By Ferdinand Dervish
Memorie.al / Asllan Rusi, the former best volleyball player of “Dinamo” and the National team in the 70s, was hit and destroyed by the State Security at the peak of his career, just because he loved Enver’s daughter Hoxha! A terrible event, the consequences of which, a few years later, cost him his life. Now, after about 30 years since the tragic loss, the story of the man who wrote a golden page in the book of Albanian sports, for the first time, is accepted together with another page, this time black, of another story. The fact is confirmed by the Grand Master, Vangjel Koja, (or as he is known otherwise: Xhela), the prominent former coach of the “Dinamo” men’s team, in the 1960s-’90s.
He is a man in his eighties, but his appearance alone cannot hide his age. As for the 80 years of logic, Vangjel Koja seems to be able to measure up to the best. In such cases, he also carries a notepad with him, which dates back to the 1950s and which helps him to be concise, or rather to place bets, always winning with himself. “Take a look at them. In 1962, I have Aslan Rusi last in the list of volleyball players, a ranking I made, respecting everyone’s abilities.
But in 1975, when the event happened, I have the first one on the list. From here, they broke it and threw it to the ground, as if it were a leaf of a tree…”, – coach Koja confesses, explaining that the destruction of Asllan Rusi’s life is one of the biggest challenges of his life. Everything had come suddenly, as suddenly as frightening events always do.
Mr. Koja, I would like to start from the beginning. How did you meet Asllan Rusin?
VANGJEL KOJA: It was 1961. I spotted Asllan Rusin, a tall teenager, in the youth volleyball team of the Tirana team, coached by a friend of mine, Thanas Mitrushin. It seems that Asllani was a bit of a restless guy and had some clashes with the coach. As for me, I was impressed that he was taller than his teammates.
We talked and when he heard my desire to take him to “Dinamon”, Mitrushi did not hesitate: I will give Asllan, – he told me. I was a different type, I fell head over heels with the players and I never had discipline problems, so I was not scared by Asllan’s “laying”. He started training with the youth of “Dinamo” in 1961. The following year, his form was very good and we spent him with the adult team.
This is how his story began, that a few years later, would become the same as the story of the great “Dinamo”, the team that would make an era in European volleyball. Asllani was born in 1945. He came thin, but over the years he gained weight and enjoyed an enviable physique and body. I also have the parameters: He was 188 cm tall, weighed 88 kilograms, had a wingspan of 2.45 m, and leaped a height of 3.45 meters…!
And when, in which year, Asllani managed to be one of the best in the Dinamo team?
VANGJEL KOJA: He was talented and was recorded very quickly. He started to shine in 1963. A year later, with Asllan in the team, we would win the title of National Champion, even starting this year; we won the title eight times in a row. Precisely in the championship won in 1964, the shots from the second line of Asllan stood out. I remember that nobody in Albania did these shots at that time.
There was a wrong tactic, according to which, for shots from the second line, no block was organized and they were left to wait. But, almost in all these shots, Asllani got points. I remember that we won the championship with a direct match, with the “Partizan” team, which was flourishing at that time and had long since “annexed” the title of champion.
It is known that “Dinamo” at that time managed to play until the semi-finals of the European Cup, an achievement from the best of Albanian sports, now completely unimaginable. What was Asllan’s role in the team?
VANGJEL KOJA: Asllani, he was one of the best in the tournaments at a time when we were playing European champion teams. I remember that he, as well as Dashamir Fagu, (we received this “debt” from “Partizani”), had offers to play with big European teams. Of course, a dream that communism did not allow. So, over the years, Asllan’s game grew. Let’s look at a statistic. In the championship of 1969-’70, Asllan Rusi gave the team 160 points, so he is the best, followed by Kreshnik Tartari, who ranks second.
After that time, he was absolute in his game, which was growing up. In 1972, we managed to get to the semi-finals of the European Cup, where Asllan Rusi and Dashamir Fagu made an excellent appearance. Take a look at the notepad. Since 1973, Asllan Rusi has been ranked first, not only by value, but also by maturity. But, as you can see, he played until 1975. After that, Asllani no longer plays… there is no more Asllani…!
Why isn’t there… what happened?
VANGJEL KOJA: They hit him, knocked him down…! He went through some vicissitudes at this time… he loved Enver Hoxha’s daughter.
How was the opportunity to meet Enver Hoxha’s daughter created?
VANGJEL KOJA: They are known on the beach of Durrës, in Kavalishence. I must remind you that the “Dinamo” team belonged to the Ministry of the Interior and as such, we had the right to use a part of the fenced beach in Durrës, at the disposal of the Ministry of the Interior, which is usually called Kavalishenca. Nearby were also the villas and the beach of the communist leadership of the time.
