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South Africa part 3: Cecil Rhodes
To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far. -- Cecil Rhodes, Last Will and Testament
This is the 3rd post in a series on South Africa and Apartheid and so far in the first two neither Apartheid nor South Africa even exists. But we are to the mid climax. In first part we discussed how our groups of players: Afrikaners, British, Xhosa, Zulu, minor tribes, other ethnicities got to what would become South Africa. In the second part we discussed how the Zulus and Xhosa knocked themselves out of the game leaving the British and Afrikaners as the main players standing for who got rule what would become South Africa. We also discussed how the British policy was non-viable. This part is going to discuss how the British changed course and consequently won control. We are also going to get to the genesis of the Western Left's hatred of the Afrikaners and the genesis of Apartheid, We'll end on the creation of the Union of South Africa which while not the Republic of South Africa will allow me to stop talking about "Southern Africa", "territory that will become South Africa".... But unfortunately you will have to sit through this one more post where South Africa doesn't exist yet. Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853 the sickly asthmatic 5th son of a not particularly notable clergyman. He'd remain sickly his entire life dying in 1902 at the age of 48 from the sorts of deterioration of the heart and lung one wouldn't expect to see until a man was at least well into their 90s. In that short span he would: become one of the richest men in the world; found several countries; change the entire economic structure of the territories that would become: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe; found 2 major corporations: the British South Africa Company and De Beers; rethink British imperialism inventing what would become the British Commonwealth; becoming one of the defining figures and great visionaries of the Victorian Age; trigger the 2nd Boer War; demonstrate the strategy changing nature of the machine gun decades before World War 1; be the only genuinely important Prime Minister of the Cape Colony; invent the concept of corporate armies; play a large role in saving the South African wine industry and most importantly be the only individual getting his own post in this series. :) Rhodes was sent to South Africa at the age of 17 so that the British weather didn't kill him. Rather than doing the normal thing and spending the money (amounting to a decade or less of a comfortable middle class salary, but no great fortune) on living with some gambling and girls thrown in he decided to head to the newly discovered diamond mines in Kimberly and started buying up small diamond mining operations leveraging each mine's output and outside financing to buy the next. Later he partnered with leading financing and trading firms so by 1888 had what amounted to monopoly control of diamond industry turning De Beers into the diamond powerhouse it remains to this day though the last pieces wouldn't fall into place until 1890. He by the 1880s De Beers was throwing off enough excess profits that he could pay investors and continue expending De Beers while being able to found the predecessor to the British South Africa Company operating much further into the interior opening up Bechuanaland and Rhodesia as colonies using his own profits to fund the administrative expenses much as the East India Company had done a century earlier. Rhodes believed that British policy wasn't viable because it was petty. A vibrant healthy economy throws off an enormous amount of tax revenue. Petty colonialism, like the kind the British were engaging in would never generate much profit because of its very short term nature. Britain should make money by investing in the local economy, spend some on upkeep, reinvesting most of the profits and just skim a little of a forever growing payout. What Britain had tried to do with the American colonies encouraging economic development was the right approach. The problem was London had been shortsighted and selfish turning the local administrators against them. The independence of the USA wasn't a strategic failure it was the result of poor tactical implementation. The problem the British were facing in Southern Africa was similar and since the policies had been similar the results would be as well. The Afrikaners had no reason to be loyal to a Britain which had spent almost a century making very clear that it had no interest in their welfare or society beyond some ports which were frankly not nearly so important since Suez had opened. Rhodes changed policy to have Britain stop acting like a colonizing power and start acting like the domestic government of South Africa as much as possible .Outlining his changes to colonial governing policy:
Colonial financing -- utilize profits from business ventures fund army. Rhodes' companies were good examples of this the British charter and the backing of British troops allowed him to make excess profits which allowed him to incur expenses which the previous skinflint administration could never have tolerated. For example British colonial bonds generated an average return of 4.7%. Investments in independent American bonds generated an average return of only 2.9%. The difference was not being taken into account when the Colonial Office calculated their return on investment which to Rhodes' mind was simply lousy accounting.
Long term investment -- In general rewire the metrics used at the London Colonial Office to focus on long term investment not short term profits.
Demographics -- The British were the world's first people. Physically populate as much of the world as possible. Assimilate other people's into the British way of life. In South Africa in particular he intended to win the hearts and minds of the Boer.
Stability -- The previous administration had focused on stability because instability created upheavals that increased administrative costs. For too long British colonial policy was to tolerate and coexist with local culture. To create a profitable economy agricultural efficiencies are going to need to be introduced. That means 90% of the natives are going to freed up to work in a manufacturing and processing workforce. It also means the agricultural tribal traditional culture is going to be completely destroyed. Instability not stability should be policy. Seek to replace local culture with British culture to enhance the potential for economic growth.
Glory to British not England -- English colonies exist for glory of England. British colonies self exist. England's glory is that is the Birthplace of the 1st people not how much of the world remains completely non-British while in some vague unimportant sense recognizing Victoria as their Queen.
Representation -- As long as colonial governments respond to a English democracy they will be unrepresentative of their people. Create a democratic institution which provides representation for all British people in a British Parliament. There should be an English parliament for England. Invite the United States to join this new institution. "Inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity" (NB: this is essentially the British Commonwealth, though of course the USA was not invited)
Devastating defeat of enemies -- Colonial policy was designed to solve conflict cheaply. Small military victories do not undermine the hostile's economy nor their society and thus don't accomplish much. They simply delay and prolonging the problem created by the enemy allowing the enemy to choose points in time to achieve advantage. Avoid costly wars certainly but when war is needed seek to inflict devastating defeat so the subject people realize their inferiority. This realization facilities undermining their institutions and thus during the peace their way of life easily becomes more British. Further a willingness to war like this makes challenging Britain very costly and risky for potential enemies and thus wars will be far less frequent. The financial people are correct that the aggregate cost of inflicting devastating defeats infrequently is higher than more frequent small wars but the benefits are far greater. War carried out towards devastating defeat becomes a form of investment not a pure non-productive expense.
Scope -- The British were far to unambitious in their aims. The goal of British colonialism should be "all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise". The scope was, "the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire"
map of Cecil Rhodes' proposed British Empire You'll notice that all of Africa was in the map. Rhodes was of the opinion that Africa was incredibly rich in minerals and peoples. But it wasn't exploitable for profit because of a lack of transportation infrastructure. Rhodes was pushing to start fixing this by creating a full African north-south railway connecting "Cairo to the Cape". Rhodes' BSAC conquests were designed to drive north while he used his political influence to push the Egyptian conquest further south into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and then a business similar to BSAC run by Sir William Mackinnon to push into Uganda. For the northward push (primarily in what today is Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) Rhodes was directly implementing his policy using a private army funded from the British South Africa Company. The Ndebele and Shona (Zulu tribes) were handled easily by the devastating defeat principle. Rhodes' forces demonstrated how effectively Maxims (a primitive form of machine gun) and barbed wire worked against simple rifles, spears and long shields achieving kill ratios never before seen in the history of warfare. As an aside these battles against the Zulus would also be used by those military theorists and historians who correctly anticipated in the later 1890s through 1910s how devastating a war between the great powers would be using these weapons against each other. Rhodes through BSAC had managed to push north of Lake Mweru and to the Northern tip of Lake Nyasa. Which almost connected with Sudan were it not for German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania) in the middle. In theory an alternative route through the Belgian Congo would also work but the gold mines in Tanzania kept Rhodes focused on taking German East Africa. Further Rhodes met his match in ruthlessness when it came to the Belgians. When Rhodes' negotiating agent sought a development contract for mineral-rich Katanga (in Congo) the native ruler Msiri refused. King Leopold II of Belgium obtained the same concession by having his agent signing it to Belgium himself over Msiri's dead body in the name of the "Congo Free State". At the same time Rhodes worked with the Colonial office and in 1890 British issued the "1890 British Ultimatum" to Portugal. This ultimatum by the British government forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the basis of historical discovery and recent exploration, but which the United Kingdom claimed on the basis of effective occupation. Portugal had attempted to claim a large area of land between its colonies of Mozambique and Angola including most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia and a large part of Malawi, which had been included in Portugal's "Rose-coloured Map". This ultimatum violated the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 which to that point had been the longest standing peace treaty in history. Who owned what by the early 1900s Take a look at the map above and imagine the British controlling the north-south line connecting to a British/Portuguese line running east-west in the south and a joint French/British/Italian line running east-west in the north. From there local government and companies could construct smaller feeder lines creating a modern rail system. Hopefully and you start to see how Rhodes intended to start developing the transpiration infrastructure needed to create a strong African economy. All this was going to be for naught though if Southern Africa ended up as a Boer state hostile to British interests on the model ZAR (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic). So Rhodes decided to run for Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and solve the problems of British strategy explicated in part 2. The primary problem the Boer had with British government is their divide and conquer approach. The British tilted to whomever was losing (a standard British policy they would also follow in Palestine) which for decades meant treating the Boer and native Africans as both being subject peoples while favoring the native Africans against the Boer. In Rhodes mind you could not expect to get loyalty from people you were obvious disfavoring. The British were the ones turning the Boer into enemies. So in 1892 Rhodes instituted the Franchise and Ballot Act. This was seen as a compromise between factions in the Colonial Office and the traditions in the Cape Colony for a broad democracy (anyone with £25 in property could vote) and Orange and ZAR's (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic) more exclusive democracy. Rhodes raised the amount of property to £75, an amount specifically chosen to disempower many of the native Africans while allowing many Boers to vote. With a Boer and British based democracy locked in the Cape Colony's democratic powers could be strengthened, creating more self rule and making the involvement of the London Colonial Office less obvious. This concept of using a not explicitly racial criteria while instituting laws with racist intent is very modern. Various Liberals in the London Colonial Office especially missionaries disagreed strongly with Rhode's policies. They had been the ones advocating for the enlightened colonialism that was British policy. Missionaries in particular saw their role as: combating godlessness, superstition and backwardness. In particular encourage better use of land; encourage paycheck work; become trusted advisor to tribal leaders. The slogan "Bring the 3Cs into Africa" referred to Commerce, Christianity and Civilization. To their mind Rhodes' vision of British Imperialism was straight up military tyranny. If followed he would make England no different than a modern day Genghis Khan, creating a empire loathed by a vast expanse of subject peoples who would unite against it from all directions. Instead interfering minimally and being seen as an ally while slowly educated the elite in British custom and religion would cause a gradual consensual change that would build British alliances that would last centuries. Plus such an approach would fulfill the Lord's Great Commission (term for Jesus' command to convert the entire world to Christianity) in a way that honored God rather than shamed him. One need only look at how the Spanish, Portuguese and Balkans had thrown off Islam after centuries to see how ineffective military tyranny was at long term conversions that didn't require force. So in their mind: No the London Office should stand by its traditional values of: monopoly companies and plantations run in (unequal) partnership with indigenous elite. free trade, free (and indeed forced) migration, infrastructural investment, balanced budgets, sound money, the rule of law and incorrupt administration. As far as their Boer, in their mind the Boer were the primary impediment to enlighten British rule in South Africa, being Christians they were obligated to agree with the missionaries on the vision of the White Man's Burden and Enlightened Empire. Rather than making concession to the Boer they needed to be crushed to demonstrate the moral difference between the Boer and the British. With Rhodes' change in policy tilting towards rather than away from the Boer the Western Left came to truly hate the Boer in 1890s. Since the point of this series is the analogy I'll add that I wrote two posts about more or less the same groups of Liberal Christians turning against Israel again having to do with Israeli/Jews discrediting Liberal Western values and thus interfering with the Great Commission: WCC churches and Quakers. Rhodes in debates before and at the time considered this Liberal Empire stuff to be simply aspirational. Without economic interference there wasn't enough money to fund anything like what the Liberals proposed. He'd point to facts like that after a century of such rules in India they had increased the secondary schooling 7x to a whopping 2% while England with not nearly as many well funded missionary organizations was over 16%. Rhodes hoped to unify all of Southern Africa around this compromise approach to the franchise. ZAR however rejected this compromise. By the mid 1990s approximately 1/3rd of their white population were British (Anglicans). ZAR had every intent of maintaining religious based voting criteria (i.e. citizenship in ZAR was only open to people who were members of several Dutch Reformed Churches, see part 2). Obviously for Rhodes a situation where British people were the disempowered minority was intolerable. Additionally the ZAR were maintaining an anti-Cape Colony / anti-British / anti-Rhodes trade policy. It was becoming increasingly clear there would need to be regime change. So in 1895 Rhodes organized an attempted coup d'état now called the "Jameson Raid" (yes the same Jameson who went on to be Prime Minister 1904-8 of the Cape Colony after the 2nd Boer War). The Afrikaners were more astute than natives had been caught wind of the early organization and waited until the forces were committed trapping hundreds of Rhode's people creating a great embarrassment. Its at this point that the Boer made by far the greatest mistake of their history as a people. The 4 years between 1895-9 were when they