Bohdan Sokol, one of Romania’s most famous sports commentators, died at the age of 42 after hypothermia. Just a few days ago, the journalist announced that he was forced to leave his favorite job.

Bohdan Sokol and the announcement of his resignation from the sports press

The falcon, which had recently been swimming in icy water, did not manage to get out from under the ice layer in time and could not be saved. On January 31, the former commentator talked about his forced departure from the sports media.

“THERE WAS ONE COMMENTATOR…

I look at the keyboard and the vast white space that stretches out in front of me on the WordPress platform, and I still don’t realize the moment I’m in. 10 years ago I would have thought it was a bad joke, but 20 years ago I wouldn’t even have been able to take it as a joke. But now it is a reality. It’s sad or something, but that’s the reality. I am facing death. About one of my own deaths. Because for more than two decades this was my life, to which I devoted all the best.

I lived it with passion, with joy in my heart and on my face because of the many successes, but also with nerves, frustration or tears in the less pleasant situations that you inevitably encounter in life. But today ends a major chapter of my existence, and all that remains for me to do is to rise from my own ashes, rise up, and walk my own path, which will be different from the one I’ve been walking since I know myself, basically.

But this is not a good, natural death, but caused by some forces outside of me. Because, to quote the great Ion Gavril Ogoran, the leader of the anti-communist resistance movement in the Fegarash Mountains: “I was killed only when my comrades sold me.”

When I was just a kid, without even a report card, and I decided to dream of becoming a sports commentator, I never thought I would be able to reach this point. At the time, after entering the Graduate School of Journalism and especially after I started working in the industry, it seemed unacceptable to me to even imagine that I would not age in sports media. Or that I will no longer work in the press!

Well, this moment has somehow arrived in advance, but I just need to reinvent myself, completely step out of my comfort zone and enter lands I have not walked before. The irony is that exactly three years ago I left Digi Sport, after almost 10 years of glory and bitterness, and now I am leaving the sports press.

I don’t know if forever, or for a shorter or longer term, but I will definitely go. Although I do not leave such an expensive job for me, the situation pushed me to such a step. Someone once told me that if I were in a different, more civilized country where values ​​were truly valued and not marginalized, if one door somehow closed in front of me, ten others would instantly open in front of me.

Here I knocked on several doors, but without noise, only timidly asking if my experience or my services might be needed in some way. I even wrote to directors and people with high decision-making powers, but either received an evasive response or no response at all. And a recent discussion with a friend confirmed what I already knew, that in our sports media, belonging to a gang or even a crowd is more important than your talent and worth. It made me paraphrase Jesus when he said it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for me to comment on football on TV.

Not at all as of today, because Flashscore has also ended after I was suspended for the last two months for a post expressing my opinion on TVR’s World Cup match commentary. I was supposed to come back in February, but I decided it was better to quit on my own. Thus, the number of commented football matches stopped at 2358, the last one was Tunisia – France 1:0.

So my only connection with the sports press will remain this blog and cooperation with the Orange Sport Romania YouTube channel. I do not know what awaits me after this day, nor where I will go, I just believe that the good God will guide me and protect me as always.

Even though it’s not the exit I wanted and obviously not as fast, I’m still exiting with dignity and my head held high because “I fought the good fight, I finished my race, I kept the faith.”

I don’t want this farewell letter to the sports press to be dramatic, because life goes on. I just wanted to let everyone who’s been there for me throughout my career know that I’ll be gone for a longer or shorter period of time and thank them for their messages of encouragement.” – Bohdan Sokol, in his blog.