitila created an exceptional generation of Karlovac handball players. Talent „hunters“ began to arrive in Karlovac. Thus, the world-famous handball coach Vlado Stenzel, who has just taken over RK Kvarner from Rijeka and qualified for the First Federal League, came to Karlovac to ask for reinforcements. The best Dubrovnik handball players went to Rijeka then…
„It is really obvious that the heavy fools are the ones who lead this World Federation, who decide on the rules of handball. We have the misfortune that these rules are decided by the referees, and not by highly qualified handball experts. These are the judges who live by these rules and have brought us to the brink of ruin. It’s a miracle „, says the famous coach Vlado Stenzel
Even today in Rijeka, a torrent of praise emanates from the memory of Vlado Stenzel in handball circles, so without exaggeration he can be called „the coach of all coaches“, a man who enchanted the world and for years brilliantly poured his knowledge into various teams. The handball innovator was essentially ahead of his time and as such a real treasure for many areas in which he worked, as well as for the one in Rijeka with the then Kvarner.
After many years, he returned home to Germany, living in the hinterland of Šibenik near Skradin, from where he came down to enjoy the charms of the sea.
– I have been here for two years, we bought a house in a beautiful village, in Todorovići, says an old sports wolf who, after many years interspersed with many great sports battles in his late years (he was born in 1934), has now sailed into a peaceful port.
– This place is beautiful, this area is beautiful, this hinterland of Šibenik near Skradin, from which I am five kilometers away. It is a small place with clean air, the sea is close so I can go swimming. I have been living there for two years, after 47 years I am fed up with Germany. Basically, I decided to return to my homeland.
In those years, of course, he is far from the bench he was on for many years, but the handball flame is still burning in him, the interest in handball is not extinguished in him.
– I always follow everything since I was in Germany, as well as now when I am in Croatia. „Fat“ I follow handball, so it’s my sport! I am up to date with events
Everything changes with age, there are different new trends in music, film and many other fields, of course it is the same in sports. Today’s handball is something completely different from the one when Vlado led various selections to numerous victories. He has a number of remarks about today’s „atomic“ handball. Among other things, he is not a supporter of the theory of today’s very fast game.
– In relation to that handball, what has changed today is that now coaches cannot decide much with tactics. For example, today there is a rule to introduce the seventh player into the game, so the goalkeeper can be the seventh player if those rules do not change. I hope it will change them. So now you can’t play „man to man“, you can’t play certain types of defense that were played before because your opponent comes to attack with a surplus of players. Therefore, now these tactical variants are very scarce in the coach. This is the first, and secondly, the fact that some players play defense, and some attack, slows down the game. In our time, everyone played both defense and attack, there was no chance that someone would be just a defensive player, as a lumberjack he was only in defense. No chance! It was faster handball. In addition, a lot of balls are lost today. Namely, the referees award passive play much more and actually give the ball to the defense, which it did not deserve at all. So, we can’t even say that there is a prestigious result, this is now a run similar to ice hockey. All this will need to be changed with better rules, so that handball becomes a normal sport again.
NEW RULES
Stenzel sympathizes with the coaches for whom it is not easy to determine the correct course in such a voyage with unpredictable winds. In everything, he very much attacked the tailors of the new rules he called out, as well as the leaders of the IHF, the World Handball Federation. He considers the new rules absurd, as if they came from some Kafka’s work.
– It is certainly harder for a coach in a situation like this. For example, I have not been a coach on the bench for twenty years because I want to live long. That’s where the coach can go crazy, this is crazy. What are they doing ?! How do you know today what piercing is and what it is not ?! Who would know that, as well as how the referee will conclude that a passive game is being played! It happens that a Brazilian judge thinks that something is a passive attack, while a Swedish judge determines that a passive attack is something else. Basically, it is really obvious that heavy fools are the ones who lead the World Federation, who decide on the rules of handball. We have the misfortune that these rules are decided by the referees, and not by highly qualified handball experts. These are the judges who live by these rules and have brought us to the brink of ruin. It’s a miracle. I say I have three biggest enemies. My biggest enemy is death, of course, I don’t like death. My second biggest enemy is smoking, cigarettes. All my smoking friends are dead. All of them, there are at least a hundred of them. My third biggest enemy is handball rules. These are my three biggest enemies. I fight them as much as I can. I repeat, I have not sat on the bench for 20 years, I was an advisor from time to time. I wasn’t a coach that I might not get some heart attack or stroke. Sitting on a bench today is awful. I take my hat off to every coach, to the man who sits on the bench and thinks he will change something. Today, the opportunities for coaches are very small.
OPEN AND AVAILABLE
Such a famous coach as him, very communicative, was often the target of journalists with whom he had very good communication, which he has preserved to this day.
– My relationship with journalists was excellent. I had a great relationship with journalists in Germany, as well as here in Croatia. Of course, I talked a lot about sports, and a little bit in the political part, which would be quite interesting. Namely, I have a great, great German experience, I moved there and was in all social classes – from the richest to the poorest. I have been to all parts of Germany and I know the country well and I think I talk too little about it in the newspapers, but on the other hand the question is how much can I help with my advice
In his long career, he led a whole constellation of great players, world stars, he had crews with whom he should know how to steer, but also know how to create the right relationship in a business in which everyone must contribute to achieving the desired results. Even today, he is happy to meet people who he used to lead to great success in matches.
– The relationship with the players was good. Here, at the celebration of my 85th birthday, twelve players came to me from the German national team. These Croats of mine also came, who could. And all together they made a big party on my birthday. By the way, my German team, the national team at the time, meets every year for three days, every time in a different place, and the Yugoslav national team also meets, I mean the 1972 Olympic winners. We meet every year.