It was here that Asllani met the daughter of Enver Hoxha. I also remember that Enver’s daughter was training with the women’s team of “Dinamo” and this was another contact opportunity between the two. The girl was tall and considered a promising volleyball player. I also remember that she was younger than Asllani.
As far as you know, was it about mutual love, or was Asllani the only one in love with the girl?
VANGJEL KOJA: I speak from the position of a coach, who, of course, does not have the opportunity to know more than the players of the team. So I think the other players in the team know more details of this kind. I am sure of one thing, that Asllani loved her. I am also sure that it was this love that caused his life to be destroyed, starting with his departure from the “Dinamo” team, and his violent sending to the Psychiatric Hospital. “In Psychiatry, Asllan Rus was injected with destructive drugs”! “They kicked him out of the team because he loved Enver’s daughter”!
Master, when did you realize that Asllan Rusi had problems, or did he start to change in his behavior?
VANGJEL KOJA: It is always about 1975. The time when he fell in love with Enver Hoxha’s daughter. Of course, I later learned this fact, but precisely at this time, Asllani had a change in his behavior, which did not escape my attention. He started drinking alcohol. It seems he was in trouble. However, on the field of play, he continued to be a perfect player. A few days later, after wondering why he was absent from training, I was told that he had been admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital. This shocked me.
How long had you known him, did Asllani give you any signs that he had problems that can be cured in psychiatry?
VANGJEL KOJA: Absolutely not. Asllani was at the peak of his career and glory as a sportsman. It never happened that he caused unpleasant situations, or showed that he had mental problems. Therefore, even being admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital, I was discharged with pain in my mind. Upon learning about this, I rushed to the hospital to visit him.
Can you describe to us how you found it?
VANGJEL KOJA: Yes. It was one of the most painful scenes I have experienced. As soon as I entered the room, an alienated Asllan appeared to me. Understand me. During those years, I was used to conceiving of an Asllan with a mammoth body that was the envy of many, a vital, smiling and at the same time kind and obedient Asllan. So, with this impression, I went into the room where they had laid him and was stunned when I saw him.
In the few hours spent in there, which had not yet been known, he had become alienated. He had completely let go and was not even able to bring the glass of water to his mouth with his hands. I was horrified and demanded an explanation. A doctor explained to me that they were treating him for the nervous system. The doctor introduced me as a volleyball fan. He tells me: Don’t be afraid. We are giving him a cure with drugs that take away his nerve strength…! But with the passage of time, everything will pass…!
How did Asllan Rusi end up in this hospital, did he go on the recommendation of a doctor, or…?
VANGJEL KOJA: I learned this later. It’s one of those stories that, after listening to them, cut off your arms, as they go beyond your powers. They confessed to me that Asllan had been forcibly taken to the Psychiatric Hospital. They had set a trap for him. Apparently, they had tried to take him by force on another occasion, but likely failed, due to Asllan’s extraordinary physique. That’s why they had done their calculations well, so that they wouldn’t fail again.
They told me that they had set the trap for him near the Internal Branch of Tirana. (Today, in the same premises, is the Police Directorate). Two good policemen, who were also members of “Dinamo”, both acquaintances and friends of Asllan, had blocked his way with a police car. The two policemen got out of the car and without giving any explanation, took Asllan by force and forced him inside the “Jeep”. I was told that from here, they had gone straight to the Psychiatric Hospital.
So Asllani was taken to the hospital by force, not because he needed treatment?
VANGJEL KOJA: Asllan Rusi was destroyed by injections in the Psychiatric Hospital. These developments were not natural. Asllani was not taken to the hospital because he was sick; he was destroyed by something else. They hit him because he loved Enver Hoxha’s daughter. This story destroyed him. When I saw him in that state, I thought he was lost. I remember that in the hospital, his brother, Mimi, (Fehmi Rusi), a good basketball player from Ionia, visited him every day, which stayed by his side for hours. After the death of Asllan, in 1983, Mimi went through many nervous breakdowns and lost her life, jumping from the window of the palace.
What happened next? Asllani got out of the hospital one day, didn’t he?
VANGJEL KOJA: Definitely. But he was no longer able to train. It was very physically released. I remember Asllan, who used to come near the fields where his friends were training and pass the time, playing “nines” with the guard. A scene that brought tears to my eyes. But surprisingly, there was a period when Asllani recovered. It was the same year, 1975, and our team was in Romania, for the European Championship. There, Asllani played as an equal with the team. But upon returning to Albania, he ended up in the hospital again. After that, they forced him to leave the “Dinamo” team…!
Let’s stop a little at this point, since his colleagues say that it was precisely the departure from the “Dinamo” team that ultimately destroyed Asllan Rusi…! Are you of the same opinion?
