If I said to you, I know a guy who was forced to flee from his family to pursue a career as a professional football player after war broke out in his country. If I mentioned along the way that this same guy competed at the 1992 Olympic games after hitch hiking to Barcelona and then had to borrow equipment to participate! What if I told you that he then lost his mother after she was killed during the war but fulfilled his boyhood dream of playing professionally in Hungary, Australia and then Singapore? I’m not done there, what if I finished off by telling you that he then made his international debut at the age of 37 – would you believe me? Trust me, it happened. His name is Aleksandar Duric.

For this blog I would like him to tell you his tale as I believe it deserves to be told to those who live outside of South East Asia. We began our chat right at the beginning. Alex was born to Mladen and Nada Duric in the quaint town of Doboj in the former Yugoslavia in August 1970. His upbringing was tough but like all kids back then he spent most of his free-time outside playing football. His family were poor with football offering a means of escape from the harsh realities of life, it’s a period Alex has never forgotten. “In the town where I grew up football was the sport that we all enjoyed playing, we used to play street against street. Many of us were fans of the big teams in the former Yugoslav like Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade or Dinamo Zagreb so all the different street supported different teams. We had so much free time, we were out all the time. My home town was so different to what it is today. All the kids back then wanted to join a team, if you were really good all the teams would say ‘come and play for us’ all the teams had at least one outstanding player. For me this is the best way to learn basic football, I have always believed football is very simple if you allow kids to enjoy themselves and not have too much structure which is the problem, I think we have today to be honest. I always dreamt about becoming a professional sportsman, in the village where I grew up, I would say that 90% of the boys and girls wanted to play professional sport. Most of us wanted to either play professional football or handball which was very popular in my home town. Not many ever dreamt about becoming doctors or lawyers”

Football, like in so many towns and cities throughout Europe was a means of escape for so many children. It was a way of life for millions! By the age of 12 Alex had already become an eye-catching player but a muscle problem in his chest meant he was physically developing slower than those kids of the same age around him. In what would become an incredible twist of fate Alex was introduced to a doctor who diagnosed the perfect remedy. This is how he was introduced to the world of kayaking. Alex explains that whole process. “To be honest it was by accident, I grew up near a big river with two smaller rivers close by. Every day I would cross the river by bridge and underneath was a very popular canoeing club, many people enjoyed the canoeing but I was more interested in football. When I was twelve years old, I had a medical condition where my chest muscles did not grow properly so my orthopedic doctor who was a kayaker himself advised my father that I should take up kayaking to help the muscles grow by activating them more. Without even knowing how to swim my father took me down to the club where I signed up as a member and that’s how I first started kayaking”

At the end of April 1991, the devastating war in Yugoslavia began; it went on to rage for ten horrific years. Alex by this point had been drafted into the Yugoslav people’s Army at the age of 17 but with the impending war Alex’s father begged him to leave the army and the country and head to Hungary in an attempt to forge a career as a professional sportsman. Alex reluctantly agreed and stepped into the unknown while his family was left at home to deal with the atrocities of the war. The emotions of it all must have been at times overbearing, I asked Alex to try and put into words his feelings at that time. “When I left the country, I honestly believed I would come back after three to six months. The more the days and months went past the more I started to think I would not make it back. By reading the newspapers and watching the reports on TV it made me realize that this war was not going to end soon. I was very afraid as my brother was fighting in the war and I never knew how he was. I was always worried, I felt like I was always in survival mode; even now I have those feeling despite being very settled with my family due to the struggles I went through when I was younger. I was left with nobody so I had to survive on my own, I was traveling through Europe with no money, no future, not knowing what tomorrow brings. It’s not the nicest feeling to have especially for a young guy like I was”