made the choices that led to their ruin. The British were really embarrassed. A colonial governor who had a crown chartered corporation had been caught red handed engaging in a serious act of war against another sovereign state with no approval from Parliament. The Colonial Office admitted as much and forced Rhodes out of office in 1896. The Afrikaners had real negotiating leverage to work out a deal. It obviously would be extremely important that the next leader of the Cape be friendly. But they didn't decide to negotiate. Instead they started flirting with the Germans, while not actually signing a formal alliance with Germany that at least had the potential to provide them real protection. The flirtation however, turned a nasty incident into a serious threat to all British interests in Southern Africa forcing a British response. In Britain an alliance of Jingoists (populist military hawks) angry about the humiliation of 1st Boer War, Conservative Imperialists who wanted to end Boer independence especially in the ZAR (the 3 core values for Conservatives at the time were: Union with Ireland, the Empire and the superiority of the British race), Liberal Imperialists who supported Rhodes' vision and Missionaries who hated the Boer formed pushing for a war. Seeing this alliance form against them the Afrikaners did nothing to avert the danger. Rather they made a mistake many 2nd tier powers do when it comes to 1st tier powers. The Afrikaners confused the light force and weak will the 1st tier power is willing to spend on them with the amount of force the 1st tier power is capable of employing if it so chooses. Having beaten the British handily in the 1st Boer War when they were fighting the C-team (as I called in part 2) the Afrikaners grossly underestimated what they would face against a British army that had a political mandate for victory, what Britain's A-team would look like. Preparing for something slightly worse than the 1st Boer War the Boer began a serious arms buying program in 1897. ZAR also got more belligerent in their rhetoric which led to a formal alliance with the Orange State and Boer guerilla groups that could support the war effort in the Cape. The Boer had about 63k troops including some foreign troops. . The British were determined not to lose the 2nd Boer War. This was going to be the British-A team. By the second phase of the war between British soldiers, soldiers from other colonies and local Africans providing auxiliary Boer were facing a 500-600k man army. Nor was the command third or even second rate as it had been in the 1st Boer War. For example, the top military command would be Herbert Kitchener who was fresh from the victorious Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan. Kitchener after the 2nd Boer War would go on to be the Commander-in-Chief for the armies in India and a decade after that the UK's Secretary of State for War during World War 1. He's this guy: Kitchener famous 1914 recruiting poster The cost to maintain that army would be £60m / year far more than Britain could ever pull out of Southern Africa (GDP and inflation adjusted the Boer War would cost the UK about $250b). The first phase of the war was a Boer offensive while the British were still deploying troops in October–December 1899. Once the British were done they conquered all pockets of resistance in the Cape and Orange as well as essentially the entire ZAR territory January to September 1900. The Afrikaners decided to fight when surrender was the better option. Leading to a guerrilla war between September 1900 and May 1902. The British simply could not afford to keep an army of that size in the field for years dealing with guerilla tactics until the Boer admitted they were beat. Facing time pressure the British felt they had no choice but to come down hard. The British cut the guerilla war short by instituting a scorched earth policy against areas giving support to guerillas in the ZAR (most of the ZAR). ZAR men were mostly in the militias. Scorched earth destroyed the food supply in the ZAR so the British threw the women and children in concentration camps. The army hadn't prepped for needing to support massive numbers of civilians so malnutrition and disease were rampant in the concentration camps. This disease and malnutrition resulting in a camp death rate of approximately 30% annually. A policy amounting to genocide. Pro Boer forces in the UK generated widespread opposition to the camps so the military response was to not confine woman and children and instead leave civilians on the now barren earth to die of starvation and exposure. Actual POWs were deported to Bermuda and India preventing the Boer from standing any chance of liberating them. African tribes that had lost territory to the Boer began moving in. While both sides had agreed not to arm natives or recruit tribes. But the British weren't going to fight for the Boer if tribes decided to take advantage of their defeat. The Boer were quickly losing everything they were fighting for: freedom, their lands, their family, the self dependence and surrendered rather than have their population geocoded to oblivion, being left with no economy and whatever lands they managed to hold being assaulted on all sides by natives who would take it from them. The Boer society that emerged from the surrender did not have separatist attitude. Destitute Boers now willing to work in the minds and alongside black Africans swelled the ranks of the unskilled urban poor competing with the "uitlanders" in the mines. The new economy was unambiguously focused on gold causing mine production to swell enriching the British interests. The Afrikaners were both physically and psychologically crushed, and wouldn't be causing any more problems for decades. In the UK the war came to be seen as excessive especially as the financial cost of the war sunk in. The Conservatives' suffered a spectacular defeat in 1906 driving the Conservative Prime Minister at the time (12 July 1902 – 4 December 1905) Arthur Balfour from office. He comes up rather regularly on this sub in his later role as Foreign Minister. As the Boer are no longer resisting the British Empire the shift towards more pro-Boer policies from England continues. In 1909 the British Parliament dissolves the British colonies of: Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal and combines them into a Federal Union of South Africa. This makes South Africa into a Dominion (essentially Australia's status at the time). Jan Smuts (an Afrikaner) resurrects Rhodes' idea of a Common Wealth and the British embrace it. And so we conclude part 3 our story of how the British eventually won and South Africa came to exist. How the Western Left started to hate the Boer, a hatred they would resurrect later. And how the first steps towards apartheid were taken. Whew that was longer than I intended!
DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) - Deep Dive Research - Part 1
TL:DR
This is Part 1 of my two part deep dive on DraftKings (Ticker: DKNG, I will refer to the company as “DK”)
This first part introduces you to (1) me, (2) the company, (3) my thesis on the company, and (4) digs into how they make money.
The second part (already released, you can read it here - but get through part 1 first :) ) will go in depth to explore the question “Can we 10x from here?”
DK is an exciting, disruptive company working to change how we experience watching sports and make it better.
I am not a financial advisor and this is not investment advice. These are just my opinions to help facilitate learning and discussion.
Hello, welcome to my first deep dive write up. My name’s Mark and I’m an accountant with a passion for investing. About two years ago, I used to work as an auditor at a public accounting firm and have been behind the scenes at many different publicly traded and privately held companies in the U.S. My goal is to bring my unique perspective from that past experience, my current experience working in a new role at a large corporation, and my understanding of accounting to help break down some of the most exciting growth stocks on the market today. I’m a long-term investor. I am focused on finding great companies and holding them for a long time. I’m willing to endure volatility, crazy price drops, and everything that comes with this approach as long as the facts that led me to originally invest and believe in that company have not changed. If you want to learn more about this approach. I recommend reading the book “100 Baggers” by Chris Mayer. Introduction I think it’s fitting that my first stock pick has to do with sports. Sports has been a part of my life since I could walk at the age of 2. First with baseball and soccer, and then later in my childhood with golf. I’ve always played American football and basketball for fun as well and have always been an avid fan of all the major sports in the US. I started playing fantasy sports (mostly just fantasy football) about 6 years ago and have always enjoyed it. Traditionally, with fantasy football you draft a team at the beginning of the year and those are your players for the rest of the season. If you have a bad draft, oh well. You can try to improve your team with trades and free agent additions but it is tough. Leagues usually consist of 10-14 teams (each managed by an individual) and there’s obviously only one winner at the end of the season (about 4 months after the draft). This can lead to the managers of the lower performing teams losing interest as the season wanes on. I believe DraftKings’ (DK) founders saw this issue and saw an opportunity. Enter, daily fantasy sports. Now, with the DK platform you can draft a new team every week. Or if you want, every day. This allows fans of fantasy sports to engage at whichever point of the season they want and at varying financial stakes. The Thesis Statement For every stock pick I make, I want to provide a quick thesis statement that can serve as a reminder for why I’m buying and holding that stock for the long term. I’ll always aim to make it just a few sentences long so it can easily be remembered and internalized. This helps during times when the price may sporadically drop and you need to remember why you’re holding this position. The thesis statement I have come up with for DK is as follows: “DraftKings: The leader in allowing fans to engage financially with their favorite sports, teams, and players. Having money at stake makes the game a lot more interesting to watch. The era of daily fantasy sports games, online sports betting, and online betting (outside of sports), is just getting started and DK is as well positioned (or better positioned) than anyone to capitalize off of this trend.” Notice how I said “allowing fans to engage financially” as the first sentence and not necessarily “allowing fans to gamble”. There’s a reason for that. According to US Federal Law, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests have specifically been exempted from the prohibitions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). DK has always been, and I believe will continue to be DFS contests 1st, sports betting 2nd, and other forms of gambling/entertainment 3rd. It is noteworthy that states at an individual level can still deem DFS contests illegal if they so wish, but as of this writing (11/26/20), 43 of the 50 US States allow DFS contests and DK, accordingly, is offering DFS contests in all 43 of those US States. I’ll try to clarify the difference between DFS contests and sports betting real quick: DFS Contest – Pay a pre-set entry fee to enter a contest. All entry fees go towards “The Pot”. “Draft” 9 players to be on your “Team” for 1 week. Enter your “Roster” into a contest with other players (could range from 1 other person to 1,000s of people, the DK user can choose). Whichever “Roster” amasses the most points for that week out of all contestants wins. The winner will get the highest payout, and depending on the nature of the contest, other top finishers will receive smaller payouts as well. Sports Gambling – Team A is considered a 10 point favorite to defeat Team B. This means that Team A is expected, by the professional gambling line setters, to outscore Team B by 10 points. This is known as a point spread. You can bet on the underdog or the favorite. If you bet on the favorite, they have to win by more than 10 points for you to win the bet. If you bet on the underdog, you will win the bet as long as the underdog keeps the game within less than a 10 point defeat. These are just a couple simple examples to help you see the difference. Sports Gambling (the 2nd priority of DK) is a very lucrative market just as the DFS contests are. However, in the US, Federal Laws and regulations are a lot stricter on Sports Gambling than they are on DFS. As of this writing (11/27/20), 22 states (including the District of Columbia) out of 51 possible allow sports gambling. DK is still in the infancy stages of getting their sports gambling business going. In the 22 states where they could potentially operate, they currently have a sports gambling offering in 11 of those states. The sports gambling business model for DK can be broken into two main offerings – mobile sports betting, and retail sports betting. Mobile sports betting means you can place a sports bet online from the comfort of your own home, while retail sports betting means you must go to a casino and place a bet with the sportsbook in person. I personally believe mobile sports betting is the real potential cash cow for DK out of the two types of sports betting offerings due to the convenience and ease of access. DK is currently working on and encouraging customers to lobby their state lawmakers to legalize sports gambling in more states. How DK makes money At the very least, before you invest in a company, you better understand how they make money. In Chris Mayers’ excellent book, 100 Baggers, that I mentioned above, he continually references top line revenue growth as one of the main common indicators of a possible 100 Bagger. This isn’t to tell you that any stock I pick will be a 100 Bagger just because it has great top line revenue growth, but if I am looking at a growth stock to hold for the long term, revenue growth is one of the first things I look at. For DK, their means of making money is quite simple. I already went into detail above about DFS Contests and Sports Gambling. In DK’s latest 10-Q filing with the SEC (filed 11/13/20), revenue is broken out into two main streams: Online Gaming and Gaming Software. Online Gaming (82% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20): Online gaming is the true core business of DK and includes the aforementioned DFS Contests, Sports Gambling and additional gambling (non-sports) opportunities. DK refers to their additional gambling (non-sports) as “iGaming” or “online casino”. For the 9 months ended 9/30/20, Online Gaming revenue totaled $239M, up 30% YoY from $184M in the same prior year period. Keep in mind, that this is an increase that happened during a COVID-19 global pandemic that delayed and shortened many professional sports seasons. Online gaming revenue is earned in a few ways that are slightly different, but very similar overall. In order to enter a DFS contest, a customer must pay an entry fee. DFS revenue is generated from these entry fees collected, net of prize payouts and customer incentives awarded to users. In order to place a sports bet (sports gambling), a customer places a wager with a DK Sportsbook. The DK Sportsbook sets odds for each wager that builds in a theoretical margin allowing DK to profit. Sports gambling revenue is generated from wagers collected from customers, net of payouts and incentives awarded to winning customers. The last form of online gaming revenue is earned in similar fashion to a land-based casino, offering online versions of casino games such as blackjack, roulette, and slot machines. Gaming Software (18% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20): While the Online Gaming revenue stream mentioned above is a Business to Consumer (B2C) model, the Gaming Software revenue stream is a Business to Business (B2B) model. The Gaming Software side of the business was born out of the acquisition of SBTech, a company from the Isle of Man (near the UK) founded in 2007 that has 12+ years of experience providing online sports betting platforms to clients all over the world. The acquisition occurred as part of the SPAC driven IPO in April of 2020 that combined “the old DK company” with SBTech so that they now are “the new DK company” listed as DKNG on the NASDAQ. SBTech is a far more important part of the story than just being 18% of today’s revenue. The reason for this is because DK will eventually (planned mid-late 2021) be migrating all of their DFS and gambling offerings onto SBTech’s online platforms. Currently, for DFS, DK uses their own proprietary platform but that will move to SBTech with the migration. Currently, for online gambling, DK uses Kambi, the same online gambling platform that services Penn Gaming (PENN), a DK rival. But that’s enough about the software migration for now, back to the Gaming Software revenue. The Gaming Software revenue stream for DK is essentially a continuation of SBTechs’ B2B business model. DK contracts with business customers to provide sports and casino betting software solutions. DK typically enters two different type of arrangements with B2B customers when selling the gaming software:
Direct Customer Contract Revenue: In this type of transaction, the software is sold directly to a business (casino for example) that wants to use the software for their own gambling operations. This revenue is generally calculated as a percentage of the wagering revenue generated by the business customer using DK’s software and is recognized in the periods in which those wagering and related activities conclude.
