Interview with László Fekete Younger about his father, the Újpest legend of the Silver Shoes, who died 10 years ago.

Recently, it has been a decade since Dózsa Újpest, former national team striker, died tragically. On this occasion, his son told our newspaper about the special relationship that connected the two of them.

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László Fekete is a legendary figure of Hungarian football. With Dózsa Újpest, he won the championship title four times and the Hungarian People's Republic Cup once. In the purple and white shirt, he scored 136 goals in 233 NB I matches. He was the top scorer in the 1978-79 championship with 31 goals, and with this performance, he became the second most successful footballer in Europe - finishing behind the Dutch Kees Kist - and won the silver boot.

He scored five goals in 21 matches for the Hungarian national team, and missed the 1978 World Cup in Argentina only at the last moment due to injury. The forward, who was always cheerful and nicknamed "Golyo" because of his speed, died in March 2014. His son, László Fekete Jr., also became a footballer, among others he played in MTK, REAC and ESMTK, and spent four years in the Finnish first division in HJK and RoPS teams, he played in the BL qualifiers with the Helsinki team. Paying tribute to his father's memory, he undertook the conversation and began by recalling the never-to-be-forgotten day at the beginning of March, ten years ago, when he found out that everything would be different from now on...

"When it comes to grief, it doesn't matter whether one, two, three or even ten years have passed... I remember that I had just finished my daily chores in our wine bar at the Lehel Square market and was heading down to the subway when my father's former teammate, András Tóth, called me. Although I had known him since I was a child, but we were not in daily contact, I picked up the phone cheerfully because we had talked for a long time. >Hi Andriska, how are you?

- I asked.

Even the pause of a few seconds was suspicious, and then he answered in a sad voice: >Lacik, I have to tell you some bad news... They just called from the Móri police station that he got sick while driving between Golyó Vecsés and Monor, and they couldn't save his life …< I thought that at that moment the earth would open beneath me…

Of course, I knew that Dad's heart was unruly, but even then, his loss was completely unexpected.

He was already preparing to celebrate his 60th birthday, but instead there was a period of mourning... I found out that he still had the strength to stand aside, but when they found him, he was already slumped over in the mother-in-law seat."

I know how close you and your father were. How much has your life changed after such a tragedy?

They say that you really become an adult when your parents are gone. Fortunately, my mother is alive and with me, I also have a very close relationship with her, but a father is always different... He was my real support, he was behind me even in the most difficult moments - whether in football or in everyday things - and I could always count on him. With his loss, I was left semi-alone, since there is no one to call, no one to ask for advice...

How much did you deal with the fact that your father is a football star when you were a child?

Unfortunately, I didn't see him play anymore, since he stopped playing professional football in 1985, and I was born in 1981. I have only a faint memory of my mother and I being out at a game and hearing the clatter of cleats and the roar of the fans. But I was born into football, I was socialized in this environment. My father may have been "Golyó" or "Fekusz" for others, the football star, but for me he is primarily my father.

I understood that very early on and noticed how much they loved him, because when we walked down the street, it often happened that five people within 10 meters would address him.

He chatted cheerfully with anyone, whether he was stopped by a general manager or a simple fan. Already as a teenager, I was faced with the fact that my father had a long discussion with someone, and when I asked who he was, he just answered with a laugh: "I have no idea..." Over the years, I developed a sufficient routine in this regard: I knew exactly which moment it was when During a conversation, my father realizes who he has been talking to for many minutes. When I confronted him with this, we always laughed out loud...

The full interview can be read on Mandine!

Featured image: Two Újpest legends in silver shoes: László Fekete (left) and Antal Dunai (family archive)