Alex used the fear of the unknown to drive him towards his dream of becoming a professional football player; he played in Serbia for one year before heading to Sweden where he trained with AIK Fotboll. A career in the Swedish top-flight did not materialize so Alex returned to Hungary where he took refuge as the war at home took a turn for the worst. It was during this time that Alex’s dream started to unravel when he was offered a trial with local club Szeged LC. Alex explains the excitement upon learning of his big opportunity. “You know that feeling when you have one last hope, that hope that your life depends on that’s how it felt. I was really struggling at the time, I had no money and was stuck in an almost refugee like state. I was in Hungary with no money, no passport and no life really; I had nothing around me so I thought this was my last chance as I had no idea what was to come next. The coach said to me “here’s your chance, go out and show me what you can do’ even though they knew I had not played professional football I knew my fitness would help a long way, I was fit, I mean really fit! I knew how to play even though tactically I was still somewhat unaware but I gave it my best in pre-season. The coach told me he was impressed enough to start working with me as he knew I had many things missing from my game but he believed I could go on and become a good player. I took my opportunity; I trained really hard and listened carefully to my coaches. I watched a lot of football and would listen to the commentators as they explained tactically what players were doing so, I learnt a lot from watching TV. That was me as a young guy, just wanting to learn all the time”

In another remarkable twist to this tale while he was busy preparing for the new football season, he received notification from the newly formed Bosnian Olympic Committee to compete as a kayaker at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. In his youth Alex represented Yugoslavia and became national youth champion at the age of 15, by the time he turned 17 he was ranked 8th in the world. To put this into context Alex had not competed for going on two-years but the opportunity, despite its political turbulence was one too good to turn down. The Olympics is after all the pinnacle of any athlete’s career no matter what discipline. Alex gladly accepted the invitation. “That’s was a one in a million chance, the news was incredible. I was really happy that the Olympic Committee did not forget me because before that I was ready to compete for Yugoslavia but obviously the country split. I was a Serbian; Bosnia was a Muslim country at that time and my father was fighting against that flag. It was a difficult decision for me as I was going to Barcelona to represent Bosnia; I was 22 years-old at that time but I remember my parents taught us as we grew up never to hate anybody or anything so I knew my dad would be happy for me. It was a dream like I said before to become a professional sportsman and to compete at the Olympics or a World Cup so I decided to go and I have absolutely no regrets about becoming the first Olympian to represent Bosnia”

The challenge though of getting to Barcelona is just another remarkable chapter in Alex’s life. An enchanting journey began by hitch hiking from Hungary to the Austrian border with only a few dollars to his name. Upon reaching the border an immigration officer who at first refused to believe his story made a call to the Olympic Committee who in-turn approved Alex’s credentials. From there he hitched a ride down to Slovenia by truck where he met up with his team-mates and then eventually arrived in Barcelona by air. For Alex this whole episode in is life felt almost surreal. “I was in the middle of pre-season in Hungary and then I had to tell my coach that I’m heading to the Olympics; at first he didn’t believe me! Then I received a letter from the newly formed Bosnian Olympic Committee that I needed to cross many countries on route to Barcelona and that’s when I knew this was for real. I had not trained for such a long time as I was just surviving day-by-day; I was not even thinking about canoeing at that time. I had about ten days to get myself into some sort of rhythm; all the other guys who were competing had been training for four years or so. I knew I didn’t stand a chance but I was fully prepared to give it my best. It wasn’t that bad to be honest, I thought I would do a lot worse than I did; I got through the qualification stage but lost after that. I did not even have my own equipment; I had to borrow training equipment from the Spanish confederation, I did not even have my own jersey. Honestly, I had nothing which is not the way to prepare for any Olympic Games. I knew this was going to happen as the country was at war, people were dying in my country on a daily basis, nobody really cared about the Olympic Games in that moment but I do believe that we gave Bosnia their name on the map, to show people that we still existed. I will never forget the opening ceremony when we walked out into the stadium; everybody stood up and applauded even the King and Prime Minister. They gave us a fantastic ovation as they understood we are coming from a war-torn country where people are being killed”

There is an argument to suggest that the Olympics were a welcomed distraction from the hard realities of life facing Alex upon the completion of the games. I wondered if this ever entered his mind as he competed. “I was thinking about it the whole time I was at the Olympics, I was so focused about succeeding as a professional football player. When I signed my contract with Szeged, I knew this was my only chance to survive for the next five to ten years and maybe start building some sort of life for myself. This could be the new chapter in my life I was looking for so football meant everything to me. It was before but now I had my contract it made me more determined”