Reseller Arrangement Revenue: In this type of transaction, DK provides distributors with the right to resell DK’s software-as-a-service offering to their clients, using their own infrastructure. In reseller arrangements, revenue is generally calculated via a fixed monthly fee and an additional monthly fee which varies based on the number of gaming operators to whom each reseller sub-licenses DK’s software.
As mentioned above, SBTech was an international company based in the Isle of Man before being acquired by DK. Thus, the majority of their business in their first 12 years of operating independently has always been international and outside of the United States. This has helped DK, which has historically been US focused, expand it’s international reach. A perfect example of expanding this international reach occurred recently during October (technically Q4) in which DK’s B2B technology (powered by SBTech) helped enable the launch of “PalaceBet”, a new mobile and online sportsbook offering from Peermont, a South Africa based resort and casino company. The deal was headed by DK’s new Chief International Officer, Shay Berka, who previously spent 10 years working for SBTech as CFO and General Manager. Mr. Berka took on the role of DK’s Chief International Officer upon the merger in April earlier this year. I think this deal shows that DK has integrated SBTech and it’s business very well into the larger business as a whole. They are not wasting any time using their newly acquired resources to expand their reach and bring in new sources of revenue. This is the end of my first article about DK. My goal is to drop Part 2 later this week. The focus of Part 2 will be an in depth answer of the question – “Can we 10x from here?” Disclosure: I am/we are long DKNG. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) - Deep Dive Research - Part 1
TL:DR
This is Part 1 of my two part deep dive on DraftKings (Ticker: DKNG, I will refer to the company as “DK”)
This first part introduces you to (1) me, (2) the company, (3) my thesis on the company, and (4) digs into how they make money.
The second part (to be released later this week) will go in depth to explore the question “Can we 10x from here?”
DK is an exciting, disruptive company working to change how we experience watching sports and make it better.
I am not a financial advisor and this is not investment advice. These are just my opinions to help facilitate learning and discussion.
Hello, welcome to my first deep dive write up. My name’s Mark and I’m an accountant with a passion for investing. About two years ago, I used to work as an auditor at a public accounting firm and have been behind the scenes at many different publicly traded and privately held companies in the U.S. My goal is to bring my unique perspective from that past experience, my current experience working in a new role at a large corporation, and my understanding of accounting to help break down some of the most exciting growth stocks on the market today. I’m a long-term investor. I am focused on finding great companies and holding them for a long time. I’m willing to endure volatility, crazy price drops, and everything that comes with this approach as long as the facts that led me to originally invest and believe in that company have not changed. If you want to learn more about this approach. I recommend reading the book “100 Baggers” by Chris Mayer. Introduction I think it’s fitting that my first stock pick has to do with sports. Sports has been a part of my life since I could walk at the age of 2. First with baseball and soccer, and then later in my childhood with golf. I’ve always played American football and basketball for fun as well and have always been an avid fan of all the major sports in the US. I started playing fantasy sports (mostly just fantasy football) about 6 years ago and have always enjoyed it. Traditionally, with fantasy football you draft a team at the beginning of the year and those are your players for the rest of the season. If you have a bad draft, oh well. You can try to improve your team with trades and free agent additions but it is tough. Leagues usually consist of 10-14 teams (each managed by an individual) and there’s obviously only one winner at the end of the season (about 4 months after the draft). This can lead to the managers of the lower performing teams losing interest as the season wanes on. I believe DraftKings’ (DK) founders saw this issue and saw an opportunity. Enter, daily fantasy sports. Now, with the DK platform you can draft a new team every week. Or if you want, every day. This allows fans of fantasy sports to engage at whichever point of the season they want and at varying financial stakes. The Thesis Statement For every stock pick I make, I want to provide a quick thesis statement that can serve as a reminder for why I’m buying and holding that stock for the long term. I’ll always aim to make it just a few sentences long so it can easily be remembered and internalized. This helps during times when the price may sporadically drop and you need to remember why you’re holding this position. The thesis statement I have come up with for DK is as follows: “DraftKings: The leader in allowing fans to engage financially with their favorite sports, teams, and players. Having money at stake makes the game a lot more interesting to watch. The era of daily fantasy sports games, online sports betting, and online betting (outside of sports), is just getting started and DK is as well positioned (or better positioned) than anyone to capitalize off of this trend.” Notice how I said “allowing fans to engage financially” as the first sentence and not necessarily “allowing fans to gamble”. There’s a reason for that. According to US Federal Law, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests have specifically been exempted from the prohibitions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). DK has always been, and I believe will continue to be DFS contests 1st, sports betting 2nd, and other forms of gambling/entertainment 3rd. It is noteworthy that states at an individual level can still deem DFS contests illegal if they so wish, but as of this writing (11/26/20), 43 of the 50 US States allow DFS contests and DK, accordingly, is offering DFS contests in all 43 of those US States. I’ll try to clarify the difference between DFS contests and sports betting real quick: DFS Contest – Pay a pre-set entry fee to enter a contest. All entry fees go towards “The Pot”. “Draft” 9 players to be on your “Team” for 1 week. Enter your “Roster” into a contest with other players (could range from 1 other person to 1,000s of people, the DK user can choose). Whichever “Roster” amasses the most points for that week out of all contestants wins. The winner will get the highest payout, and depending on the nature of the contest, other top finishers will receive smaller payouts as well. Sports Gambling – Team A is considered a 10 point favorite to defeat Team B. This means that Team A is expected, by the professional gambling line setters, to outscore Team B by 10 points. This is known as a point spread. You can bet on the underdog or the favorite. If you bet on the favorite, they have to win by more than 10 points for you to win the bet. If you bet on the underdog, you will win the bet as long as the underdog keeps the game within less than a 10 point defeat. These are just a couple simple examples to help you see the difference. Sports Gambling (the 2nd priority of DK) is a very lucrative market just as the DFS contests are. However, in the US, Federal Laws and regulations are a lot stricter on Sports Gambling than they are on DFS. As of this writing (11/27/20), 22 states (including the District of Columbia) out of 51 possible allow sports gambling. DK is still in the infancy stages of getting their sports gambling business going. In the 22 states where they could potentially operate, they currently have a sports gambling offering in 11 of those states. The sports gambling business model for DK can be broken into two main offerings – mobile sports betting, and retail sports betting. Mobile sports betting means you can place a sports bet online from the comfort of your own home, while retail sports betting means you must go to a casino and place a bet with the sportsbook in person. I personally believe mobile sports betting is the real potential cash cow for DK out of the two types of sports betting offerings due to the convenience and ease of access. DK is currently working on and encouraging customers to lobby their state lawmakers to legalize sports gambling in more states. How DK makes money At the very least, before you invest in a company, you better understand how they make money. In Chris Mayers’ excellent book, 100 Baggers, that I mentioned above, he continually references top line revenue growth as one of the main common indicators of a possible 100 Bagger. This isn’t to tell you that any stock I pick will be a 100 Bagger just because it has great top line revenue growth, but if I am looking at a growth stock to hold for the long term, revenue growth is one of the first things I look at. For DK, their means of making money is quite simple. I already went into detail above about DFS Contests and Sports Gambling. In DK’s latest 10-Q filing with the SEC (filed 11/13/20), revenue is broken out into two main streams: Online Gaming and Gaming Software. Online Gaming (82% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20): Online gaming is the true core business of DK and includes the aforementioned DFS Contests, Sports Gambling and additional gambling (non-sports) opportunities. DK refers to their additional gambling (non-sports) as “iGaming” or “online casino”. For the 9 months ended 9/30/20, Online Gaming revenue totaled $239M, up 30% YoY from $184M in the same prior year period. Keep in mind, that this is an increase that happened during a COVID-19 global pandemic that delayed and shortened many professional sports seasons. Online gaming revenue is earned in a few ways that are slightly different, but very similar overall. In order to enter a DFS contest, a customer must pay an entry fee. DFS revenue is generated from these entry fees collected, net of prize payouts and customer incentives awarded to users. In order to place a sports bet (sports gambling), a customer places a wager with a DK Sportsbook. The DK Sportsbook sets odds for each wager that builds in a theoretical margin allowing DK to profit. Sports gambling revenue is generated from wagers collected from customers, net of payouts and incentives awarded to winning customers. The last form of online gaming revenue is earned in similar fashion to a land-based casino, offering online versions of casino games such as blackjack, roulette, and slot machines. Gaming Software (18% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20): While the Online Gaming revenue stream mentioned above is a Business to Consumer (B2C) model, the Gaming Software revenue stream is a Business to Business (B2B) model. The Gaming Software side of the business was born out of the acquisition of SBTech, a company from the Isle of Man (near the UK) founded in 2007 that has 12+ years of experience providing online sports betting platforms to clients all over the world. The acquisition occurred as part of the SPAC driven IPO in April of 2020 that combined “the old DK company” with SBTech so that they now are “the new DK company” listed as DKNG on the NASDAQ. SBTech is a far more important part of the story than just being 18% of today’s revenue. The reason for this is because DK will eventually (planned mid-late 2021) be migrating all of their DFS and gambling offerings onto SBTech’s online platforms. Currently, for DFS, DK uses their own proprietary platform but that will move to SBTech with the migration. Currently, for online gambling, DK uses Kambi, the same online gambling platform that services Penn Gaming (PENN), a DK rival. But that’s enough about the software migration for now, back to the Gaming Software revenue. The Gaming Software revenue stream for DK is essentially a continuation of SBTechs’ B2B business model. DK contracts with business customers to provide sports and casino betting software solutions. DK typically enters two different type of arrangements with B2B customers when selling the gaming software:
Direct Customer Contract Revenue: In this type of transaction, the software is sold directly to a business (casino for example) that wants to use the software for their own gambling operations. This revenue is generally calculated as a percentage of the wagering revenue generated by the business customer using DK’s software and is recognized in the periods in which those wagering and related activities conclude.
Reseller Arrangement Revenue: In this type of transaction, DK provides distributors with the right to resell DK’s software-as-a-service offering to their clients, using their own infrastructure. In reseller arrangements, revenue is generally calculated via a fixed monthly fee and an additional monthly fee which varies based on the number of gaming operators to whom each reseller sub-licenses DK’s software.
