Photo: Private archive
Vukasin Rajkovic
Sabac has always been known as a handball city. “Aliens” played in it in the ’80s of the last century. They, handball. Those who left all rivals behind, who were admired and applauded even by their opponents. Because, what Metaloplastika was, is nobody.
Goalkeeper Basic, Isakovic, Vujovic, Vukovic, Mrkonja, Portner, Cvetkovic, Milosevic, Ignjatovic, Tanasic, Lukic, Spasojevic and Djukanovic are inscribed in golden letters in the history of this club. And, as things stand, it will be difficult for a new generation to surpass them.
Twenty years after the “aliens”, “some new kids” grew up in Sabac. One of them, since when a lot was expected, was right back Vukasin Rajkovic. Even today, “some obstacles are shaking” from his destructive shot. However, today Vukasin is far from the handball field, but recently, again in this sport, only as a part of the management of Metaloplastika. Before that, Rajković was the father of five-year-old Konstantin, Dunja’s husband, but also, as he said – a private individual. He replaced the handball court, trainings and getting up early with night clubs.
– I have owned two night clubs, one summer and one winter for seven or eight years. Later, I started growing fruit trees, I planted blueberries with another one. Now I combine a little – I deal a little with blueberries, a little with clubs. Half a year ago, I returned to handball, I was engaged in the Board of Metaloplastika – says Rajković.
I don’t like to work
Let’s go straight to the head, are you a better handball player or a businessman?
– You see, as a handball player I didn’t like to train very much, and now as a private person, I don’t like to do anything much, so I think it’s somewhere, a dead race – Vukasin laughs.
– I think it’s half and half, but let’s wait another year, let’s see what will happen with the job.
Where was the best during your career?
– Unrivaled, in Denmark. People have found a measure, in terms of sports and life in general. From private to business, where absolutely everything was dedicated to the players, where order was known. It was trained with some sense. There was no classic “killing”, training for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, until we all fell. What was needed was trained. Preparations are done, but then the shortcomings are corrected. People are extremely committed to it.
What, in particular, did you like about that system?
– We had five coaches. One was in charge only of tactics and matches. The second task was defense, the third was running, the fourth was in charge of the gym and the fifth did stretching, endurance and other exercises with us. One serious level. I would say that minimal effort has brought our physical fitness to perfection. We had the freshness to play at a high level, where good regeneration was done, health was taken care of. Here is one piece of information, no serious injuries have happened in the club in two years! Nobody tore ligaments, meniscus, shoulder… There was a measure and if the financial crisis had not befallen the club, if it had not been extinguished, I would surely have finished my career there. I had already signed a contract for another three years anyway, but here it is…
Sorry about the Danes
What happened to Copenhagen?
– One day, the president of the club came to the training and told us that the current contracts will be valid until the end of the season, and that after that we will look for new clubs. It was in the year of the great crisis, both men’s and women’s handball clubs were shut down, only football survived. There, however, is a lot more money, it probably brought him a profit, while handball was his pure love.
It is a real pity that the club experienced such a fate, because before it was shut down, Copenhagen was the leader of Danish handball?
– We were champions and winners of the Danish Cup. We played the quarterfinals of the Champions League twice. We were eliminated once from Hamburg, for a goal, while the second season we were eliminated from Ciudad Real.
You played in Metaloplastica as a native of Šap, you are now on the Board of Directors of the club. Was there pressure to play in a team that used to be a European giant, that produced extraordinary aces and whose fans hoped that someday someone would be able to at least get closer to those heights?
– We saw them as idols and as someone whose footsteps we would like to follow. There was no tension, but there was respect and it was a great honor, the elders were respected and the hierarchy was respected. I don’t want to criticize anyone, but the younger generations, it’s not that they don’t respect anyone, but somehow they take it too lightly. It doesn’t exist today, but in my time it was very pronounced, especially for us from Šapče, it was a pride to come to the first team, wear that jersey, play a game. It was an honor for us.
Football still took the lead
In the past, handball had the upper hand in the city near the Sava, however, in the meantime, the players of Macva were also in the Super League. Is Sabac still a handball city, or has the situation changed?