VANGJEL KOJA: I was and still am of the opinion that he was destroyed because he loved Enver Hoxha’s daughter. They called me to the Ministry of the Interior and ordered me to remove Asllan from the team. I must bring to your attention that “Dinamo” was a team of the Ministry of the Interior. I don’t remember the people who called me, but I remember that they told me flatly: “Asllani is no longer for us”. An order before which I was completely powerless, even though I tried to help Aslan. According to the doctors, sports were good for him. So in that unequal confrontation, at the Ministry of the Interior, I managed to at least “get permission” for Asllani to move to another team.
How did Asllani react when you told him you were leaving the team?
VANGJEL KOJA: He didn’t misunderstand me when I told him. – “At least arrange me in another team”, – he told me. It was one of the hardest conversations of my life. It hurt me. Asllani started playing with the “Student” team throughout 1976 and naturally continued to be the best of the team. But it seems there, he didn’t get the same spiritual satisfaction that he got with “Dynamo”. He quickly left the sport, in 1976.
I remember that he spent the last years of his life as a physical education teacher at the Artistic High School “Jordan Misja” in Tirana. Later, he was stricken with a cancerous disease. I often went to see him in the hospital. So often, that he once told Andi Tirana, who was both a doctor and a volleyball player of “Dinamo”: “It didn’t occur to me that, of all, the professor loved me the most.” He died in 1983. He was only 38 years old.
The former trainer’s testimony: “How did we get Aslan to Romania, to cure him?”
There was a period of time when Asllan Rusi appeared the same as Asllan he was before they destroyed him with drugs. A short time that had made the coach and his colleagues think that everything would finally be repaired. It was 1975 and Russia, physically destroyed by injections in the psychiatric hospital, was just showing up for team training. At this time, “Dinamo” had to go to Romania to participate in the Balkan Volleyball Championship.
It is not known how he managed it, but coach Koja was able to add the name of Asllan Rusi to the list of players who would go abroad. It was justified with the expression: “We will cure it once in Romania”. An expression that fortunately had worked with the success of “hapu Sesam”. It seems that the people of the State Security, who looked closely at the names of the athletes who went abroad, had no contradictions, precisely with this request: “Let’s cure him once in Romania”.
She seems to have come to terms with their version, according to which Asllan Rusi was a sick person who should be cured in a psychiatric hospital. Continuing the story, coach Koja explains how, upon arriving in Romania, Asllan’s health improved by leaps and bounds. “In a few days, he started to train and was showing an excellent sports form. You won’t believe it, but thanks to this form, we activated him in direct matches with the best teams in the Balkans, and Asllani was the first one. It was appreciated, even among the standouts of this championship”, – says Master Vangjel Koja.
But it seems that the last brilliance of Asllan Rus happened in a foreign land, far from the stress of Tirana. After returning to Tirana, his health is destroyed again. No one can say under what circumstances he ended up in the psychiatric hospital for the second time. Moreover, none of his friends know much detail. It seems Asllani did not confess his problems to his colleagues. When asked about these events, those who are in Albania are satisfied with the expression: “We only know the story with Enver Hoxha’s daughter”.
Since there are few witnesses to the details of this story, it is very likely that Asllani trusted his truths to another person, who is no longer alive, perhaps to his brother, a former basketball player, who took them with him to the grave, after he lost his life in surprising circumstances by jumping from the height of a building Religion Well.
WHO IS VANGJEL KOJA?
A life at work. This is the story in three words of the man named Vangjel Koja. He directed the men’s volleyball team of “Dinamo” for more than 30 years, but he has been involved in this sport for almost 50 years. And there has always been a result, even a few years ago, when he helped the women’s team of “Dinamo” to be declared champion. Already “Grand Master”, a title given by the President of the country in December 2003, Koja has also been awarded with three orders: “Naim Frashëri” of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes, as well as the title “Teacher of the People”.
He also carries with him an interesting story, according to which he was once forced to choose volleyball. Vangjeli started the sport in the distant year 1947. At the age of 14, he was declared champion with the youth team of Tirana in four competitions: javelin throw, long jump and distance running, 800 and 400 meters.
At the same time, he liked basketball and volleyball. But, when in 1956, “from above”, a directive comes that athletes should specialize in one type of sport; Vangjeli chooses the latest one, volleyball. In 1958, he created the sports school “Dinamoviti i ri”. Until 1963, he was the coach and player in the volleyball team (men) of “Dinamo”, a team that was created in 1958. He participated in several international tournaments, but at this time, the form of the new team, did not it was the best.
“Dinamo” initially plays in the second category, but becoming champion in 1959, enters the first. Furthermore, the growth of Koja’s team is unaffordable. In 1961, it took fourth place, a year later, third, in 1963, second and in 1964, first. Then, 8 years in a row, “Dinamo” was declared national champion. Eight years later, the team enters the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup. Koja was in charge of “Dinamo” until 1990. Then, he went to coach in Italy, where he trained women in Kastelana Grotte (Puglia) for almost 10 years, again having success.