As mentioned above, SBTech was an international company based in the Isle of Man before being acquired by DK. Thus, the majority of their business in their first 12 years of operating independently has always been international and outside of the United States. This has helped DK, which has historically been US focused, expand it’s international reach. A perfect example of expanding this international reach occurred recently during October (technically Q4) in which DK’s B2B technology (powered by SBTech) helped enable the launch of “PalaceBet”, a new mobile and online sportsbook offering from Peermont, a South Africa based resort and casino company. The deal was headed by DK’s new Chief International Officer, Shay Berka, who previously spent 10 years working for SBTech as CFO and General Manager. Mr. Berka took on the role of DK’s Chief International Officer upon the merger in April earlier this year. I think this deal shows that DK has integrated SBTech and it’s business very well into the larger business as a whole. They are not wasting any time using their newly acquired resources to expand their reach and bring in new sources of revenue. This is the end of my first article about DK. My goal is to drop Part 2 later this week. The focus of Part 2 will be an in depth answer of the question – “Can we 10x from here?” Disclosure: I am/we are long DKNG. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
I was fortunate to work with a group of guys who also became my close friends. I work for a small private sales firm that specializes in selling medical equipment. The owner of the company believes in revenue sharing so we are always trying to cut expenses. We never fly first class and we stay at cheap hotels. Ben and I were scheduled to take a flight from Harrisburg to Chicago on Budget Airlines. When I arrived on the flight I was a little bummed out that they didn’t have movies available and instead they had audiobooks available through their WiFi. I figured that I would just sleep and Ben decided to listen to “The Shining” audiobook. Ben seemed to be intently listening almost like he was in a trance and I eventually passed out. We arrived in Chicago and checked into our hotel. We met the hospital administrator at the local hospital and we were happy because they actually bought 40 of our medication carts. We were even able to cut our trip short because of the quick sale so we arrived back in Harrisburg on Tuesday night. That same Friday something horrible happened. Ben was pulled into the owner of the company, Doug’s office and was terminated for stealing money from the company. Doug even called the police. This completely caught me off guard almost like if you were told that Mr. Rodgers was responsible for introducing methamphetamines into the United States. I’ve been working with Ben for almost a decade and he attended church every Sunday and he was married with two kids. He was the absolute last person I would suspect to steal money. Apparently he stayed late at the office on Wednesday and rerouted funds to his personal account. The office security cameras saw him doing it so when Ben was pleading to the point where he was crying, Doug wasn’t listening to his sob story. Ben kept saying “I swear I have no idea what your talking about.” I always heard of people living double lives, but I was in complete shock. Ben was actually charged with grand theft and was released on bail. He called me and said that he had zero recollection of ever staying at the office on Wednesday night. He also told me that security cameras at his bank caught him withdrawing that same money. Then the police were able to track him to going to the post office, where he mailed the money to an unknown address. Ben said he had zero recollection of going to the bank or to the post office. Typically when your caught on camera it’s kind of hard proving your innocence, but I knew Ben and I wanted to help him. He came over to my house and we met in my backyard. He seemed like he was a completely defeated person. He was going to loose his house and possibly his wife. We both talked for hours trying to figure out what happened. He called off sick on Wednesday. Ben had only called off one other time so that was highly unusual for him. He fully admits that looking at the security cameras that unless there is a spot in doppelgänger then it’s probably him, but he has absolutely zero recollection. Ben’s wife thought he was at work that Wednesday and Ben says he doesn’t have an inkling of where he went. Nothing weird happened on the trip and he wasn’t into drugs or gambling. Ben payed a fortune on hiring a lawyer and still had to spend 30 days in jail. Absolutely no one would hire him so he’s been out of work and his wife has been supporting the family working as a cashier. I had to go to California on Monday this time by myself. I flew the same Budget airlines. I wasn’t tired so I decided to listen to one of their audiobooks on the plane. Right before takeoff I chose “The Shining” to listen to, because I never read the book. Our takeoff was delayed so I was already an hour into the audiobook before our flight took off. I was completely enamored with the audiobook. I felt myself drifting into a different dimension. Almost like my body was floating out of my seat and I was being transported to this other place. This other place was just so vivid and lifelike. It felt like I was in England hundreds of years ago. I see a princes who is magnificently beautiful who is begging me. Then I hear “Sir! Excuse me sir. Sir Excuse me sir,” from a distance and My body floats back to my seat and I quickly come back to reality. I couldn’t explain the feeling it was almost like being pulled back from the best dream I ever had. Then the flight attendant says “Please put your carryon bag under the seat.” I try to start the audiobook again and it starts over from the beginning and it won’t let me fast forward, so I just turn it off. I’ve seen the movie “The Shining” so I was completely lost of why my mind drifted to meeting a princess which had nothing to do with the movie “The Shining.” I was able to get a quick sale in California, so I went back home the next morning on the same Budget airlines. I thought to myself that Stephen King wouldn’t appreciate someone altering his original book, so I actually audio copied the portion of the audiobook that went awry onto my cell phone. I remembered it was about 55 minutes into the audiobook where the plot of “The Shining” went into a different direction. I decided that I would listen to the copied audiobook portion sometime this week. I got off the plane and drove home. I greeted my wife and we went food shopping and eventually I went to bed. Something extremely odd happened this night that has never happened to me in my adult life. At 4:00 am I was in a sleepwalking type of trance about a mile from my house. Apparently the cops were patrolling the area and saw me walking then they saw me stop and from what they told me it seemed like I was confused like I didn’t know what direction I should go. The cops told me that once they grabbed my arm towards their police car I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. I declined EMS services and just walked home. When I got home My wife confirmed to me that in the 12 years that we were married I had never sleepwalked. I’m now pondering what the heck just happened to me. I had no recollection of getting changed and leaving the house. The thought came to my mind that this scenario seemed eerily similar to Ben’s where he had no recollection of staying late at the office or going to the bank and the post office. It eventually dawned on me that somehow both Ben’s and my brains were subconsciously infiltrated. Eventually I focused on the commonality of “The Shining” audiobook that both Ben and I listened to. I did some online research and from what what I gathered was “The Shining” was used to get your mind to focus intently and then from there someone goes off topic and breaks through the person’s protective central nervous system and implants subliminal messages. Based on Ben’s behavior the subliminal messages were meant for him to carry out criminal behavior. I listened to the remainder of the recording I made on the plane and I was struck with awe on just how soothing the woman’s voice was who was narrating the audiobook. She was the Michael Jordan of voice overs. I purposely put my guard up to listen objectively and not let my self get pulled into the trance. I figured out what my objective was supposed to be. The “princess” on the audiobook wanted me to rob the local Burger King by my house and then mail the money to a PO Box in Missouri. The oddest thing that I learned from my online research is that for the most part there are no laws regarding the use of hypnosis so I didn’t know where to turn next. I actually called the airlines and after waiting nearly two hours I finally spoke to a customer sales rep who had no idea what I was talking about. I was at a dead end. I couldn’t find anymore information that would help my cause. I knew the woman’s voice on the audiobook was non American, but I couldn’t pin point the exact country perhaps South Africa or Wales. The one thing that I did learn was trying to get a name from a P.O. Box was difficult. One way to get the name of the company or the name of the individual is to say you were receiving political advertisements from the P.O. Box then there is a form to fill out and then the USPS will release the owners name. I made up a political flyer and I sent it to the Missouri post office along with the corresponding forms. I waited three weeks then I received a response from USPS which stated that the owner of the P.O. Box was Hunsucker enterprises. That name sounded way too familiar, but I just couldn’t pin point it. I jogged my memory for a while, then I realized where I heard that name “Hunsucker enterprises.” Doug the owner of the company that I work for was using them as a consultant firm. Another odd coincidence that I learned was that my employer, Doug had received a substantial insurance check for the money Ben had stolen. After about literally making 100 phone calls to budget airlines I learned some additional information. The airlines was close to declaring bankruptcy, so Hunsucker Enterprises approached the airlines with an offer that Hunsucker would install the audiobook hardware on each plane and would pay the airlines a certain percentage for each person who listened to an audiobook. I couldn’t figure out if Budget Airlines was aware of the hypnoses scheme. The airlines went out of business a few weeks later so I my unresolved questions would always remain unresolved. I approached Doug, about Hunsucker Enterprises and he started to get squirmy about owning up to any type of affiliation with the company. Then the following day I was metaphorically punched in the gut by Doug. He actually terminated my employment. Pennsylvania is an at will state so Doug didn’t have to give me any rationale for my termination. I am now left pondering how long Doug had been using Ben and I to carry out his wicked mind game deceptions. Another odd thing I learned was the hospital system that purchased 40 medication carts had actually canceled the order for the carts and returned them back to Doug’s medical supply company. I questioned if the medication carts were actually being used to transport illegal drugs from state to state. The buyer of the carts always seemed way to willing to purchase from us almost like arrangements had been set up prior to me or Ben meeting the person. Since I was terminated from Doug’s company I couldn’t do anymore internal research, so the extent that Doug was using Ben and I over the years will probably always remain a mystery.
I was fortunate to work with a group of guys who also became my close friends. I work for a small private sales firm that specializes in selling medical equipment. The owner of the company believes in revenue sharing so we are always trying to cut expenses. We never fly first class and we stay at cheap hotels. Ben and I were scheduled to take a flight from Harrisburg to Chicago on Budget Airlines. When I arrived on the flight I was a little bummed out that they didn’t have movies available and instead they had audiobooks available through their WiFi. I figured that I would just sleep and Ben decided to listen to “The Shining” audiobook. Ben seemed to be intently listening almost like he was in a trance and I eventually passed out. We arrived in Chicago and checked into our hotel. We met the hospital administrator at the local hospital and we were happy because they actually bought 40 of our medication carts. We were even able to cut our trip short because of the quick sale so we arrived back in Harrisburg on Tuesday night. That same Friday something horrible happened. Ben was pulled into the owner of the company, Doug’s office and was terminated for stealing money from the company. Doug even called the police. This completely caught me off guard almost like if you were told that Mr. Rodgers was responsible for introducing methamphetamines into the United States. I’ve been working with Ben for almost a decade and he attended church every Sunday and he was married with two kids. He was the absolute last person I would suspect to steal money. Apparently he stayed late at the office on Wednesday and rerouted funds to his personal account. The office security cameras saw him doing it so when Ben was pleading to the point where he was crying, Doug wasn’t listening to his sob story. Ben kept saying “I swear I have no idea what your talking about.” I always heard of people living double lives, but I was in complete shock. Ben was actually charged with grand theft and was released on bail. He called me and said that he had zero recollection of ever staying at the office on Wednesday night. He also told me that security cameras at his bank caught him withdrawing that same money. Then the police were able to track him to going to the post office, where he mailed the money to an unknown address. Ben said he had zero recollection of going to the bank or to the post office. Typically when your caught on camera it’s kind of hard proving your innocence, but I knew Ben and I wanted to help him. He came over to my house and we met in my backyard. He seemed like he was a completely defeated person. He was going to loose his house and possibly his wife. We both talked for hours trying to figure out what happened. He called off sick on Wednesday. Ben had only called off one other time so that was highly unusual for him. He fully admits that looking at the security cameras that unless there is a spot in doppelgänger then it’s probably him, but he has absolutely zero recollection. Ben’s wife thought he was at work that Wednesday and Ben says he doesn’t have an inkling of where he went. Nothing weird happened on the trip and he wasn’t into drugs or gambling. Ben payed a fortune on hiring a lawyer and still had to spend 30 days in jail. Absolutely no one would hire him so he’s been out of work and his wife has been supporting the family working as a cashier. I had to go to California on Monday this time by myself. I flew the same Budget airlines. I wasn’t tired so I decided to listen to one of their audiobooks on the plane. Right before takeoff I chose “The Shining” to listen to, because I never read the book. Our takeoff was delayed so I was already an hour into the audiobook before our flight took off. I was completely enamored with the audiobook. I felt myself drifting into a different dimension. Almost like my body was floating out of my seat and I was being transported to this other place. This other place was just so vivid and lifelike. It felt like I was in England hundreds of years ago. I see a princes who is magnificently beautiful who is begging me. Then I hear “Sir! Excuse me sir. Sir Excuse me sir,” from a distance and My body floats back to my seat and I quickly come back to reality. I couldn’t explain the feeling it was almost like being pulled back from the best dream I ever had. Then the flight attendant says “Please put your carryon bag under the seat.” I try to start the audiobook again and it starts over from the beginning and it won’t let me fast forward, so I just turn it off. I’ve seen the movie “The Shining” so I was completely lost of why my mind drifted to meeting a princess which had nothing to do with the movie “The Shining.” I was able to get a quick sale in California, so I went back home the next morning on the same Budget airlines. I thought to myself that Stephen King wouldn’t appreciate someone altering his original book, so I actually audio copied the portion of the audiobook that went awry onto my cell phone. I remembered it was about 55 minutes into the audiobook where the plot of “The Shining” went into a different direction. I decided that I would listen to the copied audiobook portion sometime this week. I got off the plane and drove home. I greeted my wife and we went food shopping and eventually I went to bed. Something extremely odd happened this night that has never happened to me in my adult life. At 4:00 am I was in a sleepwalking type of trance about a mile from my house. Apparently the cops were patrolling the area and saw me walking then they saw me stop and from what they told me it seemed like I was confused like I didn’t know what direction I should go. The cops told me that once they grabbed my arm towards their police car I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. I declined EMS services and just walked home. When I got home My wife confirmed to me that in the 12 years that we were married I had never sleepwalked. I’m now pondering what the heck just happened to me. I had no recollection of getting changed and leaving the house. The thought came to my mind that this scenario seemed eerily similar to Ben’s where he had no recollection of staying late at the office or going to the bank and the post office. It eventually dawned on me that somehow both Ben’s and my brains were subconsciously infiltrated. Eventually I focused on the commonality of “The Shining” audiobook that both Ben and I listened to. I did some online research and from what what I gathered was “The Shining” was used to get your mind to focus intently and then from there someone goes off topic and breaks through the person’s protective central nervous system and implants subliminal messages. Based on Ben’s behavior the subliminal messages were meant for him to carry out criminal behavior. I listened to the remainder of the recording I made on the plane and I was struck with awe on just how soothing the woman’s voice was who was narrating the audiobook. She was the Michael Jordan of voice overs. I purposely put my guard up to listen objectively and not let my self get pulled into the trance. I figured out what my objective was supposed to be. The “princess” on the audiobook wanted me to rob the local Burger King by my house and then mail the money to a PO Box in Missouri. The oddest thing that I learned from my online research is that for the most part there are no laws regarding the use of hypnosis so I didn’t know where to turn next. I actually called the airlines and after waiting nearly two hours I finally spoke to a customer sales rep who had no idea what I was talking about. I was at a dead end. I couldn’t find anymore information that would help my cause. I knew the woman’s voice on the audiobook was non American, but I couldn’t pin point the exact country perhaps South Africa or Wales. The one thing that I did learn was trying to get a name from a P.O. Box was difficult. One way to get the name of the company or the name of the individual is to say you were receiving political advertisements from the P.O. Box then there is a form to fill out and then the USPS will release the owners name. I made up a political flyer and I sent it to the Missouri post office along with the corresponding forms. I waited three weeks then I received a response from USPS which stated that the owner of the P.O. Box was Hunsucker enterprises. That name sounded way too familiar, but I just couldn’t pin point it. I jogged my memory for a while, then I realized where I heard that name “Hunsucker enterprises.” Doug the owner of the company that I work for was using them as a consultant firm. Another odd coincidence that I learned was that my employer, Doug had received a substantial insurance check for the money Ben had stolen. After about literally making 100 phone calls to budget airlines I learned some additional information. The airlines was close to declaring bankruptcy, so Hunsucker Enterprises approached the airlines with an offer that Hunsucker would install the audiobook hardware on each plane and would pay the airlines a certain percentage for each person who listened to an audiobook. I couldn’t figure out if Budget Airlines was aware of the hypnoses scheme. The airlines went out of business a few weeks later so I my unresolved questions would always remain unresolved. I approached Doug, about Hunsucker Enterprises and he started to get squirmy about owning up to any type of affiliation with the company. Then the following day I was metaphorically punched in the gut by Doug. He actually terminated my employment. Pennsylvania is an at will state so Doug didn’t have to give me any rationale for my termination. I am now left pondering how long Doug had been using Ben and I to carry out his wicked mind game deceptions. Another odd thing I learned was the hospital system that purchased 40 medication carts had actually canceled the order for the carts and returned them back to Doug’s medical supply company. I questioned if the medication carts were actually being used to transport illegal drugs from state to state. The buyer of the carts always seemed way to willing to purchase from us almost like arrangements had been set up prior to me or Ben meeting the person. Since I was terminated from Doug’s company I couldn’t do anymore internal research, so the extent that Doug was using Ben and I over the years will probably always remain a mystery.