– The situation has changed significantly in favor of football, but I don’t think it’s because Macva played in the elite, but because football is so planetarily popular. Messi, Ronaldo, children play games, you read about them and other football players non-stop in the newspapers, so the media popularization of football has led to the vast majority of children coaching football. It happened that children whose parents love handball, or Metaloplastika, go to handball. Or, they are the children of some former players, so since my dad was a handball player, then so will I, following the events. In general, handball is losing the race with media and more profitable sports such as football and basketball. Luckily, we don’t have a serious basketball story in Sabac, it’s all amateur, so when it comes to elections, if someone is a little taller, whether basketball or handball, they will come to handball – concludes Rajković.
Kazic deserved a chance
Metaloplastika changed the coach before the start of the new season. Instead of Veselin Vukovic, Miodrag Kazic took the bench.
– He says that he has been in the club for ten years, he played for us, worked with the younger categories, so when Vukovic left, the club decided to give Kazic a chance. It is a kind of well-deserved award for him – Rajković thinks.
From Sabac to Dubai
Vukasin started his career in Metaloplastica. From there, he went to the strongest handball league – the Bundesliga. He wore a Göppingen jersey. He later moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, to the Vistula from Plock. The road later led him to Vardar, during the mandate of Veselin Vujović, and then to Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait… With the Danish, Polish and Macedonian teams, he won the title of state champion. He played the final of the EHF Cup with Göppingen, but in the match for the trophy, another German team, Lemgo, was better.
Rasic assistant coach
The Rasic family is also known outside Sabac. His father, George, is a well-known handball coach. In his footsteps will be a younger son, David, a former handball player. The other son, Aleksandar, is a former basketball player. It is interesting that the two of them, at the same time, played for Crvena zvezda (David), ie Partizan (Aleksandar).
– David became an assistant coach to Kažić. Let him, let him engage a little too – says Vukašin in the moments while he is listing who all of the former handball players from Šapče stayed in the club.
Favorite match for the trophy
There were many games in Vukasin’s career. Could you single out your favorite?
– Without thinking – the final of the Danish Cup! There, really, we were like one family. For example, we played the Danish Cup, and seven days before that we found out that the club would be closed at the end of the season. We were all depressed because we functioned as a family. After that, we played a match against the biggest rival, Silkeborg, fought for the trophy on the visiting field and there were stories, “the club is shutting down, they won’t care”, “what does that mean to them” and then we won away from all expectations. Silkeborg was not our fiercest rival throughout history, but at that time it was alongside Copenhagen in terms of quality. Our fans also came, who traveled far, some 300-400 km for Danish conditions, came to support us in that match, even though they were aware of the situation. We won a beautiful game, with a goal difference, so we celebrated everything with the fans. That remained in my memorable memory.
Although there was reason to celebrate, it ended in tears…
– We wanted to be indebted to the club and the fans in some way. The president also came to that game, a man who is 80 years old, who owns half of Copenhagen, he came to the locker room later, drank beer with us, there were some tears because of the parting, so I was there all day and that night, others deeply etched in the memory.
Godfather of Bleč
Who do you regularly hear from, handball people outside Sabac?
– Who else would you be with, but your godfather Damjan Blečić. We hear each other regularly, we visit… That is another beautiful thing left over from handball. We met thanks to this sport, lived together in Germany, got together…
Supporting role with “eagles”
Although he was once one of the better right backs, always at the top, Rajković did not play any big competition for the Serbian national team. He simply did not give up. When he was healthy and ready, it turned out in the qualifications, while later there were disagreements with the then coach, so later he was not invited to the national team.
Better than last season
Metaloplastika was left without the SEHA league last season. She finished the championship third, behind Vojvodina and Partizan. Rajkovic is optimistic:
– We will not play a regional competition this year, but I hope that we will return to the SEHA league next year. I think we have a better team than last year, we will see when the championship race starts.
I excluded myself from the story
In the last seven or eight months, there have been numerous changes in handball, primarily in the federation, in the selector positions…
– To be honest, I’m not too up to date. I was preoccupied with my own business, Konstantin is small, so I can’t keep up. Since I pay a little more attention to Metaloplastica, I go to some games. Everything is as far as my obligations allow – says Rajković.
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