ŽELJEZNIČAR – MACCABI TEL AVIV (July 28, 2011)

According to the statistics, in 2009 there were 126 million blogs on world wide web. (See: Internet 2009 in numbers) Probably, it should already have exceeded 200 million by mid-2011. One of the biggest problems about blogs is that “they die”. Those which are activated with great hopes and fun, fade away, or better to say they enter into vegetative state after a while because of not being updated. This blog was launched in November 2007. Somehow, I was trying to update the blog by adding one article per month, but since 2008, that is for three years I could only add one article.

In this context, Bosnian Football Culture is a good example for how a blog may fade away. However, in the last couple of months, this issue began to annoy me. Maybe you will not believe but there are people who follow this blog about “Bosnian Football”, there are those who mentioned that they are waiting for new articles. For a long while, when I was faced with the question; “Will you add any new articles?”, my reply was; “Yes. I could not find time since I have been busy. I know I neglected the blog, but I will add new articles as soon as possible.” That sort of lies even began to disturb me, myself. Frankly speaking, I have to admit that
When you search for “football culture” in Google, one of the first five web sites appear is my blog. Frankly, this is also one of the factors which encourages me to update the blog. Indeed, it appears in the second page now but I do not have any rival when you will search for “Bosnian football culture.” There is no other lunatic who would wrap his mind about that issue.

Nowadays, there are no deadlines waiting for me. After 6 long years, It has been the first time that I do not have a deadline in my. I know that it will not be that long. So, I prefer to enjoy this. I want to deal with some joyful things which I could not have time for them before. As I have mentioned, since I wrote the article titled; “Let Turkey not be in the same Group with Bosnia Again” in October 2009, this blog was left orphan by me. Indeed, I have really very good reasons: I was in navy for 6 months for compulsory military service, I had the title of assistant professorship, I got married, and now I have got a son! Enough? In the meantime, I have to confess that visiting Istanbul every week for a time period of almost one and a half year was really exhausting while I was giving lectures in a university in Istanbul. I better not to pull out all the pathetic stop. In fact, there was only one reason why I could not write anything new in my blog: I WAS BORED!

One of the most frequent forms of post-dissertation traumas is the feeling of alienation for the thesis subject. Frankly, not only because football was the subject of thesis, but also because of the latest incidents forced me to keep my mental health protected from the world of football. Gençlerbirliği, my team, do really sucks in Turkish Super League. The latest incidents about corruption in Turkish football is also obvious. In addition to that, my performance of being a goal keeper in 6-a-side matches is the worst of all times. The fact that I am playing as a goal keeper is because I am always the worst player, is also another issue that has to be kept in mind!

During last season, I watched Sarajevo derby in Grbavica which motivated me for a while to write something for the blog. But, this motivation was only for a few seconds. Something happened two months ago. The other Gençlerbirliği fan in Sarajevo; Erdoğan called me.

On Wednesday Željezničar was to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv, for UEFA Europa League Third Qualification Round. We decided to go to match. After that match, I have realized that it was the perfect time to add something new to this blog.

Almost for a week, it has been rainy or cloudy in Sarajevo. The game will not be played in Grbavica – Željezničar’s stadium, but will be in Koševo. Probably, Grbavica did not abide UEFA criteria. Since Koševo does not have covered grandstand, I kept an eye on the clouds during the whole day. Neither it rained, nor there was any single sign from the clouds that it would be raining. The weather was nice and a long-sleeved t-shirt would be enough to be warm.

My actual knowledge about Željo’s current squad was almost on “zero” level. I just know that they were on third place in Bosnian Premier League last season. I always used to find excuse by claiming: “Do not ask me about the football teams, nor about the players. I am not watching the game. I watching those, who watch the game.” However, I shall say that I could not recognize the fans as well. My field work had finished by February 2008 and the time period of 3,5 years since then is a reasonable time for a new generation of fans would appear and the oldies to marry, have jobs, and have families and have less time for football.

I did not understand why northern (Sjever) and western (Zapad) stands were not opened. The fans were only on southern (Jug) curve and eastern (Istok) stand which is on the side of the hospital. Of course, only the VIP section of western stand was open as well. TM87 (aka “The Maniacs” – I do not prefer to call anybody or any group addressing like that, and I prefer TM87, abbreviation for “The Maniacs 1987”) was located on southern curve by their nature. I use the term “by their nature” because of two reasons: First, TM87’s location in Grbavica is also on “Jug”. Secondly, Kosevo’s Jug is always reserved for guest fans. One can argue that the western curve belongs to Željo fans more than Sarajevo fans.