I was fortunate to work with a group of guys who also became my close friends. I work for a small private sales firm that specializes in selling medical equipment. The owner of the company believes in revenue sharing so we are always trying to cut expenses. We never fly first class and we stay at cheap hotels. Ben and I were scheduled to take a flight from Harrisburg to Chicago on Budget Airlines. When I arrived on the flight I was a little bummed out that they didn’t have movies available and instead they had audiobooks available through their WiFi. I figured that I would just sleep and Ben decided to listen to “The Shining” audiobook. Ben seemed to be intently listening almost like he was in a trance and I eventually passed out. We arrived in Chicago and checked into our hotel. We met the hospital administrator at the local hospital and we were happy because they actually bought 40 of our medication carts. We were even able to cut our trip short because of the quick sale so we arrived back in Harrisburg on Tuesday night. That same Friday something horrible happened. Ben was pulled into the owner of the company, Doug’s office and was terminated for stealing money from the company. Doug even called the police. This completely caught me off guard almost like if you were told that Mr. Rodgers was responsible for introducing methamphetamines into the United States. I’ve been working with Ben for almost a decade and he attended church every Sunday and he was married with two kids. He was the absolute last person I would suspect to steal money. Apparently he stayed late at the office on Wednesday and rerouted funds to his personal account. The office security cameras saw him doing it so when Ben was pleading to the point where he was crying, Doug wasn’t listening to his sob story. Ben kept saying “I swear I have no idea what your talking about.” I always heard of people living double lives, but I was in complete shock. Ben was actually charged with grand theft and was released on bail. He called me and said that he had zero recollection of ever staying at the office on Wednesday night. He also told me that security cameras at his bank caught him withdrawing that same money. Then the police were able to track him to going to the post office, where he mailed the money to an unknown address. Ben said he had zero recollection of going to the bank or to the post office. Typically when your caught on camera it’s kind of hard proving your innocence, but I knew Ben and I wanted to help him. He came over to my house and we met in my backyard. He seemed like he was a completely defeated person. He was going to loose his house and possibly his wife. We both talked for hours trying to figure out what happened. He called off sick on Wednesday. Ben had only called off one other time so that was highly unusual for him. He fully admits that looking at the security cameras that unless there is a spot in doppelgänger then it’s probably him, but he has absolutely zero recollection. Ben’s wife thought he was at work that Wednesday and Ben says he doesn’t have an inkling of where he went. Nothing weird happened on the trip and he wasn’t into drugs or gambling. Ben payed a fortune on hiring a lawyer and still had to spend 30 days in jail. Absolutely no one would hire him so he’s been out of work and his wife has been supporting the family working as a cashier. I had to go to California on Monday this time by myself. I flew the same Budget airlines. I wasn’t tired so I decided to listen to one of their audiobooks on the plane. Right before takeoff I chose “The Shining” to listen to, because I never read the book. Our takeoff was delayed so I was already an hour into the audiobook before our flight took off. I was completely enamored with the audiobook. I felt myself drifting into a different dimension. Almost like my body was floating out of my seat and I was being transported to this other place. This other place was just so vivid and lifelike. It felt like I was in England hundreds of years ago. I see a princes who is magnificently beautiful who is begging me. Then I hear “Sir! Excuse me sir. Sir Excuse me sir,” from a distance and My body floats back to my seat and I quickly come back to reality. I couldn’t explain the feeling it was almost like being pulled back from the best dream I ever had. Then the flight attendant says “Please put your carryon bag under the seat.” I try to start the audiobook again and it starts over from the beginning and it won’t let me fast forward, so I just turn it off. I’ve seen the movie “The Shining” so I was completely lost of why my mind drifted to meeting a princess which had nothing to do with the movie “The Shining.” I was able to get a quick sale in California, so I went back home the next morning on the same Budget airlines. I thought to myself that Stephen King wouldn’t appreciate someone altering his original book, so I actually audio copied the portion of the audiobook that went awry onto my cell phone. I remembered it was about 55 minutes into the audiobook where the plot of “The Shining” went into a different direction. I decided that I would listen to the copied audiobook portion sometime this week. I got off the plane and drove home. I greeted my wife and we went food shopping and eventually I went to bed. Something extremely odd happened this night that has never happened to me in my adult life. At 4:00 am I was in a sleepwalking type of trance about a mile from my house. Apparently the cops were patrolling the area and saw me walking then they saw me stop and from what they told me it seemed like I was confused like I didn’t know what direction I should go. The cops told me that once they grabbed my arm towards their police car I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. I declined EMS services and just walked home. When I got home My wife confirmed to me that in the 12 years that we were married I had never sleepwalked. I’m now pondering what the heck just happened to me. I had no recollection of getting changed and leaving the house. The thought came to my mind that this scenario seemed eerily similar to Ben’s where he had no recollection of staying late at the office or going to the bank and the post office. It eventually dawned on me that somehow both Ben’s and my brains were subconsciously infiltrated. Eventually I focused on the commonality of “The Shining” audiobook that both Ben and I listened to. I did some online research and from what what I gathered was “The Shining” was used to get your mind to focus intently and then from there someone goes off topic and breaks through the person’s protective central nervous system and implants subliminal messages. Based on Ben’s behavior the subliminal messages were meant for him to carry out criminal behavior. I listened to the remainder of the recording I made on the plane and I was struck with awe on just how soothing the woman’s voice was who was narrating the audiobook. She was the Michael Jordan of voice overs. I purposely put my guard up to listen objectively and not let my self get pulled into the trance. I figured out what my objective was supposed to be. The “princess” on the audiobook wanted me to rob the local Burger King by my house and then mail the money to a PO Box in Missouri. The oddest thing that I learned from my online research is that for the most part there are no laws regarding the use of hypnosis so I didn’t know where to turn next. I actually called the airlines and after waiting nearly two hours I finally spoke to a customer sales rep who had no idea what I was talking about. I was at a dead end. I couldn’t find anymore information that would help my cause. I knew the woman’s voice on the audiobook was non American, but I couldn’t pin point the exact country perhaps South Africa or Wales. The one thing that I did learn was trying to get a name from a P.O. Box was difficult. One way to get the name of the company or the name of the individual is to say you were receiving political advertisements from the P.O. Box then there is a form to fill out and then the USPS will release the owners name. I made up a political flyer and I sent it to the Missouri post office along with the corresponding forms. I waited three weeks then I received a response from USPS which stated that the owner of the P.O. Box was Hunsucker enterprises. That name sounded way too familiar, but I just couldn’t pin point it. I jogged my memory for a while, then I realized where I heard that name “Hunsucker enterprises.” Doug the owner of the company that I work for was using them as a consultant firm. Another odd coincidence that I learned was that my employer, Doug had received a substantial insurance check for the money Ben had stolen. After about literally making 100 phone calls to budget airlines I learned some additional information. The airlines was close to declaring bankruptcy, so Hunsucker Enterprises approached the airlines with an offer that Hunsucker would install the audiobook hardware on each plane and would pay the airlines a certain percentage for each person who listened to an audiobook. I couldn’t figure out if Budget Airlines was aware of the hypnoses scheme. The airlines went out of business a few weeks later so I my unresolved questions would always remain unresolved. I approached Doug, about Hunsucker Enterprises and he started to get squirmy about owning up to any type of affiliation with the company. Then the following day I was metaphorically punched in the gut by Doug. He actually terminated my employment. Pennsylvania is an at will state so Doug didn’t have to give me any rationale for my termination. I am now left pondering how long Doug had been using Ben and I to carry out his wicked mind game deceptions. Another odd thing I learned was the hospital system that purchased 40 medication carts had actually canceled the order for the carts and returned them back to Doug’s medical supply company. I questioned if the medication carts were actually being used to transport illegal drugs from state to state. The buyer of the carts always seemed way to willing to purchase from us almost like arrangements had been set up prior to me or Ben meeting the person. Since I was terminated from Doug’s company I couldn’t do anymore internal research, so the extent that Doug was using Ben and I over the years will probably always remain a mystery.
