Earlier this week, February 22nd to be exact, CroatianSoccerReport.com officially turned one year old. In what was our inaugural year, Denis and I turned a simple idea into something hundreds of Croatian fans can come and be a part of. Our original idea of consolidating all the Croatian soccer news on the web and making it easy for English speakers to follow was a huge success. But we could have never done it without the support of you- the fan. As I have said before, this is not just Denis’ and Ante’s site, but it is all of ours; and I hope to involve our readers even more in the future as debates heat up and more of you start going to games.
So I just want to give a special THANK YOU to our readers who gave CSR a backbone in its first year by visiting frequently and making their opinions heard on almost every topic. So to Joze, Marko, Oliver, Ante BBB, croatiafan:), Rob, Ivica, Frane Trpimir (Australia), Alex, Matt, Pintar, Vlad, Peter, Luka, EroHercegovac, Branimir, Adrien, CiganskiBosanac (Happy New Year by the way), Rafa, Dinamofan:), Matt, Zach, AgentArgentina, Radman, Tony, Ivica EVC, Meeks, Tt, 9Arsenal and Krunoslav Jurcic; I just want to say thank you for making this site fun with all of your insight and to make 2009 even better. Just take it easy on the new guys when they show up as you are all CSR veterans now.
(We are taking suggestions to what you group of guys should be called. Just like Hajduk has Torcida and Dinamo has the BBB, what should CSR’s followers be called? Denis and I were thinking that when a good name is thought up and voted on by all you guys above, we will make shirts and send them out for being so loyal during the first year.)
I also wrote this post so that followers can comment on what they like about CSR and what needs improvement; or what else you would like to see integrated on the site. You all are part of the CroatianSoccerReport family and no opinion goes unnoticed, so don’t be shy.
Here’s a couple things we got cookin’ in the oven that you can look forward to in 2009.
We will be creating a Twitter account in the next couple weeks and will unveil it in Croatia’s game against Andorra on April 1st. For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, you will be able to receive live text messages from CSR on gameday. This is perfect for those of you who get stuck at work or school and want to know what’s going on live in Croatia’s match. However, this will only be available to those of you who create your own free Twitter account. So if this sounds ike something you’d like to be part of, go to Twitter.com and register now!
After the success of the “Where is England?” Euro 2008 shirt, we have started to design some new shirts that I’m sure all of you will love. Expect an April release for the new batch of shirts.
And finally, the 2009 Croatian Small Goals Tournament in San Pedro, CA (20 miles south of Los Angeles) is in the works. It falls on the Saturday before Memorial day (May 23rd) and during Croatian Independence Day weekend. For those of you interested in playing, whether you already have a team or don’t, you can always contact us at croatiansoccerreport@gmail.com or comment below with questions.
Thank you all again and let’s make this year another memorable one.
Congrats. I’m a little late but better late than never right?
I agree with the forum and it might be a good time to get it going as it will bring more traffic to the site. Shouldn’t be too hard to setup as there are sites out there that manage them for you. All you have to do is link it.
Podcasting is a little tougher as it requires more energy to make right (still possible if enough people can work well together).
For chatting you can set up an irc type java applet that will automatically connect to a specified channel (#croatiansoccer for example). If you are interested in that let me know.
ill just keep my name original
i would love live chat!! and im sure you guys would love me
@ Ivica…
I love where your head’s at. Yes I think we can definitely get a live chat going. I will look into it and if you or any others on CSR have some information I would love to hear it.
So would you guys be interested in ‘live chat’ if it were available?
Also, I think I can pull off podcasts immediately after games; as the emotion is still present within me. So fantastic idea!
Twitter os on the way, actually it’s already up but not to my liking. I’m waiting for my graphic artist to finish with the new CSR logo. But you can befriend us at http://www.twitter.com/croatiansoccer.
I have launched many pages/posts on Stumble. I’ve gotten lazy in the last 3 months but I’m aware of it.
As for the forum, I think we would have to wait until the site grows to an average of 800 or so unique visits a day. We are now averaging 200-250 but this past Sunday, when Dinamo played Hajduk, CSR had it’s biggest day with 1,000 unique visitors.
We’re going to make this thing big and I love it that all of you will have been here from the beginning!
Good work Ante and Denis!
did u guys also run croatia2008.net or a website with a name like that?
Because I remember using it years ago and its similar to this one.
A few suggestions for the blog if I may:
1. I know that we are located at different parts of the world in different time zones, but a live chat every now and then would be something i’d like to see.
2. You guys mentioned TWITTER which is really a great networking tool. However, look into STUMBLEUPON to get your name out there even further. Stumbleupon is a Mozilla Firefox exclusive extension for all you IE and Opera users. Check it out!