Alex grasped his opportunity; he was determined to make it. After the Olympics he returned to Hungary and Szeged where his hard work and dedication to his profession was starting to reap rewards. He was playing on a regular basis. He was in a good place but yet the worry of war back home was never far away. Then came the devastating news that he had always dreaded, on his 23rd birthday Alex received a call from home – his mother, Nada, had been killed by a bomb which hit the family home. In what was a difficult question I asked Alex to try and explain the devastating affect the loss of his mother had on him? “It’s a long time now; the war began in my home town on the 6th April 1992. At that time as the war began, I could still make contact with my family by telephone but not long after I lost all contact. I was always worried especially as the war in Bosnia worsened during 1993. My mother was killed on the 9th August; my birthday is on the 12th and I received the news she had been killed on my birthday. It was really tough; she was only 46 years-old. It made me very sad because I could not even say goodbye to her. When I left my home town, I always had thoughts that I would return one day and give something back to my parents but it did not happen. Even today I find it tough, in the days after I received the news I wanted to go back and fight in the war as I was so angry but I was unable to cross the border as all the borders were closed. All my friends pleaded with me not to go back, they told me I had to look after myself. That time was the darkest period in my life; it took me a long time to understand; I had so much pain in my heart which I have kept my entire life”

The news plunged Alex into a very dark place but with an unbreakable bond between his team-mates and coaches he was offered nothing but full support. That very same support helped him cope with his personal tragedy. You could forgive him if sport at this time in his life became somewhat irrelevant but it didn’t. I wondered if football and kayaking was a means of forgetting the devastation that was going on around him. “My sport took my life in a completely different direction; in a good direction. Sport helped toughen me up and helped shape me as a person as I had to live many years on my own be it as a canoeist or a football player. Canoeing helped discipline me as a single person, it’s a sport where you have to depend on yourself, the self-discipline will determine the results so my coach always emphasized to me that I needed to be super-fit, that I needed to train really hard. Football helped me adjust to team sport but I never forgot that I had to be the fittest I could be to make sure I got selected to play. I was always aware that any slip in form I would find myself on the bench so it was a good mixture for me because I believe every kid should play multiple sports so they can get a full appreciation of different disciplines for body and mind”

After two seasons in Hungary, Alex’s life moved to the next phase. He was able to make contact with a coach in Australia who was from Hungarian descent, Frank Arok. Frank arranged for Alex to trial with one of Australia’s biggest clubs at the time South Melbourne. The process to move to Australia, very much like his life journey, was fraught with difficulty but in September 1995 he eventually touched down to begin his new adventure. Alex takes up the story. “I was so ready to go, when my coach told me a club in Australia was interested in signing me, honestly I was so excited. They were looking for a left-back which I was OK with, I saw it as my stepping-stone to really show what I can do and have an opportunity to travel. In the back of my mind I was already thinking I could stay in Australia and build a life for myself there. This was my opportunity to start something fresh. The war was still going on in Bosnia and I was receiving so many different messages that I thought the further I go away the more I can concentrate on my football so Australia was really was perfect for me. I was very lucky as at that time South Melbourne was one of the biggest clubs in Australian football which I was not aware of. I found it much easier to settle down in Australia as most of the guys who played football there came from the same ethnic background as me: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonians, Greeks and Italians so I fitted in much easier. I wanted to settle but after I left South Melbourne, I went to China to play before returning to play again in Australia so I started to believe that I would not end up at one club for a good length of time. I was trying to earn money and find a way to really settle but it just didn’t happen until I moved to Singapore”