I was fortunate to work with a group of guys who also became my close friends. I work for a small private sales firm that specializes in selling medical equipment. The owner of the company believes in revenue sharing so we are always trying to cut expenses. We never fly first class and we stay at cheap hotels. Ben and I were scheduled to take a flight from Harrisburg to Chicago on Budget Airlines. When I arrived on the flight I was a little bummed out that they didn’t have movies available and instead they had audiobooks available through their WiFi. I figured that I would just sleep and Ben decided to listen to “The Shining” audiobook. Ben seemed to be intently listening almost like he was in a trance and I eventually passed out. We arrived in Chicago and checked into our hotel. We met the hospital administrator at the local hospital and we were happy because they actually bought 40 of our medication carts. We were even able to cut our trip short because of the quick sale so we arrived back in Harrisburg on Tuesday night. That same Friday something horrible happened. Ben was pulled into the owner of the company, Doug’s office and was terminated for stealing money from the company. Doug even called the police. This completely caught me off guard almost like if you were told that Mr. Rodgers was responsible for introducing methamphetamines into the United States. I’ve been working with Ben for almost a decade and he attended church every Sunday and he was married with two kids. He was the absolute last person I would suspect to steal money. Apparently he stayed late at the office on Wednesday and rerouted funds to his personal account. The office security cameras saw him doing it so when Ben was pleading to the point where he was crying, Doug wasn’t listening to his sob story. Ben kept saying “I swear I have no idea what your talking about.” I always heard of people living double lives, but I was in complete shock. Ben was actually charged with grand theft and was released on bail. He called me and said that he had zero recollection of ever staying at the office on Wednesday night. He also told me that security cameras at his bank caught him withdrawing that same money. Then the police were able to track him to going to the post office, where he mailed the money to an unknown address. Ben said he had zero recollection of going to the bank or to the post office. Typically when your caught on camera it’s kind of hard proving your innocence, but I knew Ben and I wanted to help him. He came over to my house and we met in my backyard. He seemed like he was a completely defeated person. He was going to loose his house and possibly his wife. We both talked for hours trying to figure out what happened. He called off sick on Wednesday. Ben had only called off one other time so that was highly unusual for him. He fully admits that looking at the security cameras that unless there is a spot in doppelgänger then it’s probably him, but he has absolutely zero recollection. Ben’s wife thought he was at work that Wednesday and Ben says he doesn’t have an inkling of where he went. Nothing weird happened on the trip and he wasn’t into drugs or gambling. Ben payed a fortune on hiring a lawyer and still had to spend 30 days in jail. Absolutely no one would hire him so he’s been out of work and his wife has been supporting the family working as a cashier. I had to go to California on Monday this time by myself. I flew the same Budget airlines. I wasn’t tired so I decided to listen to one of their audiobooks on the plane. Right before takeoff I chose “The Shining” to listen to, because I never read the book. Our takeoff was delayed so I was already an hour into the audiobook before our flight took off. I was completely enamored with the audiobook. I felt myself drifting into a different dimension. Almost like my body was floating out of my seat and I was being transported to this other place. This other place was just so vivid and lifelike. It felt like I was in England hundreds of years ago. I see a princes who is magnificently beautiful who is begging me. Then I hear “Sir! Excuse me sir. Sir Excuse me sir,” from a distance and My body floats back to my seat and I quickly come back to reality. I couldn’t explain the feeling it was almost like being pulled back from the best dream I ever had. Then the flight attendant says “Please put your carryon bag under the seat.” I try to start the audiobook again and it starts over from the beginning and it won’t let me fast forward, so I just turn it off. I’ve seen the movie “The Shining” so I was completely lost of why my mind drifted to meeting a princess which had nothing to do with the movie “The Shining.” I was able to get a quick sale in California, so I went back home the next morning on the same Budget airlines. I thought to myself that Stephen King wouldn’t appreciate someone altering his original book, so I actually audio copied the portion of the audiobook that went awry onto my cell phone. I remembered it was about 55 minutes into the audiobook where the plot of “The Shining” went into a different direction. I decided that I would listen to the copied audiobook portion sometime this week. I got off the plane and drove home. I greeted my wife and we went food shopping and eventually I went to bed. Something extremely odd happened this night that has never happened to me in my adult life. At 4:00 am I was in a sleepwalking type of trance about a mile from my house. Apparently the cops were patrolling the area and saw me walking then they saw me stop and from what they told me it seemed like I was confused like I didn’t know what direction I should go. The cops told me that once they grabbed my arm towards their police car I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. I declined EMS services and just walked home. When I got home My wife confirmed to me that in the 12 years that we were married I had never sleepwalked. I’m now pondering what the heck just happened to me. I had no recollection of getting changed and leaving the house. The thought came to my mind that this scenario seemed eerily similar to Ben’s where he had no recollection of staying late at the office or going to the bank and the post office. It eventually dawned on me that somehow both Ben’s and my brains were subconsciously infiltrated. Eventually I focused on the commonality of “The Shining” audiobook that both Ben and I listened to. I did some online research and from what what I gathered was “The Shining” was used to get your mind to focus intently and then from there someone goes off topic and breaks through the person’s protective central nervous system and implants subliminal messages. Based on Ben’s behavior the subliminal messages were meant for him to carry out criminal behavior. I listened to the remainder of the recording I made on the plane and I was struck with awe on just how soothing the woman’s voice was who was narrating the audiobook. She was the Michael Jordan of voice overs. I purposely put my guard up to listen objectively and not let my self get pulled into the trance. I figured out what my objective was supposed to be. The “princess” on the audiobook wanted me to rob the local Burger King by my house and then mail the money to a PO Box in Missouri. The oddest thing that I learned from my online research is that for the most part there are no laws regarding the use of hypnosis so I didn’t know where to turn next. I actually called the airlines and after waiting nearly two hours I finally spoke to a customer sales rep who had no idea what I was talking about. I was at a dead end. I couldn’t find anymore information that would help my cause. I knew the woman’s voice on the audiobook was non American, but I couldn’t pin point the exact country perhaps South Africa or Wales. The one thing that I did learn was trying to get a name from a P.O. Box was difficult. One way to get the name of the company or the name of the individual is to say you were receiving political advertisements from the P.O. Box then there is a form to fill out and then the USPS will release the owners name. I made up a political flyer and I sent it to the Missouri post office along with the corresponding forms. I waited three weeks then I received a response from USPS which stated that the owner of the P.O. Box was Hunsucker enterprises. That name sounded way too familiar, but I just couldn’t pin point it. I jogged my memory for a while, then I realized where I heard that name “Hunsucker enterprises.” Doug the owner of the company that I work for was using them as a consultant firm. Another odd coincidence that I learned was that my employer, Doug had received a substantial insurance check for the money Ben had stolen. After about literally making 100 phone calls to budget airlines I learned some additional information. The airlines was close to declaring bankruptcy, so Hunsucker Enterprises approached the airlines with an offer that Hunsucker would install the audiobook hardware on each plane and would pay the airlines a certain percentage for each person who listened to an audiobook. I couldn’t figure out if Budget Airlines was aware of the hypnoses scheme. The airlines went out of business a few weeks later so I my unresolved questions would always remain unresolved. I approached Doug, about Hunsucker Enterprises and he started to get squirmy about owning up to any type of affiliation with the company. Then the following day I was metaphorically punched in the gut by Doug. He actually terminated my employment. Pennsylvania is an at will state so Doug didn’t have to give me any rationale for my termination. I am now left pondering how long Doug had been using Ben and I to carry out his wicked mind game deceptions. Another odd thing I learned was the hospital system that purchased 40 medication carts had actually canceled the order for the carts and returned them back to Doug’s medical supply company. I questioned if the medication carts were actually being used to transport illegal drugs from state to state. The buyer of the carts always seemed way to willing to purchase from us almost like arrangements had been set up prior to me or Ben meeting the person. Since I was terminated from Doug’s company I couldn’t do anymore internal research, so the extent that Doug was using Ben and I over the years will probably always remain a mystery.
Favor for the GTA Reddit of the day. Kudos to - www.wizardslots.com and various Redditors for input. I have removed those fields that are just for 'Land Based' as they should allow online gambling alright. Some have very odd laws and will need tested.
Afghanistan
Algeria
American Samoa
Argentina
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bhutan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belarus
Brunei
Cambodia – gambling is illegal for natives, but land-based gambling is legal for foreign visitors
Cayman Islands – land-based gambling is illegal, and online local casinos are banned, whereas foreign slots are not
China
Costa Rica
Cuba
Cyprus – online sports betting ok with a license
Czech Republic – majority of online gambling is illegal (except online lottery and online sports betting)
Ecuador
Greece – some online gambling is illegal
Iceland – online casino gambling and online poker illegal – offline gambling is legal
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jamaica
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg – illegal online other than sports betting and online lottery
Maldives
Mali – only legal for foreign visitors
Mauritania
Malta - gambling services need a license from the government, this is up to R* to apply for
Malaysia - note: seems to work for some and not for others. No clear reasons why so far.
Montenegro
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Poland – everything but online sports betting is illegal
Portugal - gambling services need a license from the government, this is up to R* to apply for
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
South Africa - online gambling is illegal
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Syria
Thailand - everything but Horse Racing and the Government Lotto
Tuvalu
United Arab Emirates
Vietnam
Venezuela
Notable edits - Originally the USA was added to this, it is illegal to gamble in Hawaii and Utah for example but the casino seems to function as normal there. There are a few countries as well that have gambling laws but again GTA's seems to duck underneath these. I'm not an enforcer of the law, nor am I a solicitor but common sense would lead me to say if GTA is allowing you to do it then you shouldn't have to worry about anything. If you cannot access the Casino games, VPN's are a known work around but this could net you in trouble. I won't be assisting players on where to find those (various comments have so far) but be warned it is to be used at your own discretion.
Kubala, the path to glory of Barcelona's most loved legend: A story of overcoming, adventures, crazy nights, majestic matches and of a good man who made everybody around him happy.
Nothing in Kubala's life was normal. Now that TV series about sportsmen are fashionable, the one that could be made about the adventures of Ladislao Kubala Stecz (Budapest, 1927) would raze through many seasons. In one season we could go deeper into his facet of legendary footballer, capable of changing the way of playing this sport, how he saved his life at the very last moment by not getting on the Torino plane that crashed in Superga, or how he was ten minutes away from signing for Real Madrid or enrolling in the Pirate League of Colombia, all of this in order to end being Barcelona's biggest icon... who ended playing for Espanyol. We could add a season of adventures due to his incredible escape from communist Hungary. His journey through Italy with a football team, the Hungaria, of stateless people in which in addition to Hungarians also played Croats, Albanians, Romanians and Serbs who were looking for a life as good as they could get. One could also add to this the facet of the social phenomenon that dazzled a country during the dark years of Franco's regime by becoming a pop star, and end up with another season about the legends, real, invented or simply exaggerated, of his adventures in Barcelona's nightclubs. Everything about Kubala is like a movie.
Born in Budapest to a Hungarian man and a Slovakian woman, he always considered himself as both Hungarian and Slovakian, even when this republic was part of the now extinct Czechoslovakia. By the age of 20, Kubala was a football star known for his performances with Slovan Bratislava and Vasas Budapest. In fact, he had already been capped by Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Later, he would go on to play for Spain, and is still the only player to have been capped by three countries. But fed up with the system that was preventing him from developing his professional football career, he embarked on an escape proper of a movie to the West. He contacted a human trafficking organisation, a mafia that, in exchange for a large amount of money, facilitated a partial escape. As is now the case with criminals who gamble with the lives of people who want to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe or pass to the United States through the southern border, the smugglers did not secure anything. The last part of the journey depended on the luck and expertise of the escapees and often ended tragically. "I remember that when I escaped from Hungary I was just a kid. The traffickers left us in the middle of a mountain to do the last stretch on foot. We were a large group. The adults gathered the children and gave us palinka. A liquor similar to brandy to get us drunk and fall asleep. A child's cry could alert the border guards patrolling the mountain. And they had orders to shoot to kill. The group split in two. My group was lucky and we were able to win the Austrian border. Once we were safe, we learned that the other group that had travelled with us and took another road was discovered and killed." The chilling story is that of Zoltan Czibor, the son of the former Barça player who tells how he had to flee Hungary with his family to join his father in Italy. The odyssey of Kubala, six years earlier, was mirrored. The traffickers disguised Kubala as a Russian soldier and put him in a truck that would leave the escapees at an undetermined point in the mountains so that they could cross the border into Austria on their own. Kubala remembered that this journey scared him to death because unlike his comrades, he was a national celebrity and any soldier who checked the military truck would recognize him. He was endangering his life and the lives of those who accompanied him. When they were left in the mountain on January 27, 1949, Kubala walked, and crossing a river helped by a tire that carried him, managed to reach Innsbuck, Austria, without any documentation. He was a stateless man starting from scratch. In Austria he managed to sign with Pro Patria, a team from Milan, but he could only play friendly matches. His escape provoked the anger of the Hungarian regime, which denounced him and blocked his registration. Kubala had married Anna Daucik two years earlier, sister of Fernando Daucik, a veteran player of the era who would later become a famous coach. When Kubala fled, he left behind his family, whom he was unable to reunite with until six months later, when Anna was able to cross the border and meet Ladislao in Udine. He arrived with one more member of the family. A baby, her firstborn, whom Kubala did not yet know. While he is irregularly enrolled in the Pro Patria, he gets the chance to sign with Torino, Italy's dominant team at the time. He is offered a trial match. Nothing better than a friendly match that Il Grande Torino had in Lisbon as a tribute to Xico Ferreira. However, when the Turin team's plane is about to take off, the president of Torino prevents Kubala from boarding because he fears a federal sanction. On the return flight, on 4 May 1949, the Fiat G 212 of Avio Linee Italiana crashed into the retaining wall of the Basilica of Superga due to the wind, poor visibility and an error in the altimeter of the aircraft. At 180 kilometres per hour and with a visibility of 40 metres, the pilot saw the stone wall of the basilica too late when he thought the plane was at 2,000 metres and was actually at 690 metres above sea level. The 31 people who were travelling in that aircraft died. Kubala had saved his life again.
