Training camps can give rise to various excesses. Two years ago, on February 12, 2023, an extraordinary event occurred on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey that had widespread and loud resonance. It is about the Uzhhorod FC “Minai”, which distinguished itself during the Turkish training camp in a duel with the Russians from Yaroslavl’s “Shinnik”, which took place not on the football field. In other words, the Ukrainians showed the representatives of the 404 country where the crayfish hibernate. About this story Sport.ua was told by Volodymyr Sharan, who was then the head coach of “Minai”.
Volodymyr Sharan— That day we had a day off, — he recalls. — I was in my room, which was located nearby, in the adjacent building of the hotel. Around midnight, my assistant called me. Upon hearing the call, I immediately thought: “Something must have happened.” And it turned out to be so. I learned from my assistant that a fight had occurred with the Russians. I asked him to call our guys who were among the most zealous participants of the incident so they could tell me everything in detail.
Before long, three of them arrived — Vyshnevskyi, Nyemchaninov and Kolesnyk. I still remember how the first one confidently stated: “Bohdanovych, don’t worry. We let them ‘unwind’!” I replied: “Well done.”
From their words, I learned in detail what happened and how it unfolded. It turned out that our footballers were sitting in the hotel lobby when “Shinnik” arrived and settled in. The Yaroslavl players had been drinking heavily, and one of them felt unwell. He went to the bathroom in the lobby and made… appropriate “business” there.
A cleaning lady who was a Turk came in, but upon seeing the mess, she disgustedly refused to clean and began expressing her thoughts to the Russian about his actions. An accidental witness to this was Kolesnyk, who also happened to enter the restroom.
According to him, the “Shinnik” player brazenly and with a commanding tone began to talk to the Turk: “Ты гавари со мной по-русски, а то я ничего не понимаю!” The cleaning lady turned around and walked away, while our player made a remark to the scoundrel and told him to clean up what he had done. The latter responded rudely to him, after which Kolesnyk, how shall I put it, “fired” at the offender once — and the guy fell down.
— It seems that this episode was just a spark for the flame?
— Exactly. Later, a Yaroslavl drunk got into the elevator, where a player of “Minai” was present. Reeking of alcohol, he began to threaten with his company and in an ultimatum form called for continuing the fight. Our guys went to their floor, where the fight began.
As they told me, my assistants and administrator hurried there too, who also took part in it. At the forefront was Vadym Chernyshenko, who now works in “Left Bank”. All this took place on the third floor lobby.
It took just one of the drunken Russians to open a room for him to immediately face a strong fist from a representative of “Minai”. Someone from the boys told me that in one of the rooms sat a thickset footballer, completely drunk (most likely, a goalkeeper), who grumbled discontentedly: “Чё тут делаете?” He also got “hit” — and he fell back.
In short, our guys handed it to the Russians quite well.
— And how did the hotel staff react to this?
— The police arrived, who investigated what happened until the very morning. Meanwhile, the Russians were eager to fight, but the police blocked them.
And the next morning, when we were preparing for training, four players from “Shinnik” were sitting in the hotel lobby — all bandaged, wrapped, and bruised. It was obvious that they had suffered quite seriously from our side. And all of us were healthy, no one was hurt.
In the morning we held a training session — everything went as planned. At that time, we were informed that the Russians were waiting for us at the hotel. And just then “Kryvbas” arrived, who were holding their training nearby.
We suggested that the Kryvyi Rih guys join us, as we learned that “Shinnik” had called for a rematch with “Minai” some other Russian team. In a word, a “children's garden” began, which no one needed.
— How did this epic conclude?
— We were told: don’t return to the hotel after training. At that time, the entire “Shinnik” delegation was to be evicted from there. Then we were supposed to pick up all our things from the hotel and move to another one. So when the training was over, our team waited for the Yaroslavl team to leave for about an hour or an hour and a half. The players told me during that time: “Bohdanovych, let’s go already.” But I replied that we needed to be patient and take this seriously, especially since the police were involved.
Moreover, the information about the incident even reached our President Volodymyr Zelensky. We told the police what happened — and “Minai” was provided with security. The next three to four days, which remained until the end of the Turkish training camp, our team spent in another hotel in Lara, which turned out to be even better than the one where we had stayed before. “Shinnik”, which was relocated far away from us — to some village near Side — continued to send threats, claiming that they would come to us with their whole team for a game and settle the score. Their ardent Yaroslavl fans, who were not ready to forgive their team for being beaten by Ukrainians, incited them to do this. However, that was where it all ended.
Although for the training sessions until the end of the camp, “Minai” traveled under police escort, which drove ahead of the bus. Luckily, there were no more excesses.
— The action of “Minai” seems to have left no one in Ukraine indifferent. Even one of the Transcarpathian bands sang about it.
— Yes, I heard this musical piece. The band “Lord” mentioned “Minai” in their Transcarpathian kolomyikas. It was nice that they didn’t overlook us — the guys deserved it. Additionally, in Uzhhorod, banners with corresponding supportive text and images of several of our footballers — the heroes of that incident were hung up. I don’t exactly remember what was written there. It seems like something like: “We let the Muscovites ‘unwind’.”
I am glad that we won that duel (laughs). After that incident, I realized: with these guys, we can solve the tasks set before us. And so it turned out — according to the results of the 2022/23 season, “Minai” took 8th place.
Andrii Pysarenko