Alex spent four very happy years playing for various clubs in Australia with a slight detour to China for a few months thrown in for good measure. During this time Alex was making a name for himself as a hard-working player and consummate professional. Having played in a number of different positions he could be called upon to fill any role. His knack of being a utility player attracted the attentions of clubs from afar including South East Asia. In 1999 his life once again took a turn for the better when Singapore offered him the opportunity to make the country his spiritual home! “I was really excited as I knew nothing about Singapore, I did not even know they had a professional League” Alex laughs! I had two opportunities to move, one to Hong Kong and another to a club in Singapore but my friend advised me to move to Singapore as he told me the League wasn’t bad and he thought I would enjoy the country. I landed in Singapore in May 1999 and I remember the club Chairman driving me from Changi airport down to Tanjong Pagar and walking into the stadium for the first time and thinking to myself that this was not a bad place to train! I said to the Chairman “so this is your training ground, where is the main pitch to play our games” and he said to me “no Alex, this is for both, we train here and we play here” I said to him “you don’t have any training facilities” and he told me that everything in Singapore is to expensive so everything must be done from one place! I remember thinking to myself that this was going to be interesting. I also remember the heat, gosh it was so hot! I wondered how I was going to survive” Alex laughs again!

Singaporean football now to what it was back then is almost unrecognizable. The League re-branded as recently as March last year and is now known as the Singapore Premier League. I have attended many games in Singapore and was pleasantly surprised by the standard. The facilities are good yet crowds are low but what I will say is the enthusiasm of those who attend regularly is to be commended. I wanted to know from Alex what his first impressions were when he first arrived on the island. “The first thing that hit me was the size of the pitches, they were so much smaller, and secondly I don’t think the guys here were physically ready to play professional football. We could not play any sort of pretty football because it was so hot plus the players at that time were not up-to-speed tactically. When I first arrived, I asked when the morning training session started and they told me they only trained in the afternoon which I always found strange. I ended up most days training on my own as I knew I had to be ready for the games. I always though the local players here back then did not take their professionalism that seriously, that they never wanted to reach high standards, for them I always believed playing football was more of a hobby than their job. To me this was their bread and butter, this was their way of feeding their families but I felt the majority of players didn’t take it seriously enough”

At the age of 29 most players start to consider slowing down, most would have probably peaked by that age but not Alex, he was just getting started! While training with Tanjong his coach converted him from a left-sided player into a striker, a position he had not played before. It was a stroke of genius but it was only when he moved to Geylang United in 2001 that Alex’s goal-scoring prowess started to make headlines. For the next few years he scored goals for fun. Throughout this time Alex had ambitions of becoming a Singaporean national after starting a family but despite his best efforts he always fell short so I asked him if he thought the days of playing international football had passed him by. “I always thought I would just play club level to be honest. I used to watch the Singaporean national team on many occasions and never did I think I would ever end up playing for them. After my son and daughter were born here and spending eight years in the country, I started to think about becoming a Singaporean national and stay here and maybe one day become a coach or maybe give something back to the community. Singapore has given me so much, it gave me the chance to settle down, to have a family and build a life which had always been missing before. In 2007 when I received my citizenship, I was playing for Singapore Armed Forces; my general manager called me into his office and at first, I thought it was a joke! He offered his congratulations and I said “for what” and he told me I had received a letter from the Singapore Football Federation asking me to attend the national team training session. I was 37 years-old!

Alex had attempted on many occasions to gain his permanent resident status in Singapore but for an article championing his cause in the popular ‘Straits Times’ newspaper which so happened to be picked up upon by a senior immigration officer those very same ambitions may never have come to fruition. He was now a Singapore citizen and free to represent the national side but as exciting as that prospect was Alex remained vigilant. “At first I was quite cautious about it all. My wife and I discussed whether it was a good idea for me to join a group of players who were so much younger than me and also, I was the type of player who had made his name at club level; scoring lots of goals. That season I score 44 goals for Singapore Armed Forces and won the Player of the Year and felt I was at the top of my game and at that time I was starting to have thoughts of slowing down, maybe play one or two more seasons and then retire. I knew playing for the national team was a completely different level and I wondered if I wanted to put that much pressure on myself at that stage of my life. People do not realize how different football is at international level so I decided I may as well try. I had a good chat with head-coach Radojko Avramovic who is from the same country as me and he told me that he believed I could play for a few more years, he did not care how old I was, all he cared about was me scoring goals and helping the national team when it comes to nurturing the young players and making them understand more the levels of professionalism required to be a national team player. I joined up; I was so excited! I remember my first game against Tajikistan; I was not even due to start the game but one of the lads got injured and Rady told me I had to start the game! I felt sorry for the Tajikistan players as I was flying during that game; it didn’t matter if we played ninety minutes or three hours; I was absolutely flying! I scored two goals and hit the post twice. The Tajikistan players couldn’t believe how fast this 37-year-old man was” Alex laughs!

