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“THE ‘ETERNAL CANDIDATE’ — THAT WAS ME”: INTERVIEW WITH KAROLY BARD team also had honorary members, who did not play and women: Kéri’s wife, Zita Petschnig and Zsófi Mihancsik. Ihe hard core of the team was also a group of friends. Sometimes we celebrated New Years Eve together. Indeed, we always helped out when Kéri moved house, I was the driver. V. Z. K.: You have already mentioned some members of Jogtatók. We could also add Barnabas Lenkovics or Bela Pokol to the list. These are all people who have become leading members of the Hungarian legal and political elite, as researchers, lawyers, ombudsmen or constitutional court judges. In hindsight, one could even say that Jogtatök was a sort of incubator for the elite. How did you see this group at the time: was it more about the joy of football or a chance for networking? K. B.: This was a closed group, not everyone was a member of the team who later acquired some high ranking position. And for sure, it wasn’t just about football. If that had been the case, I don’t think everyone would have stayed a member of Jogtatök. Like I said, we were also a group of friends, who knew they were free to talk to each other about everything. There were some young teachers with whom I was careful about what I said. But this was never the case with Jogtatök. Plus, the group was made up of really witty people. So much so, that the team was invited to perform at a New Year’s Eve standup comedy show. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take part in that performance because I was in Helsinki at the time of the recording. To this day, I don’t know how we caught the organizers’ attention. As for visions for our future careers, I remember we were toying with the idea at team practice who would get which portfolio if we were to form a government. We unanimously selected Jutasi for prime minister as the most suitable candidate. As for me, I got the ministry of justice every time. Of course, this was just fun and jokes. I don’t think any of us foresaw the career he would make. It was Kukorelli and I who stayed loyal to the university for the longest time. The rest went off to work at the Institute of Social Sciences, the Prime Minister’s Office and so on. Of course, they continued to teach in their spare time, but they felt that world of higher education could no longer contain them. Early research career V. Z. K.: Football, however, did not throw you off the scholarly path. Indeed, in a way, the two were even connected. I heard that you organized an ‘exchange program’ between the young teachers from the University of Vienna and ELTE, which ran for many years. You visited Vienna and next year, the Austrian colleagues came to Budapest. To me it seems as though this initiative was just as much about football, as scientific exchange. What was the purpose of this ‘exchange program’ and how exactly did the two universities cooperate? +23 +
