Last month, a Croatian entrepreneur from Canada took all the employees of a hair salon to the football match between Croatia and Brazil in the American city of Orlando, and that group of foreigners will be wearing Croatian jerseys at the World Cup.
Filipino, Vietnamese and Dominican they kept on the street a flag with the inscription Livno while they sang with dozens of Croatian fans before that friendly match.
It’s all thanks to Darko. He’s the boss, he said Leoles Melegrito (31), one of that group of eleven persons, for Hina. Darko Šnjarić (58), born in Slatina in northern Croatia, immigrated to Canada when he was 20 years old. In Oakville, 30 kilometers from Toronto, he has three daughters and a son.
He is the owner of a hair salon
His daughter Kristina (31) met Leoles in the sixth grade of Catholic elementary school. a poor boy who moved there from the Philippines. They got married three years ago. They visit Croatia every summer.
I love Hvar, Rab, Split… I love the sea. But also Dinamo, ‘baby’!Leoles said, laughing. Leoles is the owner of the “Top Tier Barber Shop” in Oakville and often hangs out with Darko at his house, at parties and barbecues.
Darko has been following the Croatian national football team for 25 years in away games, and in January he bought a ticket for the match with Brazil. A few days before leaving for the trip, he went to get his hair cut at Top Tier. He invited Leoles to go with him to the game.
When he saw that others were also interested, he invited all seven salon employees.
They’re all great guys. They are very good and valuable, says Darko. He spent around 1,100 euros to buy tickets for everyone. The young men bought their own plane tickets for the three-hour flight from Toronto to Orlando. It all happened in the hour, the day before take off.
He dressed up for the game
We drank beer, fell asleep and woke up there, the employee said Kay Hoang (21) from Vietnam. On the locked door of Top Tier, they left a message to clients: Closed for remodeling. Kay bought a Croatian jersey and glasses in the colors of the flag in a department store. I have to represent the country properly. Now I am a real Croat, he remarked.
He had never been to a football match before. As fans outside a pub in Orlando sang Croatian songs with them, Kay said he felt great. Alejandro Sosa (21) is from the Dominican Republic so, as a Latin American, football is close to him. Moreover, it is not the first time he has watched it. But he said: “Croats feel this very strongly, they know how to make a party”.
Alejandro, Kay and Leoles chanted “Just call, just call” as they held a tricolor with the inscription Livno. Their colleague from work Milan Šošić (17), whose father born in that city in BiH, and the mother in Canada, he brought the flag.
They already know the conditions in Croatia so well that me because of Livno they call him Bosnian, said Šošić.
Numerous Croatian diaspora in Toronto
A large Croatian diaspora lives in Toronto, where Croatia will play Panama in the World Cup in two months. Leoles explained that it was loved Croatia so much that “his blood boiled” when the Croatian national team plays.
Darko, who took all the hair salon employees with him, enjoyed himself. He is pleased to have spread the fan’s passion far from his homeland. Croatia lost 1:3 to Brazil, but that did not shake the enthusiasm of this group. They returned to Oakville the day after the game, and now they can’t wait for the World Cup. We will be at the stadium in TorontoLeoles said. We are a big family that loves Croatia.
(China)
