At the inauguration ceremony of the Puskás Academy Sports and Conference Centre in Felcsút on Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described succession training as the number one national cause.
The Hungarian people’s historical experience shows that the struggle fought for the future will be won by those who have a vision, the Prime Minister said. He stressed that since 2010 the whole country has been able to see its future which began with the fact that “we started believing that we are able to change the world, (…) but at least our own world”.
He said “one must not blunder, crawl and tumble as some leaders of Europe are doing today, all we Hungarians have to say is this: this is how this has to be done, you simpletons, and then the world will move forward”.
Mr Orbán also stressed that Hungary’s future “grows in our children, our vision becomes reality in and through them. We build any clock tower in vain as pie in the sky if there are no children. If we are no more, that clock tower will no longer be showing Hungarian time”.
There are some, however, he continued, who are preparing for this in Europe as when Brussels bureaucrats speak about the future of the continent, they bury the indigenous population, and usually hail “those who come here to replace us”.
The Hungarian people do not accept this vision, the Prime Minister stated, instead “we concern ourselves with succession training”. He therefore regards succession training as our number one national cause, and in his words this is how great things – the future of Europe and the future of Hungary – are connected together with “the life of our little academy”.
He said the most important mission of the Puskás Academy Sports and Conference Centre is education. “We do not manufacture footballers, we do not program droids, but we have created a power centre where, it is to be hoped, heroes will be born and grow up”.
Mr Orbán also highlighted that if each of the eight reputable football academies operating in Hungary raises two international-level players every two years, then that is enough to constitute a European-level Hungarian football team. The Puskás Academy has completed its first ten years, and “we are doing fine”. Sallai, Kleinheisler, he observed.
He further indicated that the facility will also be used by the students of the local secondary school and the Vál-völgy children participating in the Bozsik Programme.
He pointed out that the Puskás Academy and the University of Physical Education entered into an agreement on the dual career model, and so children so inclined will be diverted towards a teaching career.
According to the Prime Minister, if academies do their job well, young talents may set out in a number of sport disciplines. He also said that academies are built around great personalities: for instance, the basketball academy is built around László Rátgéber, the handball academy around Lajos Mocsai, and academies will soon be created in individual sports as well. They are preparing to come to an agreement with Katalin Kovács, “the grand dame of Hungarian kayak-canoe sport”, as well as with three-time Olympic champion swimmer Katinka Hosszú.
The Prime Minister observed that he would have had an easier job if on Friday László Kleinheisler or Roland Sallai on the Hungarian football team had “put a ball or two” into the Greeks’ goal as it is easier to argue for an academy if the former students of that academy do well on the national team. But regrettably this is not what happened, and the Hungarian team lost to Greece. He added at the same time that in September in Budapest they both scored goals against the Greek team.
The Felcsút complex was inaugurated by Mr Orbán and Lőrinc Mészáros, President of the Foundation for Educating Felcsút Succession.
The press communication regarding the complex which was sent to the Hungarian news agency MTI reads that the new sports and conference centre of the Puskás Ferenc Football Academy was built on an area of almost one hectare. The facility was implemented from a budget of some HUF 12.5 billion, and in addition to 30 per cent own resources, the academy financed the development from corporation tax grants.
The hall of ball games in the multifunctional facility is also suitable for hosting handball, basketball and volleyball matches. In addition to a running track, a boxing ring and a gymnasium, the hall features all equipment necessary for gymnastics. The building includes, in addition to store rooms and changing rooms, a medical room, a first aid room, offices for coaches and conference rooms.
The conference centre further features a large lecture room for 250 persons as well as a small lecture room and conference rooms. The centre is open to the training programmes and symposia of the Hungarian Football Federation and other sports federations, while the academy is also planning to use the conference centre on a business basis, and so in the future it will host events not related to sports as well, the communication reads.
(MTI)
