On September 27th, 2017, Hajduk’s Fran Tudor celebrates his 22nd birthday by posting a thank you message to his supporters and even to the haters.
Social media, love it or hate it, there is no denying than when it is used right, it can send a powerful message. Football is basically Croatia’s second religion, so any football star needs to get used to being in the spotlight and dealing with attention – the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
It takes a certain level of maturity be able to handle this and that is exactly what Hajduk’s Fran Tudor showed on his 22nd birthday.
Tudor posted a note to Facebook, thanking his fans for the motivation as well as the haters.
“Thank you all for your nice wishes and congratulations! Also, thank you to all those made ugly and inappropriate comments. You are all great motivation for me to do this, to play and [keep] enjoying football. Wins and defeats are an integral part of it. That’s why I am down on the field and out there.”
This doesn’t just go for sport, this should be a life motto especially in Croatia where rather than supporting and uplifting each other, many take someone’s success as signal that they should be cut down. In New Zealand and Australia, we call this “Tall Poppy Syndrome” – it describes a culture where people who show success in any way, are resented, cut down and criticised, leaving the receiver three choices – lash back, fall down or rise above.
So, congratulations to Tudor for choosing the latter, hopefully many learn something from this message.
