What if I told you one of South America’s most beloved and well-respected players, only appeared in 4 senior professional games?
A player so great, that when Diego Maradona signed for Rosario’s Newell’s Old Boys in 1993 and local media were hailing that the greatest player in the world was now calling their city home, Maradona had to correct them.
“The greatest of them all is already here. His name is Carlovich.”
He was Maradona’s Idol.
This is the story of Tomas Carlovich, better known across Argentina as ‘El Trinche’. A name unheard of for many, but unanimously celebrated among those who grew up watching football in 1970s Rosario.
A truly unique footballer, with both his ability on the pitch and personality outside the game defying all expectation. It is also said that he was a lyricist, a bohemian. A kind of Creole John Lennon, with long unkempt hair and beard.
Legend has it that Bielsa modelled his game around Trinche and, after failing to make the grade as a footballer, followed him around the rundown stadiums of the Primera B and C for four years to watch his every move.
To paint a picture of how good he was, on hot days he was known to dribble the ball to the shady side of the pitch, and mercilessly beat all defenders that pressed him for minutes at a time until referee’s had to step in to ask him to play properly.
The only footage that even exists of him, is from a game when he was past 40 years old.
Childhood
Born in the Belgrado neighbourhood, Rosario was all Carlovich knew growing up. Despite his father’s Croatian heritage, El Trinche was a Rosarian through and through.
Little is known about Carlovich’s youth. Some say he was born on a football pitch, the physical manifestation of the very limits of how good one could be at football. Others believed him a gift from the gods, a player divinely talented.
But for all the folklore, and dramatism, El Trinche was very human, far more human than most professional footballers, despite his legendary abilities.
Tomas was immediately smitten by the beautiful game, transfixed by his brothers, he was still too small to play football properly, yet would make do as he “created little games with his left foot”.
His brother fondly tells a tale of a boy so taken by football he’d kick rocks, stones and even bricks when there was no football to play with.
He’d learnt to make do without a football before he began to master playing with a real ball.
His childhood was humble, and like many South American upbringings, family was everything.
Raised in the Barrio Belgrano neighbourhood, in a house, his two brothers still reside in today, the Guatemala 713 house will always be somewhat of a pilgrimage for those in Rosario who have heard of his legend.
As Carlovich grew, his talent became more and more obvious. It was scary. It was supernatural. He could do things with a tennis ball at the age of 12 that most players could only dream of doing with a full-size football.
Desperate to Play No Matter What
Four years later, Carlovich took a first step towards his dream, his destiny, as he signed for a small side based in Santa Fe, Sporting de Bigand, at the age of 16.
Here he would quickly prove himself an alien amongst mortals, catching the eye of Rosario Central, the biggest club in the city, as El Trinche was surely set on a path to stardom.
Even as a young and humble man, Carlovich was sure of his ability being worthy of a place in the Rosario starting lineup, a place he would quickly earn, his talent immediately obvious to all onlookers.
Initially, all seemed well. Carlovich had started two first division games, and impressed in friendlies against Uruguayan giants Penarol and Montevideo.
But for all his potential and impressive performances, it would be his simple wish, a desperation to play, no matter what that would spell an abrupt end to his time at Rosario Central.
The manager had promised Carlovich a place in the starting lineup for an upcoming crucial championship game. A home match and a chance to play in a packed stadium, with everything on the line.
Carlovich was understandably excited, but when matchday came around, Carlovich was nowhere to be found within the starting eleven. The manager had broken his promise, leaving El Trinche incensed.
All he wanted was to play, stature and money mattered little to him. If he was going to have to leave a bigger side to continue to enjoy his greatest passion, then so be it.
He moved to Flandria, and then Independiente Rivadavia, who would set El Trinche up with a brand new Fiat 125, bought him a house and set him and his family up in a hotel.
Of course, in a fashion that became typical of the man, the next day he went to training and broke the Fiat. He immediately went back to the hotel, unpacked their suitcases, put the family in their car and came back to Rosario to tell people how well they were treating him.
El Trinche was a family man, a man of Rosario. It’s where he needed and wanted to be. He was so happy to be back, so he just decided to stay…
Carlovich’s career from here quickly becomes impossible to follow.
As his career continued, Carlovich would move from lower division team to lower division team.
An Introverted Footballer
Many stories and tales of folklore depict why Carlovich could play with such ability and never take the chance at a larger club.