Quite remarkably over the next five years Alex represented Singapore on 53 occasions scoring 24 goals along the way against some of the finest nations from South East Asia and beyond. In 2012 Alex became the oldest player to score in the Suzuki Cup, a competition played every two years by a number of nations from the region when he netted against Malaysia in a 3-0 win. He was 42 years old! Singapore went on to win the competition that year with Alex playing an integral role. I felt intrigued to know how he dealt with the difficulties of playing against such younger players, especially at international level. “It was extremely challenging but the challenge was a good one for me. As I got older, I became a lot calmer, fitter and mentally I was much stronger than ever before so I was able to deal with the pressure. I knew when I went a few games without scoring that eventually I would score whereas when I was younger, I didn’t have the patience which made me nervous but with age I was able to teach myself to control my emotions and become more aware of my diet and general fitness. I was extremely lucky in my playing career that I did not have any serious injuries; I kept my body in really good shape. You are a kind of an artist so you have to be prepared for the game, you are playing for your team-mates and the crowd and the glory so it was important to be ready”

For those who regularly dip into this blog, you will know I have attempted somewhat humbly to offer words of wisdom and inspiration through those who have kindly given up their time to talk to me. Alex is no different. I asked him to offer some advice as we ended our chat. I wanted to know from him how important he believes it is to remain focused and dedicated to your profession? “What is very important to me is that you must remain positive, firstly as a person then secondly your focus, it’s important if you lose your focus that you are able to come back in a positive manner. People who are not involved in sport do not see this, they only see glory when players win medals but they do not see how much we as professional sportsman go through the struggles and how many hurdles we have to jump over. It’s important to have a mind-set where you believe anything can be done, you must face all challenges but for me you must remain focused, you must be ready at all times to play, it does not matter what sport you play you must be ready. You also must be ready to give your best, to be fully prepared and try not to show any weaknesses. You must also show that you are ready to face any strong challenges during the game so remain positive and believe in yourself. I have faced many challenges in my life but I wanted to show people that I could come through it and thankfully I did”

Alex retired from playing in 2014 at the age of 44. He scored a quite astonishing 376 goals in the Singapore S-League. He is quite rightly held in the highest regard by his peers and remains an icon to a generation of football fans in South East Asia. To end this blog, I asked Alex to explain where his life is now headed. “I am now working for the Singapore Government; I am the Principal of the Active SG Football Academy, we are government run which gives opportunities to kids off all ages up to the age of sixteen to play football. We try and encourage the kids to get out and play at the weekends, as well as the football we try to teach the kids good values. I am a father of three and always fighting against the gadgets that kids have these days so we try to get the kids out and play and hopefully find some good talent. We have nearly 2,400 kids, I have 12 centers around Singapore so we are covering nearly every corner of the country, the kids train at the weekends and once during the week; it’s all about football and having fun and training the kids in the right way and develop them individually and as a player and hopefully they can help us by backing Singapore on the football map”

During my six years in Singapore I only ever met Alex once, he was charming and very courteous considering his status at the time. We only spoke briefly but I thoroughly enjoyed his company. I covered a handful of Singapore games while working for ESPN Star Sports and only really became aware of Alex’s tale while doing my research. At times I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading! I was delighted to catch up with him after many years for this blog and I’m sure you’ll agree his story is an astonishing one. If there was ever a Hollywood movie to be made, this is it!