HANDBALL „BRAZIL“
The memory of the Yugoslav national team from the Games in Munich in 1972, is associated with a real „handball Brazil“. Goalkeeper Abas Arslanagić and the players in front of him played with the competition like a cat with a mouse. With their special charm, they enchanted everyone, they rushed to the highest step of the podium like a whirlwind
– Before the Olympic Games, we won as many as 35 tournaments. That team was so well-coordinated that it was already clear in the semifinals that it could reach the top. There were, for example, Pribanić on the right wing, Popović on the line, Pokrajac on the left wing, Lazarević on the left back, Horvat on the middle back, and Lavrnić on the right. On the bench, among others, we had the strong Zdravko Miljak and Karalić. However, it was the first line-up with Abas Arslanagić on goal. It was a team that played and won all tournaments from 1970 to 1972. We won them, I repeat 35 in a row. We intentionally lost on the last two. We tried tactical variants on them, at big tournaments in Bucharest and Prague. We practiced, for example, taking away the ball and the like, and in addition we deliberately lost in order not to win those two more tournaments before the Olympic Games, so that the players would become a little more aware. Our team was so well-coordinated machinery that it’s great. Then, for the first time, the „6-0“ zone appeared with tall players in the middle, who were mobile and fast. We mostly beat Czechoslovakia in the final by eight goals, so we didn’t have any problems. See the case, the national team was made up of six Croats, six Bosnians and six Serbs. Three times three. It was pure coincidence, I didn’t calculate anything there.
AND WHERE IS THE LEFT BACK?
And „three times six“ takes us back to the end of the past and the beginning of this century, to the long-term stay of Croatian handball at the top or at the top of world handball. The first reful of medals was in the „nineties“ culminating in Olympic gold, the second from the beginning of the last century with world and Olympic gold medals, and the trend continues today. A silver medal at the European Championships has been added to the rich collection of as many as 14 medals at the biggest competitions this year. The legendary coach warns of one shortcoming in this current Croatian national team.
– In this line-up, we have too few left backs, so the middle players played left back. This has been the case lately with this team, which is almost always close to the greatest success. Basically, we didn’t build a real left back. Here the story is very simple. For example, Duvnjak is more middle-aged in those years, Karačić is also middle-aged, as is Luka Cindrić. They are all better in the middle, and the left back is a special player, such as Stepančić or Kopljar on the right. The left back was not found, it was not built, it was not worked on. We were constantly deceived, and it was not possible to reach one real left back during the short preparations. For example, it was only occasionally Mamic, and that was not enough. That’s the most important reason we didn’t go any further. We have a left-hander, and Lino never had time to create a left back, a real shooter because the championship was coming quickly, the preparations were short. Therefore, it was better for Duvnjak and Cindrić to play it, who are in tune. We still had longer preparations. The situation is such that we would need more money for sports, for handball. For example, in our country, culture has four times more money than sports. Handball needs help. I could also help professionally, I would be very happy to do that if it could all be raised financially. I have no health problems, I am fit and I can help tomorrow if needed. But now we have no financial support.
MORE PREPARATION
Stenzel points out that it is very difficult for the coach in today’s handball, and the trophy strategist Lino Cervar has been on the command bridge of the national team for years.
– Luckily Lino is here, he is a good coach. From what he had and what he could do, he always got the most out of it.
Given the tradition, the results and the names at its disposal, the Croatian national team certainly has the opportunity to continue this already rich harvest of medals.
– Croatia can be the strongest in the world of all times, like France. But we need to stabilize the team, we need more preparations and we need to work in that direction, let’s say to create two real left backs who must play and who must be given a chance. The championship always comes somehow quickly and then it is not reached.
It is clear that at his age, the first and basic rest is to enjoy the peace and beauty of the Šibenik hinterland, but on the other hand, when it comes to handball, „there is still oil in the candle“.
– I plan to bathe and eat well, healthy, occasionally drink good wine from my area… Health, good nutrition, bathing, that is the most important thing. On the other hand, I will help as much as I can. I am a friend of Lin Cervar and all our coaches, anyone can hear me. We can always talk about top sports, said Vlado Stenzel.
OUR TOP COACHES ARE UNDERESTIMATED AND HIGHLY AFFECTED
Stenzel also commented on the inappropriate, underestimating attitude towards top, trophy coaches
– Our trophy players received award pensions, and the coaches received nothing. For example, there is one Mirko Novosel who has 13 medals, my little one Stenzel, Ratko Rudic, Lino Cervar, Antre Kostelic and other top coaches, who created top names, do not get a single kuna, and the players do. We are very affected, the coaches are very affected, they call me, we talk. It will remain incomprehensible to us that they left us like that, and without a coach there is nothing. This is a fallacy for our sport and I hope that this Government will correct it quickly. This is not usually talked about in public, and this is a big problem for us. We are very sad, sad. Let’s say you would meet more, and you can’t, it all costs money. You can’t even work right then, and our top sport deserves a lot more attention, concluded Vlado Stenzel.
Vlado Stenzel, born in Zagreb on June 23 of that long-ago pre-war 1934, is the protagonist of a handball epic that has been breathtaking since those with Prvomajska from the „fifties“ when he was the state runner-up on two occasions as a goalkeeper and reached the Yugoslav national team. It was an artillery preparation for an unforgettable coaching career in which the two biggest pearls were the Olympic gold with Yugoslavia in 1972 and the title of world champions with Germany in 1978. Back in 1962, he entered the coaching ranks with Medveščak, with whom he was a finalist in the EHF Cup. Then came Crvena zvezda, Krivaja from Zavidovići, and Rijeka’s Kvarner from 1970 to 1973. From 1974 to 1982, he was the West German coach, and in that period until 2006 he worked in as many as twelve German clubs. In Germany, they gave him the nickname The Wizard, inspired by the knowledge of this handball coach.