On one occasion the Cordoba manager was told that “the wife was not feeling well and he had to look for some mangoes to make remedies.” –
He would always impress no matter who witnessed him, and everybody wanted to have him in Argentina. To find a way to make it work for him.
But every time it came to leaving Rosario, he could never be persuaded.
Naturally, with his talent and off-the-pitch antics, rumours of drunkenness and a party life behind the scenes began to come out. But Carlovich was not like that…
“Carlovich was an introverted person. He was a very good boy, but he was not very given and did not fit into the group. It was his way of being.” – Former Cordoba teammate, Oscar May.
A National Team Call-up?
In 1974, Carlovich would be brought to the attention of the very pinnacle of Argentinian football.
Argentina were in the midst of a pre-World Cup tour, where the side stopped off at Rosario to face a local XI, made up of the best to be born in Rosario. Carlovich was picked for the team and humiliated Argentina’s best and brightest.
The nature of the goals is completely unknown, but by half-time the local side were 3-0 up, Carlovich carrying the side on his back.
It was a performance of such magnitude, that the national coach asked the local manager to exclude Carlovich for the second half as he was making the side look bad, and the nation would lose all hope in their World Cup chances if they were hammered by a team of lesser players.
He was subbed off as a result, and the Local team ended up winning 3-1 thanks to Carlovich’s first-half performance.
This was a team of complete unknowns outside of Rosario…
This result sent whispers of El Trinche across the nation, as his legend began to spread outside of Rosario.
4 years later, he might have ended up at the 1978 World Cup.
National Coach Menotti called him up for a series of pre-tournament friendlies, but despite an opportunity to play on the biggest stage, he didn’t show up.
Had tragedy befallen him?
No. He’d gone fishing. He saw that “the fish were biting” and got caught at high tide, unable to leave the island he was now stuck on.
This is according to the national team manager Menotti. Carlovich on the other hand, “Can’t remember the excuse he gave”.
2 years after his ‘call-up’ for Argentina, Carlovich would be brought to International attention.
In 1979, AC Milan was touring Argentina and decided to face the tiny side of Andes Talleres.
Little did they know, they couldn’t have picked a more daunting opponent. It was of course Carlovich’s team at the time, and the European giants soon found themselves dumbfounded by this lanky, 33-year-old midfielder, pulling the strings as if Milan were a lower-league Argentinian side.
The game finished 3-2 to Talleres, Carlovich playing in his typical lackadaisical style, and giving a 19-year-old Franco Baresi a miserable afternoon.
Carlovich continued to play on until his body could no longer cope with the sport. Playing his last game for Central Cordoba in 1986, aged 40.
Life After Football
While playing his signature move, the double nutmeg, became yet another part of his legend.
An audacious and surely impractical skill that left fans in awe, as he slipped the ball through a defender’s legs, beating them, before flicking it back the other way through the same pair of legs again.
It was so delicious a skill, that in some of his playing contracts he was paid extra per double nutmeg performed.
A humble career for a man with every right to be arrogant. He was happy just playing football. If a ball was near him, he was filled with joy.
It wasn’t until years later, as he came out to watch a charity match that was raising money for Carlovich’s Osteoporosis operation, that the mirage of a bohemian who was happy with very little was tragically shattered.
Usually jovial, Carlovich was answering questions from a journalist happily enough, before the reporter asked “Is there anything you would have done differently in your career?”
In an instant, the man’s eyes grew watery. The picture that had been painted of a happy-go-lucky football-loving scamp with all the talent but no care in seeing money or fame was shattered.
Carlovich’s response was heartbreaking, as replied with a wavering voice, “No, sir, please don’t ask me that, anything but that, please.”
Carlovich saw some closure later, as he met with Diego Maradona, whom Carlovich was a huge fan of.
Maradona would embrace him upon seeing him, refusing to let go and whispering tales of admiration into his ear.
“He even signed a shirt for me and wrote, ‘Trinche, you were better than me.’”
In response, Carlovich told Diego he could “Die happy now”.
Sadly, the story of Rosario’s greatest ever ends in an unexpected turn.
On 6 May 2020, Carlovich was riding his bike around Rosario, as he often did. He was suddenly assaulted and beaten by a young man who wanted to steal his bike. Carlovich fell and hit his head on the ground, dying two days later from his injuries.
It marked an undeserving end for a man who lived a humble life, with more potential and talent in his prime than perhaps anybody else to play the sport.