With no possibility of playing in Italy because the back then very powerful Italian Communist Party was pressing to prevent people fleeing from countries in the orbit of the USSR from taking refuge in Italy, Kubala had no choice but to form a team of stateless people who hired their services throughout Europe to play friendly matches against whoever hired them. The team was called Hungaria, was managed by his brother-in-law Fernando Daucik and was mainly made up of Hungarians, although there were also players of other nationalities. It was made up of: Kis, Marik, Torok, Mogoy, Lami, Rákosi, Hrotko, Majteny, Nagy, Kubala, Otto, Licker, Turbeky, Monsider (Croatian), De Lorenzi (Albanian), Szegedi (Romanian) and Arangelovic (Serbian). They played their first match against Italy's B team, but again pressure from the PCI forced them to play outside Italy. And that is how they arrived in Spain, hired by Santiago Bernabéu. On June 5, 1950, they faced Real Madrid in Chamartin, losing 4-2, but with a stellar performance by Kubala, who scored both of his team's goals. Three days later, they beat the Spanish team that was preparing for the World Cup in Brazil, where they came in fourth, 1-2 again with a great performance by Kubala, who received an offer from Real Madrid to be signed. Kubala requires that to join the team, Madrid must also hire Daucik as a coach, something that Bernabéu does not agree to. The Madrid coach at that time was the Briton Keeping, a great connoisseur of WM tactics. Daucik is offered to train the Plus Ultra, a Madrid branch that plays in the third division. That negative and the federative problems that drags Kubala cause that Madrid becomes disinterested in his transfer, that was already agreed lacking of some fringes that turned out to be determinant. The Hungaria moves two days later to Barcelona, where on June 10 plays against Espanyol losing 6-4 in a match with Pepe Samitier, the technical secretary of Barça, in the stands. It is necessary to emphasize that Hungaria had been playing three matches in five days with a very short team and without being able to make substitutions. Even so, Kubala amazes and Samitier does not mess around. Six days after that match, on 16 June 1950, at half past six in the evening, Kubala signed his three-year contract with Barça at the Pasaje Méndez Vigo. Obviously, with Fernando Daucik as coach. President Montal, Sr., signed him as an "amateur player" in order to avoid any trouble for the federation. Real Madrid rages and is shocked. Pablo Hernández, general secretary of the white entity and Santiago Bernabéu's right hand, assures that Barça had broken a non-aggression pact between both teams and had hired a player with whom they were in talks. Samitier, who was unbeatable in the media, declares that he had been following Kubala for months and that the pact had not been broken because it referred only to players who played in Spanish teams. And Hungaria was not Spanish. In fact, it wasn't from anywhere. But Kubala's problems didn't end there. He still didn't have a registration card or an international certificate. Vasas in Budapest and the Hungarian Federation had reported him to FIFA. Barça used the weak argument that since professionalism had been abolished in Hungary, any amateur player could choose his destiny. But the fight was not going to be so easy. Barça, it is fair to say, had the total support of the regime and the Federation to carry out the transfer. At the level of anti-communist propaganda, Kubala was perfect. A young and extraordinary sportsman who fled from the red hell to take refuge in Franco's Spain was a candy too sweet to let go. Muñoz Calero, president of the Federation, rowed in favor of Barça as did Ricardo Cabot, secretary of the organization, who, in addition to his affection for the regime, was a well-known Barcelona supporter. But the procedures were very slow and Kubala could only play friendly matches. He made his debut against Osasuna on 12 October, scoring two goals on the day the Barça fans knew instantly that they had just signed a star. Then he played against Zaragoza, Frankfurt twice, Girona and the Badalona. In six friendlies he scored 11 goals. The fans and the player himself were eager to meet in an official match. For all this, the Federation to play the role with FIFA fined Barça every time he lined up Kubala with the symbolic figure of 50 pesetas. It is at this time that Kubala is about to leave everything and go away from Barça. He needed the money and wanted to play at the highest level and in Colombia he was offered the chance to do so. The South American country had organised the so-called Pirate League outside FIFA and many of the world's biggest stars joined, including Alfredo Di Stefano who went to Millonarios in Bogota. Kubala had a tempting offer from Atletico Bucaramanga. With the option of Kubala leaving, events accelerated. To begin with, Barça fixed his financial situation by means of a peculiar amateur contract in which they paid him 1,200 pesetas for "compensation" and 3,800 for "encouragement and overfeeding". On April 2, 1951, he was granted the status of political refugee as a stateless person, which was a step towards granting him Spanish nationality. But for this step, Kubala first had to be converted to Catholicism through the sacrament of baptism. Every Spaniard had to be a Catholic. Kubala was baptized in Aguilas, Murcia, the birthplace of Muñoz Calero, president of the Federation. It is then when Barça, to avoid problems, settles its differences economically with Vasas, which despite being against capitalism accepts a payment of 300,000 pesetas to provide the transfer, while the Pro Patria, which also complained, is satisfied with 12 million lire. The Kubala era could now really commence.
Kubala made his official debut with Barcelona in Sevilla in a cup match. The Sevillistas at that time were one of the best teams. Sevilla and Barça had developed in that period a great rivalry in the high places of the table. In 1946 Sevilla had stolen the possibility of winning the championship from Barça by drawing in Les Corts on the last day, in 1948 Barça beat the Sevillians in the final of the Eva Perón Cup (which would be the current Supercup) and in that campaign a Barça without Kubala had lost all its options to win La Liga after losing 4-0 in Nervión three days before the end of the season. The Cup, by that time was played once the regular season was over and in those circumstances the official debut of Kubala took place. On April 29th in Nervion, Barça arrived to play against Sevilla in the middle of a difficult atmosphere. The Andalusians had lost the league in a dramatic outcome when they drew at home in the last match against Atletico Madrid with a refereeing performance that the locals judged scandalous. For further concern, the Federation allowed Kubala to line up with Barça in the first round of the Cup, which in Sevilla was taken as a surprise. With the stadium full to the flag, Barcelona defeated Sevilla in an exhibition of Kubala. He wasn't just the best of the match but he showed Spain a way of playing football unthinkable until that time: chest controls, shots with curve, millimetric changes of play of 40 meters, protection of the ball with his back, use of the body in the shot and touches with the heel. Domenech, Sevilla's attacker who was the direct protagonist of that match, explained years later how he remembered that day. "It was something never seen before. Ramallets kicked it and he would receive her with his chest, or with either of his legs. If you tackled him he would dribble you in a brick. He'd put the ball where he wanted her. Besides, from time to time he changed with César, he'd be a center forward and César would be a midfielder. They drove us crazy. The anger of the people became clamours. We were witnessing something extraordinary. It was like going from black and white cinema to colour," explained the former Sevilla player. The Sevilla crowd, who had welcomed Barça and its new superstar with anger, ended up giving Kubala a standing ovation for every action as if they were watching a glorious bullfighting performance. Kubala's actions on the field change football forever. Since there was no television, his exploits are reported orally. There is no other way to see it than to go to the field of Les Corts, which is packed for every game Barça plays as a local. It is a very common argument to say that Kubala forced Barça to build the Camp Nou because the old Les Corts was not enough to accommodate all the people who wanted to admire him. Maybe he had an influence, but as the journalist Frederic Porta, author of an interesting biography of Kubala (Kubala, l'heroi que va canviar la història del Barça. Ed. Saldonar) explains, "the truth is that Barça had already bought the land to build the Camp Nou two years before and the idea of making a bigger field already existed, but Kubala advanced everything and justified the change". Blessed with brutal technique, a sensational strike of the ball and an unusual physical strength, Kubala changed football. He would throw free-kicks over the wall with curve or by making the ball bounce in front of the goalkeeper, he would take penalties (he was practically infallible) with what was later called paradinha and was credited with the Brazilians although he was the first in Europe to do so. Physically he was a bull. In his youth he had practiced boxing and if he didn't become a recognized fighter with a great career it was because he had short arms. His lower body was sensational. He had a butt and legs that allowed him to protect the ball like no one else. Frederic Porta says that "in his time of splendour they measured his thighs and each one had a circumference of 69 centimetres, which would be the waist of one of his companions". He was also capable of running the 100 metres in less than 11 seconds. A total athlete with a very refined technique. However, that physical strength and the confidence he had in her, for he never avoided a collision, were his downfall. Kubala became the target of a hunt by rival defenders. He never went into hiding and that's why in eleven years at Barcelona he suffered up to eleven injuries of some seriousness. With matches without television, the harshness that bordered on violence was the order of the day. He was being kicked to death. But Barça was living its most golden period to date. Moreover, the club revolved around Kubala. Frederic Porta compares it with the present time: "Now they say that Messi commands the club and surely he commands, but nothing to do with the influence that Kubala had. Kubala was the boss and even the one who decided the transfers. And no one was surprised. That Barça adopted the socks with the horizontal stripes blaugrana is his imposition. He saw them on the rugby team, liked them and incorporated them into the football team by decree. In fact, it is he who insists on signing Luis Suarez when he impresses him in a match against Deportivo. Kubala was Suarez's first fan, but what happened in the stands, which was divided between Suaristas and Kubalistas, is another matter. Suarez was eight years younger than Kubala. He arrived at Barcelona at the age of 19, Kubala was 27 and his physique was very punished by his injuries and the life he was living, as he did not deprive himself of anything. If he held out, it was because of privileged genetics. Therefore, there never was a real competition between them, but there was a lot of influence here from the figure of Helenio Herrera, the Barça manager, who saw Kubala as older and slower and was looking forward to a quick change by the young Galician as the leader of the team. The debate reached the stands and the media. It was an absurd debate, because they didn't play in the same position, with whom Kubala really had a certain rivalry with Eulogio Martínez, who was the one with whom he alternated the position. Kubala's physical problems were not only due to injuries. He had the whole of Spain in suspense when he suffered a tuberculosis that could have cost him his life. There are apocryphal versions that explain that this tuberculosis was actually a stab wound he suffered in a fight in a cheap pub in the fifth district (Barcelona's Chinatown) and he has to retire to Montseny to recover. Nobody is betting on his return to the pitch if he survives a "hole in the lung the size of a silver bullet" according to the chronicles of the time. But once again, Kubala's ability to survive prevails. He returns to the pitches, but already heavily punished and slowed down. It is against this backdrop that the 1961 European Cup final arrives, with Kubala arriving at the age of 34 with a herniated disc that barely allows him to walk, but he wants to play. He knows that the club is going through a critical situation despite having reached the final of the maximum trophy for the first time: the club is bankrupt because of the construction of the Camp Nou, the fights in the board of directors are chaotic, Luis Suarez has signed for Inter (the one in Bern will be his last game with Barça), which was where Helenio Herrera had left the team in the hands of Enrique Orizaola. Kubala tells Orizaola to line him up, that like all the Portuguese will go for him and he can barely move because of the back pain and will play with painkillers, it will give more opportunities to his teammates. But the match is a pile of misfortunes for Barcelona. Ramallets scores an own goal, Barça shoots three times to the damn square posts of the goals (from then on they would change their shape) even Kubala kicked a ball that hit a post, went through the goal line until it hit the other post and came out repelled. Barça lost and Kubala's time at Barcelona came to an end.
Kubala's significance goes beyond the playing field. According to a vote made for Radio Barcelona by journalist Joaquín Soler Serrano in the mid-50s, the Catalans most loved by their fellow citizens were Doctor Barraquer and Ladislao Kubala. "He was literally the most famous person in the city, people really venerated him, and even Messi's influence cannot be compared to that of Kubala in those years," explains Porta. His life off the field was notorious. An unrepentant night owl, it was common to see him in Barcelona's fashionable coffee shops and nightclubs. He was a man who stood out. Alfredo Relaño defines him in some of his articles as "a demigod. Tall, strong, blond with blue eyes and an overflowing personality. He aroused the admiration of men and women alike. An idol". Frederic Porta sums it up with the argument that "he would be the sum of Messi and Beckham and on top of that, he would go out every night". Faced with Kubala's disorganised life, the Barcelona management decided to set up a private detective agency to follow him at night. The reports of the detectives are still in the Centre de Documentació del FC Barcelona and Frederic Porta published them in the history magazine 'Sàpiens'. In them, he gives a detailed account of the nocturnal wanderings of "Mr. K.", the code name of the Blaugrana star in an exercise in absurd discretion. There is also a letter from a Sabadell businessman in the club's archives, expressing concern that Kubala and Czibor had been "found in a Sabadell establishment after 2.30 in the morning accompanied by some of those ladies who were once gentlemen, I don't know if you understand". What the businessman doesn't explain in the letter is what he was doing in the same place. Kubala's fondness for drinking was no secret. Helenio Herrera explains in a television interview that "one day at an airport in customs they asked Kubala if he had anything to declare and he said two bottles of whisky. The official asked him to show them to him and he, laughing, touched his belly and said: 'X-ray, I have them inside'. On another occasion, in the same situation, but carrying the bottle in the bag, he was told to leave it at the airport because no alcoholic drinks were allowed to be taken on board. Neither shy nor lazy, he drank it in front of the astonished official. The legends about the occasions when the night was made longer and he did not arrive at training sessions or matches were recurrent. In that case, he called on the services of Angel Mur Sr., the team masseur who knew where to find him. He would start a pilgrimage through the usual places or floors until he found him, took him to the changing room, gave him a cold shower, a coffee with salt, a massage and played. The fans forgave him everything and were aware that their star was a man of joyful life. But he never failed on the field. Among the crowd at the time there were comments about the Kubala ritual in those games that followed a busy night. "He started off badly, and vaguely, but the signal was when, ten minutes into the game, he rolled up his sleeves as if to say 'I'm here, let's start, I've already cleared off', and the machine started to work. You can't find anyone in the world who speaks ill of Kubala. Absolutely no one. Everyone highlights his huge heart and that despite being by far the highest paid player of the time (he earned six times more than his teammates) he didn't have a no for anyone. His detachment from money was legendary. As proof, the anecdote explained by his biographer Porta: "one day he arrived at the dressing room and commented that his car had been stolen and that in the glove compartment he was carrying an envelope with 200,000 pesetas, which was a fortune for the time (a good apartment could cost 130,000 pesetas). When his colleagues tried to encourage him, he simply said: someone who needs it more than I do must have taken it". It was also usual for him to take off his coat and give it to a poor man who begged in Barcelona's winter, or to take in any Hungarian who came to Barcelona asking for help in his house in Carrer Duquesa d'Orleans. Kubala, remembering his times as a stateless refugee without papers, asked nothing. He would take them home and pay them a boat ticket to America. The motto among the refugees fleeing the Iron Curtain was that "if you get to Barcelona, look for Kubala, he will help you". He never failed. Later, now retired, he set up a bar next to Czibor in Capitan Arenas Street, the mythical Kep Duna (blue Danube in Hungarian) that became an unofficial refugee reception centre that was monitored by the secret services of the United States, the USSR and the Spanish police. Something like the Rick's Café in the film Casablanca, but in the upper area of Barcelona. He was the great character of Barcelona loved by all, but there was a moment when this was almost broken, strange as it may seem. It coincided with the defeat in Bern, when a part of the press came to write that "Barça must be de-Kubalized as the Soviet Union must be de-Stalinized" and, especially, when he signed for Espanyol. The earthquake was a huge one.