Unfortunately, I do not have any photos from the match. After years when I went to a football match with the wish to add something for my blog, I took my notebook, but forgot my pen, I took my camera, but forgot to take charged batteries. A failure which should not be made by an anthropologist who goes to “field” with more than three pens, controls the batteries, moreover, takes extra batteries with the possibility to struggle with the security guys about extra batteries in the bag. I promise that in the next article –which I hope it will be earlier than 3,5 years- you will see visual material. For some photos, you can visit Željezničar’s web site.

Jug was totally full. There were no empty chairs on the corners. Istok was almost full as well. I can say that there were more or less 17-18.000 spectators. As a habitual outcome of being denizen of Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium, we seated align half-way line. So to say; the family part. The stands for those married with children spectators. Giving importance on Gençlerbirliği fandom traditions, we began to enjoy our sunflower seeds. We even contributed to some chants. Surely we chatted a lot about teams, players, referee as well.

I have been more than 60 games in Bosnia. Almost during all of those games, I have been hanging around the stands among the fans, with a camera and a note-book in my hands. Slowly but surely I began to quit that habit of mine, and instead of watching those who watch the match, I try to watch the match itself. Honestly, I even began to enjoy football again after a long time. Of course, the rapid nature of the game has got influence on it as well. From the early beginning of the match Željo was playing impressively offensive. Every second they seized the ball, they were attacking. A nice game to watch, however Željo was like a “bee unable to produce honey”.

The match statistics are that of which could make a Championship/Football Manager fan into mad. According to the statistics from UEFA’s website, Željo has 10 goal attempts, where as Maccabi has 7. But ball is round. Maccabi was the victorious side at the end of the game. Željo was absolutely dominant in the first half. Nevertheless, they could not find the goal. Željo players, especially Zajko Zeba, the most expensive player in Bosnian leagues (650.000 Euro) were not able to roll the ball into the net. Since Maccabi players saw that Željo was inefficient in using the free-kicks, they did not hesitate to foul Željo players. I have to admit that the Swedish referee who were not willing to show red card from the second yellow was effective in determining that strategy as well. The name of the one of the Swedish referees was Mehmet Culum, an absolutely Turkish name. Probably the shorter linesman was him. He was just in front of us and the whole match I waited for him to verdict improperly to tease him in Turkish language, but he simply did not give me this opportunity.

During the game they announced that FK Sarajevo was losing the game against Sparta Prague in away match. The Željo fans on “Jug” exhibited their bliss, while no one reacted positively or negatively on Istok.

Since Željo, despite playing very offensive game, could not score, there were two alternative scenarios for the second half: Željo would find a solution to score one goal, or Maccabi would benefit from fast counter-attacks. The second alternative came about. Maccabi’s trainer Motti Ivanir should have well analyzed Željo’s weaker points. Roberto Colautti, Argentinian player of Maccabi, who has been injured for long time, thus weak in one-to-one struggles, but quite rapid in counter-attacks started in the eleven in the second half. He scored on min.47 and 56. He was probably noticed a bit lately by Željo defense. When Željo defense began to keep eye on him seriously, it was the time for Colautti to have a peaceful time until the end of the match without any serous attempts, surely with peace in his heart of having done his job perfectly. Maccabi’s Bosnian player Haris Međunjanin, who played quite ambitious against a team from his homeland took attention of Bosnian fans. Bosnian fans not only sweared to his mother, but also to his sister, which is not very common in Bosnia.

We personally were more or less enthusiasted about Montenegrin origin Serbian right winger Goran Marković’s style despite his passing was not brilliant, but not bad in tackling. Marković is new to the team. Probably he would be better in passing when he will get used to play with the same squad. Another new player, Liberian origin Swiss player Patrick Gerhardt Nyema took our attention with his pace, but he needs some more experience in Bosnia to be an important player in Željo.

While I was expecting Maccabi to score the third, even the fourth goals, Željo began to recover a bit, trying different ways to score. Unfortunately, they do not have that much talented scorers in the squad. I was surprised that none of the Željo players tried shooting from long distance despite Maccabi’s goal-keeper seemed not good on long-shots. The result was clear: 0-2...