Striker Promise David is these days grabbing the headlines with his club Union St.Gilloise – he was named Player of the Month for March in Belgium – but he has revealed that before then the real hell he went through when he played in Zagreb.
Promise David, who has now opted to play for Canada even after he represented Nigeria at U23 level, previously featured for Croatian third division side NK Trnje Zagreb.
“Things happened in Croatia that I didn’t even dare tell my parents. A lot of bullshit you have to learn to deal with,” he revealed now
“I didn’t have a proper apartment. (blows air) It was a shit show.
“One time a teammate asked if he could stop by. I said ‘no’ – it was too bad to show. So he secretly followed me one day. I was living above a car shop, on the second floor. No bed, just a shower. He saw it and said I could crash at his place.
“That was… cool. My time in Croatia taught me a lot. Some important life lessons. But most of all: I learned how to persevere.”
Off the field wasn’t the only struggle as the striker also experienced racism with his coach in Zagreb.
“Where do I start? That man…” (blows air) “He didn’t want Black people, no Africans, in his team. At first, I didn’t even realize. But during internal training games, I was always the one who had to run laps. All the time. He also said crazy stuff to me. Like ‘Crnac’ – which means ‘Blackie’. Or he once yelled: ‘fucking black, go get that cone.’ (pauses)
“One time, my teammates only told me a month later what he had shouted during training. They said it was too awful to repeat right away. Everyone froze when he said it. It was something like, ‘God forbid I ever have to field a Black player.’
What the hell, bro. How can you see the world like that?”
“Eventually, I was sent back to the youth team. But that’s where I found joy again. A blessing in disguise. I made friends. The coach (Rajko Vidovic) believed in me – even though he barely spoke English. Rajko became the first-team coach and gave me a shot. In my debut, I came off the bench and scored right away.” (laughs)
“It was the biggest fuck-you moment of my life. Felt like revenge on that one man.”