After the defeat in Bern's final, Kubala announced his retirement from the fields. He had taken the coaching course and was ranked number one in his class. He made a pact with the president Llaudet, who was also an interesting character as we will see, that in principle he would take charge of the footballers' school of the club and that in a couple of years he would be in charge of the first team. Meanwhile, Barcelona is directed by Lluís Miró who faces a team in disarray. Suarez has been transferred to Inter in the worst decision in the club's history and myths such as Ramallets, Tejada and Czibor were in the decline of their careers. The season starts badly and after losing at Mestalla to Valencia by a humiliating 6-2 that forces the resignation of Miro. It was time for Kubala, who was promoted to the first team in front of the joy of the fans. And the project results from the beginning. The Barça of the second part of season 61-62 recovers in La Liga and finishes second (the distance with the white ones when Kubala arrived was almost insurmountable) and avenges the 6-2 of Mestalla beating Valencia in the Camp Nou 4-0. Facing the next season, the 62-63, Kubala can make his team by giving painful drops of some of his former teammates as it is the case of Eulogio Martinez or Evaristo. One of Llaudet's reluctances to give Kubala the job of coach was that he would have to manage some of his former teammates. The positive expectations about Kubala's first full project were frustrated at first when the Blaugrana team had to play the final of the Copa de Ferias against Valencia, the team that caused the fall of Miró and the promotion of Kubala. And the history, by rare that it seems, repeats: Valencia returns to him to put 6-2 to the Barça. The fans explode against the team. In the return match, obviously, there is nothing to do, but Llaudet's ability to self-flagellation has no limits. As Alfredo Relaño writes, the Blaugrana president calls a dinner with the press the day before the game and makes this statement that if it happened today would open all the news. Llaudet, in front of the press and accompanied by the coach Kubala and Gràcia as captain, asks the fans to forgive him and announces changes in the protocol of the start of the second leg. "Valencia will go out first to receive the applause, then Barcelona, to receive the whistles. Then Kubala will come out, so he can get the thunders. And finally me, so that all the whistles fall on my person, because I am the barcelonist who loves the club the most and who is destined to die on the pitch, if necessary...". He ends his speech crying. As we can see, Gaspart didn't invent anything. The match ended in a draw and Kubala's project as Barça's coach was doomed. The manager is fired in the middle of the season and then a bomb explodes in Barcelona. Kubala accepts the offer to return to the pitch, but not as a coach, will be as a player and nothing more and nothing less than in Espanyol, Barça's eternal rival. On 3 September 1963 Espanyol, then Español, announced that Kubala would be hired as a player. At 36 years of age, he was capable of being competitive. His decision divides the public opinion. On the one hand, Federico Gallo and Juan José Castillo support his decision, on the other hand, Carlos Pardo or Ibáñez Escofet shoot at him. They call him a "Jew who sells himself for a plate of beans", a "traitor" and they see political interests in his decision. Kubala explains that he wanted to continue playing and that he saw himself capable of doing so, although he accepted that he was not at Barcelona's level. He had received offers from important clubs, including River Plate and Juventus, but he doesn't want to leave Barcelona, where he feels like another Barcelonian. The Espanyol meets his expectations. His start of the season is not bad, on the contrary, he scores in his first two games, but the team doesn't work out. The coexistence between the veteran newcomer Kubala and the team's symbol, Argilés, is not easy. Scopelli is dismissed as coach and de facto command of the team is given to the two team leaders despite their differences. The crisis erupts when the Spaniard visits the Camp Nou. The periquitos lose by 5-0 in a match in which the Barcelona crowd booed Kubala who they are eager to humiliate with his new team. Even so, at the end of the match, Kubala has a gesture to his former team that shows that he does not hold any grudge against what he has heard from the stands. At the end of the match, he organizes his teammates to make the corridor to Barça applauding the rival in recognition of the exhibition made. That gesture feels bad among the Espanyol fans and among some of his teammates. Argilés does not make the corridor and goes straight to the changing rooms. The following year, Kubala becomes a manager-player and among the departures that he causes, there is the one of Argilés, but by contrast, Di Stéfano arrives, also hurt by his bad exit from Madrid fighting against Bernabéu. Di Stefano and Kubala are like brothers. Even though they haven't officially played together, they have a special chemistry. A friendship that is forged when the Argentinian is about to sign for Barcelona. When Di Stéfano arrives in Barcelona to sign for Español, he stays first at the Avenida Palace Hotel, but after a month he is living in Kubala's house as one of the family. The children of both always maintained a relationship as if they were brothers. One of the players under Kubala's command was Jose Maria Rodilla, one of the players who would soon form the famous 'Dolphins' forward line. At 80 years of age, Rodilla remembers Kubala. "I have a wonderful memory of Kubala, I always had a special affection for him. Not in vain, he was the one who signed me for Espanyol", he remembers when answering the call of this newspaper to which he confesses that* "normally I do not make declarations, but to speak about Kubala I do whatever is needed"*. Rodilla, former teammate at Espanyol, has clear that "he was the best player in the world in terms of technique. Di Stéfano was the best footballer, but he didn't have his technique. Alfredo was more intense and more player of the whole field, but he could not do things that Kubala did" Those who had the privilege of playing with both of them remember that "for example, Di Stefano wouldn't leave you alone for a minute, he was all over you and the fights were intense, but he always set an example, he never asked you for anything that he didn't do. Kubala was more paternalistic and tolerant. For example, he would ask us to do as he did in training, and while sitting down he would be able to make 3,000 touches on the ball without dropping it. Only he could do that." Rodilla adds a story that explains Kubala's quality as a player-coach at the age of 38: "We went to play a friendly at Amposta and they called a foul on the edge of the box. Kubala takes the ball and whacks it into the corner. The referee made him repeat it because someone had moved or I don't know what. Kubala takes the ball and wham, back to the square. And the referee tells him that he has to repeat. That day Kubala got angry and left the field." Rodilla recalls that Kubala's move from Barça to Espanyol created controversy in the city, but that he was oblivious to it. "He was still a magnificent person, I never heard him say a bad word against anyone. He never got into an argument, he was goodness personified, he was unlucky in his time as a coach, but as a coach he is one of the best I've ever had, with a great love for young players and always trying to help you improve."
He extended his playing career for a couple more years by playing for Zurich and even trying out the American adventure at the Toronto Falcons, where he coincides with Branko and Daucik's son. At the age of 40 he played 19 games and scored 5 goals. In 1968 he returned to Spain and trained the Córdoba team for a short period of time until he was called up to the national team. Kubala will manage the Spanish team until 1980, when he signs for Barcelona again as a coach. Kubala's debut with Spain was, once again, a propaganda match for the regime. It was played in the Estadio de la Línea de la Concepción against Finland and Spain beat their rivals 6-0 in a match that was no longer useful. Spain had missed out on qualifying for the Mexico '70 World Cup, but the idea of that game was to showcase a great field that could be seen from Gibraltar as if to give jealousy to those in the Rock for the sports culture of Spain. Dictatorship things. It's true that at that time Spain was struggling more than anything else on the international scene. It did not qualify for the 1974 World Cup because of Katalinski's goal in the play-off match in Frankfurt, and in both the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 European Championship the team fell in the first round, but there is still no one from that era who will make a judgement against Kubala. "Kubala, one ahead of his time. No doubt he had a lot to do with his past as a footballer. And not just like any other player, like the best! I remember him always saying to me: 'Ruben, you have to get out of the way on the other side of the ball. Look for the space, not the ball. The goal I scored in Yugoslavia has to do with everything he taught me," he told Fermin de la Calle in an interview with AS Ruben Cano, the hero of the famous 'Battle of Belgrade' in the match that took Spain to the World Cup in Argentina. Yes, the one with the goal by Cardeñosa that could have changed Kubala's record with the national team. He did a lot to improve Spanish football and his idea regarding the incorporation of foreigners to improve the level of Spanish football was key in the future development of the Spanish competitive level. His players remember him as a didactic person, tactically bold and very close. At a time when fury was the hallmark of the game, Kubala never forgot that he was the heir to the Magyar tradition of the Honved and the Hungary who, by moving the ball, shocked the world the day they destroyed England at Wembley 3-6. For the average football fan, Kubala may have been a half-hearted coach who embodied an era of the national team in which nothing was won, as has been the case most of the time, and he became popular for his expressions that would now be meme material on social networks. The national team was known as the 'Kubala boys' and the coach's catchphrase before the matches saying "boys well, optimal morale" was the fashionable phrase in the coffee shops of the 70s in Spain. But among his colleagues, Kubala still deserved reverential respect. "The first goal was authentically Latin, cunningly scored and perfectly studied. I can only congratulate Kubala on his previous tactical work," said German boss Helmut Schön after facing and losing to Spain in a friendly in which the recent world semi-finalist and next world champion fell to the Kubala boys at the Sanchez Pizjuan with two strategic goals from Arieta. Yes, Arieta against Müller. Seeler, Beckembauer, Maier, Netzer and company. He left the national team in 1980 to join Barça as the coach of Núñez's second project in an operation that was the prelude to what would happen in the World Cup in Russia with Lopetegui. Kubala committed to Barça while he was coach and tried to alternate functions, but Porta refused. Finally, on 8 June 1980, four days before the start of the European Championship, Kubala signed for the Blaugrana team, which he would join after the European Championship. His second spell at the head of Barça did not go well either and he was dismissed mid-season. He continued his adventure on the bench as coach of Saudi Arabia (in that he was also a pioneer), training Malaga and the Paraguayan national team before retiring from football on the bench of Elche. He spent his final years in Barcelona as active as ever. Playing with Barça veterans, helping his teammates, not having a no for anyone and playing tennis every day or going for a run or cycling routes exhibiting an enviable physical condition. Until the light of genius and the glory faded away 18 years ago. A degenerative brain disease put an end to the adventure, but not to the legend of a world football myth. An icon that changed the lives of so many people that they wouldn't fit even in a stadium. The coffin with the mortal remains of Kubala was carried on shoulders, amidst the applause of the fans who gathered at the doors of the church of Santa Tecla, by Alfredo Di Stéfano, Gustau Biosca, Eduardo Manchón, Estanislao Basora, Joan Segarra, Josep Bartomeu, Luis Suárez, Antoni Ramallets and Gonzalvo III. He rests in the cemetery of Les Corts, next to the Camp Nou because that is what he left written in his will, while Serrat sang to him about how... ...Pelé was Pelé and Maradona was the one and that's it.Di Stéfano was a pit of mischief.Honour and glory to those who made the sun shine on our football.Everyone has his merits; to each his own,but for me none is like Kubala.Respectable silence is requested,for those who haven't enjoyed him, I'll say four things:he stops it with his head,he drops it on with his chest,he sleeps it off with his left,crosses the pitch with the ball attached to the boot,leaves the midfield and enters the box showing the ball,hides it with his body,pushes with his ass and gets in with his heels.He pisses on the centerback with a dedicated piece.and touches her gently to put her on the path to glory.
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