February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Surely things weren’t going that badly for the ex-Irish international soccer player turned radio host and newspaper columnist. No sooner had we digested this piece of information than further Googling revealed Cascarino is also suspected in the murder of Arkan, the Serbian war criminal and enormous soccer fan, assassinated in a Belgrade hotel lobby five years ago.
The plot thickens. Visitors to www.tonycascarino.com can download a thrilling memoir of his stint on active service in Croatia during the Balkan conflict. A slight exaggeration. Anybody who happened to be in Zagreb the night in September 1999 when Ireland lost a Euro 2000 qualifier 1-0 to the home side after Mick McCarthy bizarrely started Cascarino as the lone striker would definitely not be using the verb active to describe his performance.
Turns out Tony Cascarino is the nickname his fellow mercenaries gave to an ambitious young soldier who grew up in an Irish family in Manchester (his grandfather Donnchadha Mac Niallghhius fought in the Civil War in Cork) before going off to fight for Croatia against the Serbs back in 1991. By all accounts, his battling exploits there turned him into a folk hero in cafes from Zagreb to Split.
Now supposedly living in Donegal or Sligo, his unique brand of military expertise — a brilliant marksman apparently — is much sought after on a pay-as-you-play basis by paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland. Indeed, his life story has even attracted the interest of Neil Jordan — the director is apparently considering making a movie of his extraordinary role in the Balkan conflict.
Also known to Interpol as “The Striker,” the man himself appears to prefer to be called Tony Cascarino, the nom de plume given to him soon after Italian 90 by the football-crazy Croat gunmen, and the one he chose to register as his domain name on the world wide web.
Cascarino. Sharpshooter. Mercenary. Representing a country he knew little about. Insert your own joke here.