Similar to how ‘Googling’ has made the pub debate extinct, the internet has completely changed how we view football. The accessibility of stats, clips on social media, and ability to stream live matches from anywhere in the world means we can watch almost any player on the planet. At the click of a button, new signings are instantly deemed frauds or saviours, often based on a two-minute YouTube video set to questionable EDM music. It seems twee to say, but not long ago, if you wanted to see a match, you actually had to be there. It meant that legends grew around local clubs and cult figures were deified. Often heard of but rarely seen.
Rosario – Argentina’s third city and the birthplace of Lionel Messi – was home to such a figure. A second division player that almost no footage of exists, but who Diego Maradona said was “better” than him. Tomás Carlovich or ‘El Trinche’ (The Fork) was born in Belgrano, in the west of Rosario in 1946, to Croatian immigrants. He was the youngest of seven boys. Noted for his tall stature, cultured left foot and aversion to hard work, Carlovich is considered one of Argentina’s best footballers, despite never receiving an international cap. José Pékerman even described him as the country’s greatest ever midfielder. El Trinche began his career as a youth player at Rosario Central in the late 1960s.
He soon made a breakthrough into the senior team, but that stint was short-lived. After two appearances, his third was due to be an away game in Buenos Aires. He arrived before the other players and took a seat at the back of the team bus. After ten or fifteen minutes, he grew impatient, left and never played for the club again. It transpired he played for his local amateur team Rio Negro later that day. “There were some circumstances, a few things that I didn’t like at Central, that made me feel alienated. So I left,” he later said. This would become a theme. He then joined Central Cordoba, the club he became most synonymous with, playing 236 games and scoring 28 goals. While at Rosario’s third team, he enjoyed two promotions and caught the eye of a young Marcelo Bielsa, who used to travel to watch Carlovich play. The future coach, in awe of the midfielder’s technique and languid running style, tried to base his own game around it.
Word was starting to spread, still, barely anyone had seen him. At one away match, Carlovich forgot the required documentation that the referee needed. A director belonging to the opposition told the official: “Know this person with the long hair and the moustache? It’s Trinche. Let him play because we’ll never see his like around these parts again.” In 1974, while at Cordoba, his legend was at its peak. Before the World Cup in West Germany, the Argentinian national team arranged a friendly match against a ‘Rosario XI.’ It was made up of five players from Rosario Central, five from Newell’s Old Boys, and Carlovich. The select side were 3-0 up at halftime with El Trinche even pulling off his signature ‘double nutmeg’ move. Argentina manager Vladislao Cap reportedly begged them to take Carlovich off at the break.
The game ended 3-1. Later in his career, he spent time at Independiente Rivadavia but always longed for home in Rosario. There’s a story of him intentionally getting sent off before halftime so he could get the bus home to see his mother on Mother’s Day. He later said: ‘‘The truth is that I never had any other ambition than to play football. And above all, I never wanted to distance myself from my neighbourhood, from my parents’ house.
On the pitch, he moved effortlessly and his striking appearance might have given the impression of someone who craved attention, but off it Carlovich seemed incredibly introverted and would sometimes get changed on his own before games in a utility closet. He even rejected an Argentinian call-up in 1976. The manager at the time, César Luis Menotti, said on TV: “It was a delight to watch Carlovich play. I picked him for the national team, but he didn’t show up. I can’t remember if he had gone fishing or was on an island, but his excuse was that he couldn’t get back because the river level was too high.”
Trinche had endless footballing ability but lacked the required professionalism to make it to the top. As his career progressed, coaches began to place more emphasis on the physical side of the game. There was less room for a maverick. The cult of Carlovich received the highest seal of approval in 1993. When Diego Maradona was joining Newell’s Old Boys, a reporter asked him what was it like to be the best player in the world? He replied: “The best player in the world has already played in Rosario, his name was Carlovich.”
All available evidence suggests that he wasn’t better than Maradona. So why did the Napoli legend think otherwise? Maradona didn’t randomly arrive at Rosario in 1993. Elite European football had chewed him up and spat him back there. During his time in Barcelona and Naples, he had developed a cocaine addiction. Did he look at Carlovich’s more tranquil life with envy? Here was a Bohemian who lived modestly but was happy, while Maradona was mobbed by fans whenever he left his house. Was it El Trinche who showed more bravery to reject everything that troubled Diego? After all, he turned down offers from AC Milan and numerous other European clubs to stay in Rosario. He apparently even rejected Pele, who approached him about joining New York Cosmos.
But Carlovich’s life wasn’t free from sorrow either. After retiring in 1986, he worked as a bricklayer before osteoporosis forced him to stop. A benefit night was arranged to help pay for his treatment during which a journalist asked him would he have done anything differently. “No,” he said, looking away. “No, sir, don’t ask me that…” He tried to compose himself. “No, not that,” and began to cry. There’s an interesting quote from the comedian Frank Skinner about the futility of romanticising others. As part of a documentary about Robert Lloyd – the lead singer of Birmingham punk band The Nightingales – Skinner spoke about his flirtation with punk rock and subsequent fame: “I think everybody who has mainstream success wishes they were a cult hero and every cult hero wishes they had mainstream success.” The Argentine pair sadly died within seven months of each other in 2020. The world stopped to pay its respects to Maradona, while only those enlightened enough (Maradona included) paid theirs to El Trinche.
Words: Ryan Kilbane, a writer from Dublin. The Shamrock Rovers fan is a regular contributor to Póg Mo Goal, Extratime and The Irish Mirror.
Twitter: @ryankilbane1
Illustration: Jamie Orrell, an illustrator and graphic designer based in Bath but originally from the North East of England.
www.jamieorrelldesign.com
From Póg Mo Goal Issue 8.
www.pogmogoal.bigcartel.com