3. Maybe a user forum down the road if the following of this blog continues to grow.
4. PODCAST PODCAST PODCAST!!!!!!!
WHO’S WITH ME?!?!?!?
Yeh that’ll be the day, when Pacman Jones starts partying with the CroatianSoccerReport boys.
We’ll consider it at the next meeting.
We should invite Pacman Jones rofl
Yes, Yes Marko!
Strippers and hundred dollar bills flying through the air!!!!
Peter Radman,
We would love to use all your stuff as well as a right up. When you have all your stuff sorted out, you can email me. Until then, enjoy the rest of your trip.
Hey guys,
I went to the Hajduk vs Dinamo match. I have some AMAZING Pics and VIDEOS. The Videos are breath taking, all caught at just the right time. I am still backpacking through Europe. I went to see Inter vs Man U 2 days ago, and am stll in Milan, will be leaving for the San Siro soon to watch Milan and Bremen. Off to Nice and Paris in the next few days. Internet cafes are very expensive, so, cant tlak for to long. I am more than happy to right something when I return in 2 weeks, will post pics and videos if you like. I met Marin Tomasov and Mario Ticinovic a day before the game, got my jersey signed. Also, sat with Igor Budan from my flight from Split to Rome. We talked for half an hour and also took some pics. Hes a really great guy. I am off to the San Siro. Take Care, all the best from Milano.
Another suggestion, Firebrands.
I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE A T-SHIRT SAYING “TOO BAD WE DONT HAVE MUSLIMOVIC–BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD–O WELL BOSNA HAS UM SO THEY #1”
Alluding to the Vatreni, my nickname suggestion is Pyromaniacs.
Happy birthday CSR! Thanks Ante and Denis for making this such a wonderful site, you have my support always 🙂
Happy Birthday CSR!
Keep up the good work guys. Without this website I’d have no-one with whom to share my obsession for Croatian football.
Nice work Gents, happy Birzdej as my Baba says!
I’ve seen the site grow tremendously since the get go, and although I may not comment often, I’m always on the site and reading the comments of others.
I’m definitely in for a T-shirt, I like Prva Generacija, but I was also thinking we should brainstorm a little more.
What would Ciganski Bosanac suggest, that’s what I wanna know? That guy cracks me up.
AND STRIPPERS!
wait…what?
Happy Birthday CSR!! In another year this site is going to be insane. You guys will be credentialed for World Cup and there will be invitations to the CSR party in South Africa….paid for by sponsors!!! Looking forward to your future! Congrats!!
Happy Birthday CSR!
I can’t believe that you have put my name in the post because I only commented once (actually twice because once was anonymous). But since then I check your site almost everyday for updates on players and the team. Its great to have it all in one place and in English (even though I should, I don’t know Croatian). I also want to say that I am really looking forward to receiving live texts during the games.
Keep up the good work.
Great site you guys, keep up the good work. It is much appreciated!
Hvala
haha I love the attention :). Thanks for the site man I just stumbled on this and I always use it as a source of Hrvatska news. As for the tournament I’m across the country so no dice on that. It would seem like a blast :(. I can’t wait ’til I see the new shirt in the works. Don’t disappoint!
thank you so kindly for putting my valiant name on your website..and thanks for the happy new year..i remember that…. and for a prediction on the andorra croatia game..i think 2-2 as for bosna…BIH 3-0 turkey… and BIH 4-1 spain…
Thanks for the nice compliments.
Ivica is on the board with ‘Prva Generacija’. I like where your head’s at…
Oh, I forgot to tell my nickname suggestion for us veterans:
Prva Generacija
Thanks guys!
You’re doing great work, keep it up. It’s great to have a place to come and check out the latest HNS and
Prva Liga information.
Congrats on the one year!!
Sretan Rođendan!
keep up the brilliant work, you guys really do a phenomenal job!
Shout-outs from Stuttgart/Ger.
i’m a relative newcomer to the site, but I can’t thank you enough for first conceiving of this and then putting it into effect. now that i’ve been a regular for a month i don’t know what i would do with csr. i’m looking forward to taking part in some of the online discussions and seeing the boys through the rest of the qualifying run. happy birthday fellas! heres to another year of success.
Hey, thanks for the shout out, and the regular coverage of all things Croatian soccer. I look forward to the discussion of the nickname for this crew . . .
Happy Birthday to the site and thank you to you guys for wanting to create something so great!! I cannot believe it has been a year already.
Twitter is quickly becoming a very popular social networking tool. I started using it a few months ago as a novice and have grown to really like how it works and keeps people connected and up to date on news and events. I seriously suggest all of you make an account when you get the chance.