The Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper wrote a book about how he “jumped” on the Maidan

The famous Ukrainian football player, ex-goalkeeper of the Dynamo football club Alexander Shovkovsky, wrote a book of memoirs “Everything is in your hands,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

The book begins with a chapter entitled “Starting point: November 30, 2013.” In it, the author first touched upon the topic of politics and his attitude to the events of the Maidan, which then, in his words, “emerged” in the central square of the country.

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Alexander Shovkovsky began his memories with his Facebook post dated December 1, 2013.

Then he wrote:

“I'm not a politician!!!
But I am a citizen!!!
And my civic duty is not to remain indifferent to the arbitrariness that those in power have allowed themselves!!!
I have the right to my opinion!!!

I’m going to a rally in Shevchenko Park!!!”

After publishing these words, as the author writes, his mobile phone exploded with fifty incoming calls and a million SMS messages.

“Perhaps I’ll start with the events that happened on November 30, 2013. On the one hand, they have nothing to do with sports. But, on the other hand, they have - and what a difference.

That day, after reading the news about the dispersal of students, I was unable to reach my son, who then lived on Mikhailovsky Lane. After that, on my Facebook page I posted a post that as a citizen and representative of the people (and therefore the people themselves) I have the right to my point of view, and therefore no one has the right to shut my mouth. And I believe that what happened has no place in a civilized, democratic, European country. Therefore, I am going tomorrow, December 1, at 12:00, to Taras Shevchenko Park to demonstrate my position.

This is the preface. Because it all started a little later. I went to bed, and then, for some unknown reason, I woke up at night, took my mobile phone (I always turn off the sound at night) and saw, in addition to fifty missed calls, a million messages. Most of the calls were from the club management. The messages are from guys close to me. There was also a number and a request to call it back at any time of the day. I dialed this number and started talking to Grigory Surkis. A very tough, very long, very substantive conversation about the fact that I, as the captain of the Dynamo Kyiv team, under no circumstances have the right to express my thoughts and ideas like this. And that, especially as a resident of Kiev, as a famous football player, who is an idol and a role model for many, I cannot allow myself to speak in such a way,” writes the football player.

Shovkovsky noted that he had to argue for a long time with the owner of the Dynamo club, Grigory Surkis, for the right to his opinion.

“We argued for a long time then. I tried to look for arguments and defend my position. The conversation turned out to be endless. We then remembered almost my entire biography from start to finish,” says the author.

“There was no pathos in my post: I fully supported the values ​​in the name of which the students came out at that time. In addition, I always tried to adhere to certain rules in my life.

I gave my word - keep it. Is no one safe from mistakes? And what if I was wrong? Then know how to ask for forgiveness for a mistake...

In the end, I didn’t back down,” Shovkovsky clarifies.

The football player said that in a conversation with the owner of the Dynamo-Kyiv club, Grigory Surkis, the issue of support for the Maidan by football players was not resolved. Then there were other conversations, and “quite difficult days.”

“But that tough conversation with Grigory Mikhailovich Surkis, and then the next day with Igor Mikhailovich Surkis, to whom I also tried to explain how I felt and why I wrote that way, still lay a heavy burden on my soul. Igor Mikhailovich said that he has no questions for me as the president of the Dynamo Kyiv club. But it was that night that another gray strand appeared in my hair: going gray overnight is by no means a metaphor.

These were quite difficult days and very difficult moments. I understood, although perhaps not yet fully, how important it was not to let go after a step had already been taken. And how responsible this step is. But then I was not yet aware of what would happen in the country, how events would develop, what it would lead to, and what consequences we would have to endure and are still experiencing.

I didn’t talk about this in any interview,” the author concluded, ending the first chapter of his book.