Tomáš Řepka

Infobox Football biography
playername = Tomáš Řepka


fullname = Tomáš Řepka
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|1|2
cityofbirth = Slavičín
countryofbirth = Czechoslovakia
height = 1.84 m
nickname = Super tom
position = Defender
currentclub = Sparta Prague
clubnumber = 2
f avouriteclub =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1990-1995 1995-1998 1998-2001 2001-2006 2006-
clubs = Banik Ostrava Sparta Prague Fiorentina West Ham United Sparta Prague
caps(goals) = 077 (3) 082 (6) 089 (0) 167 (0) 038 (0)
nationalyears = 1993 - 2001
nationalteam = Czech Republic
nationalcaps(goals) = 46 (1)
pcupdate = June 6, 2007
ntupdate = november 20, 2006

Tomáš Řepka (b. 1974-01-02 in Slavičín) is a professional Czech football player. Řepka plays mostly as a right-sided defender, and is currently signed to Sparta Prague.

Career

Řepka started his career at Banik Ostrava, where he played from 1990 to 1995. He then joined Sparta Prague, where he spent almost three years, before moving to Fiorentina in Italy. He joined English Premiership club West Ham United early in Glenn Roeder's tenure as manager, for a club record fee of £5,500,000, in September 2001. [cite news | title =Repka set for Hammers debut | publisher =BBC Sport | date =2001-09-14 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/1516567.stm | accessdate =2008-03-29]

He was sent off on his debut for West Ham for two bookable offences, [cite news | title =Boro make Hammers pay| publisher =BBC Sport | date =2001-09-15 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1543536.stm| accessdate =2008-03-29] missed a match through suspension, and was sent off again in the third game he played for the club. [cite news | title =Blackburn thrash West Ham| publisher =BBC Sport | date =2001-10-14 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1580248.stm| accessdate =2008-03-29] He went on to form a central defensive partnership with Christian Dailly before the club's relegation to the Football League Championship, although he gained a reputation for his disciplinary record, and received 10 yellow cards that first season. After relegation at the end of the 2002-03 season, the appointment of Alan Pardew as manager saw Řepka move to right back. In the summer of 2005, after the club had regained their Premiership status, he was re-signed by Pardew on a two-year contract, albeit on reduced terms, but left the club on 23 January 2006 to return to the Czech Republic to be with his family. He played his final game for them on the previous night against Fulham in what was an emotional swansong for the Czech hardman. To chants of Super-tom from the West Ham faithful, he left the field in tears.

After making his international debut for Czechoslovakia in June 1993 against the Faroe Islands, Řepka has played 45 times for the Czech Republic between 1994 and 2001. He missed Euro 1996 because of two match penalty for a red card. However, he played for his country at Euro 2000.

Disciplinary problems

Řepka is notorious for his lack of self-control and disciplinary problems [cite news | title =Roundup | publisher =The Prague Post | date =2006-03-01 | url =http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2006/03/01/roundup.php | accessdate =2008-05-30] . During his professional career, he has received sixteen [cite news | title =Řepka: Rekordman v počtu červených (Řepka: red card record holder) | publisher =fotbal.sport.cz (in Czech) | date =2008-05-06 | url =http://fotbal.sport.cz/clanek/129342-repka-rekordman-v-poctu-cervenych.html | accessdate =2008-05-30] red cards (see table below), more than any other professional football playerFact|date=May 2008. One of his scandals include attacking game officials and TV cameraman in September 2007 [cite news | title =Bad boys | publisher =The Prague Post | date =2007-09-26 | url =http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/09/26/bad-boys.php | accessdate =2008-05-30] [cite news | title =Raging Czech football star attacks a cameraman | publisher =aktuálně.cz | date =2007-09-17 | url =http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/clanek.phtml?id=506490 | accessdate =2008-05-30] .

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=17606 Tomáš Repka] at Soccerbase
* [http://footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=426 Tomáš Repka] at FootballDatabase
* [http://www.sparta.cz/srv/www/en/football/team/viewMemberDetail.do?memberId=765 Tomáš Repka] at official Sparta Prague website