# Alexandru Boc

Alexandru "Sandu" Boc (born 3 June 1946) is a retired Romanian footballer, who played as a defender.

## Club career

   "The spectators stood up and would applaud for 5 minutes after each intervention with the Oxford procedure that I had"

### Petrolul Ploiești

Alexandru Boc was born on 3 June 1946 in Vașcău and played football as a defender, being known for using often the "Oxford procedure" for the public's delight which consisted of him letting the ball pass over or past him, and when the forward was about to gain possession of it, he would reach back and take it with the exterior side of the foot. Boc made his Divizia A debut on 11 October 1964, playing for Petrolul Ploiești in a 3–0 victory against CSMS Iași. In the following season he helped Petrolul win the 1965–66 Divizia A title, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 26 matches in which he scored one goal, being the player with the highest grade point average in the entire championship according to the Sportul newspaper. He also played three games for The Yellow Wolves in the first round of the 1966–67 European Cup against Liverpool which include a 3–1 victory in which he scored a goal, however they did not manage to qualify to the next round.

### Dinamo, Sportul and Rapid

In 1967 he went to play for two seasons at Dinamo București, helping the club win the 1967–68 Cupa României in the first one but coach Bazil Marian did not use him in the 3–1 victory with Rapid București from the final, then in the following season he scored once in a 4–2 win in a derby with Steaua București from the league. After one season in which he didn't play because he was in jail and another one spent in Divizia B at Sportul Studențesc București, Boc returned to play in Divizia A at Rapid București where he worked again with coach Bazil Marian, winning together the 1971–72 Cupa României, Boc playing all the minutes in the 2–0 over Jiul Petroșani from the final. He also made some European performances while playing for The Railwaymen, firstly in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup campaign, playing five matches, as the team reached the eight-finals, eliminating Napoli and Legia Warsaw, being eliminated by the team who would eventually win the competition, Tottenham, also taking part in the 1972–73 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, playing four games, helping the team reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Landskrona BoIS and Rapid Wien against whom he scored a goal, being eliminated by Leeds United who reached the final. For the way he played in 1972, Boc was placed second in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, being only behind Cornel Dinu.

### "U" Craiova

He reunited with coach Cernăianu at Universitatea Craiova, their first performance being getting pass Fiorentina in the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup edition, being eliminated in the following one by Standard Liège. In the same season he helped "U" win the first championship title in its history, Cernăianu giving him 32 appearances in which he scored one goal and at the last game of the season against Petrolul Ploiești which ended 0–0, Boc received a grade 10 in the Sportul newspaper as the team earned the point that mathematically made them champions. Alexandru Boc made his last Divizia A appearance on 10 December 1975 in a 3–0 away loss in front of FCM Reșița, having a total of 224 matches and 12 goals scored in the competition, also having a total of 22 games and two goals scored in European competitions.

## International career

Alexandru Boc played five matches at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Bazil Marian in a 1–1 against Uruguay, which took place on 4 January 1967 in Montevideo on Estadio Gran Parque Central. He played in two victories against Switzerland and a 2–2 against Greece at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, however he missed the opportunity be part of the squad that went at the final tournament, being in jail at that time. After Romania's 1–0 victory from Lausanne against Switzerland at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers, journalist Eugen Barbu praised Boc in the Flacăra magazine:"If Nicolae Ceaușescu would give Boc the right to play in Europe and sell him, he could build a city with the money!".

## Conviction

In 1969, during an evening spent at the Athenee Palace where he was staying with actor Cornel Patrichi among others at a table, a man threw an empty cigarette pack in Patrichi's glass, then a verbal confrontation between them started and Boc intervened and punched the man, afterwards the man was beaten by other people, ending with his leg broken. The man beaten up was a Securitate captain, so Boc confessed what happened and took all the responsibility of the situation on himself, relying on the fact that he was a football player at Dinamo București and wouldn't suffer any consequences but at the trial Patrichi sided with the Securitate captain. He was sentenced to a jail term of two years and a half, spending the first six months of the conviction in a relaxed environment having a telephone and a TV in his cell from the headquarters of the Militia Command in the center of Bucharest, where the minors were also imprisoned. After that period he was close to obtain a pardon from his conviction, but the Securitate found out about the light detention he had and at the pressure of Vasile Patilineț who found out that his wife had an affair with Boc and was a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party who on 7 September 1970 had a meeting to discuss his case with dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu himself participating in it where it was decided that he would not be granted the pardon. He was sent to the Văcărești prison, afterwards being moved to one of the toughest prisons in Romania, the Policolor colony where he was in an insanitary cell with many criminals and he had to wake up each day at 4 a.m. to work and at every three hours a black Volga car with members of the Central Committee would come to verify if he works, looking at his hands to see if they have calluses. His teammates from Dinamo would send him food and money, Cornel Dinu personally going to deliver the packages to him but because he was not allowed to go inside the prison, he would come through the back, entering through a cornfield to reach him at the prison's yard. After a total of 13 months spent in jail, Boc was released.

## Personal life

Alexandru Boc was known for his success with women, being nicknamed "The ladies' man of Romanian football", having relationships among others with actresses Corina Chiriac and Aimée Iacobescu, volleyball player Elena Butnaru and was engaged with Salomeea Djanhanghir who was the granddaughter of the richest man on the planet at that time, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The VIP magazine put Boc in the top 5 best Romanian men alongside Florin Piersic, Petre Roman, Ion Dichiseanu and Sergiu Nicolaescu. He was also an occasional film actor, playing alongside Romanian actors Toma Caragiu and Gheorghe Dinică in the 1975 comedy movie Nu filmăm să ne-amuzăm (We do not film to amuse ourselves) directed by Iulian Mihu.
In 2023, Boc received the Honorary Citizen of Craiova title.

## Honours

Petrolul Ploiești
* Divizia A: 1965–66
Dinamo București
* Cupa României: 1967–68
Rapid București
* Cupa României: 1971–72
Universitatea Craiova
* Divizia A: 1973–74
Individual
* Romanian Footballer of the Year (runner-up): 1972