Misfortunes of the Rusi family
Asllan Rusi’s family has been followed by so many disasters that no one lives from its trunk. The father, Jelal Rusi, a pharmacist graduated in France, who also knew Enver Hoxha, died at a young age, always expressing dissatisfaction with the communist regime. The same fate happened to his wife, who was also the granddaughter of the national poet, Naim Frashëri. In 1983, death did not spare the talented volleyball player, Asllan Rusi, at this time, with a destroyed physique. But the story of his only brother, (Fehmi Rusi, member of the “Dinamo” basketball team), is also painful, who after the loss of family members, during a mental crisis, jumped from a high floor of the building losing his life too.
KOJA: “WITH RUSSIA, WE PUT ‘DYNAMON’ IN THE SEMI-FINALS OF EUROPE”
It seems that everything was a union of people who wanted to stand out from the others, starting with the coach. After all, the story of the rise of the newly formed “Dinamo” men’s volleyball team has been spectacular. Created in 1958, the team started from the second category, to arrive 14 years later, to be equal to the best in Europe. It is a worthy and unusual story, which is equaled by very few cases in the world, more precisely; it can currently be compared to the rise of football of the Kievo team in Italy, a few years ago.
According to the confession of coach Vangjel Koja, everything is dedicated to a group of players, very skilled, as they were; Asllan Rusi, Kreshnik Tartari, Ylli Shehu, Franc Jakova, Zhani Bonata, Anastas Panteqi, Andrea Gjika, Foto Kola, Ali Lulolli, Shkëlzen Hoxha, Shaban Uka, Kiço Lena, Enis Terihati, Raimond Gjerazi, Ilir Cirinaku, Hajrulla Beriolli, Leonard Tase , Vladimir Starja, and others.
After the team earned the title of “National Champion” in 1964, the growth was unstoppable. According to the coach, in 1966, “Dinamo” was declared champion, with 14 wins and no losses. “Meanwhile, we had lost a very good player, Zhani Bonate, a shooter who rivaled Aslan Rusin. Bonata was hit, because of the biography. They had shot his father. It was a big loss for the team”, – confesses Vangjel Koja. However, “Dinamo” had moved forward. Various tours, whether in China, a country with which, at that time, the Albanian state had very good relations, had made the team get the right experience in international matches.
The European challenge started in 1966, when for the first time; an Albanian team participated in the European Cups. The first match, according to the draw, takes place in Tirana. Opposite was the championship of Italy, “VIRTUS” – Bologna. According to the infallible statistics of the coach, Master Vangjel Koja, “Dinamo” wins 3-0 (45-18). While in Italy, it won 0-3 (45-28). The two most scored points qualify. Passing this tour was an unusual event for Albanian sports. But the same scenario, i.e. only for two points, would disqualify “Dinamon” in the next matches. This time, they faced the experienced volleyball players of “BLLOKER”, the champion of the Netherlands.
The first match ends 3-0 (45-30), but in the Netherlands, everything turns upside down. “Dinamo” loses 0-3 (45-28) and is disqualified for only two points. “A West German referee cheated us. It was the time of the Cold War and we Easterners were not wanted. I remember that in the second set, we were ahead with a score of 13-10, but the referee penalized us several times in a row, overturning the set at 13-15”, – ex-coach Koja regretfully confesses. But the successes seem to have made a “pact” with “Dinamon”.
In 1970 and 1971, “Dinamo” beat twice in Athens and twice in Tirana, the Greek camp team “Panathinaikos”, while the victory in Tirana, with “MLLADOST” of Zagreb 3-1, despite the loss in transfer 0-3, is counted as another great achievement of Albanian volleyball, because this team was in the elite of world volleyball. While history was written in 1972, when “Dinamo” qualified for the semi-finals of the European champions. “Dinamo” qualifies, having in the group, teams from the best, such as: “AMVJ” – Holland, “CSKA” – Sofia and “REBELS” – Belgium.
“Dinamo”, wins 3-2 with “CSKA” and 3-1 with “REBELS”, defeats 3-0 by the champions of the Netherlands (the qualifying matches were held here), but still goes to the semi-finals which take place in Belgium. Although defeated by “AMVJ” 3-0, “ZETOR-BERNO” (Czechoslovakia) 3-0 and “RUIN” (Italy) 3-2, “Dinamo” makes an excellent figure.
“These were results that today cannot even be dreamed of. Naturally, our best player was absolutely Asllan Rusi. It was really an opponent that the coaches of the best teams in Europe had in mind. It was the time when both Asllan Rusi and Dashamir Fagu, taken by “Partizani”, had many offers to play with different European teams”, – concludes former coach Koja, described as the legend of the bench of Albanian volleyball, who has had the good fortune to train champions. Memorie.al
