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...

LET TURKEY NOT BE IN THE SAME GROUP WITH BOSNIA AGAIN

I have mentioned many times about love of Bosnians for Turkey in that blog, especially in the articles just before Turkey-Croatia match in EURO 2008. Do not be confused with the fact that Bosnian king Tvrtko had fought against Otoman Army in Kosovo War in 1389 together with Serbian king Lazar. Kepin mind that, Anatolian princedoms also did not hesitate to fight against Ottomans who tried to establish hegemony over Turkomans. So to say, it does not mean that Tvrtko was a real enemy against Turks. Maybe he just did not want his people to be under control of Ottomans.

There had been relations between Turks and Bosnians in pre-Ottoman Era as well. The Bektashi Fathers were the first to visit the region before the warriors and it is very well known how local Bosnians were hospitable for those heartfelt visitors. It is even argued that, that relationship between Bektashis and Bosnians made it to easier to occupy this are by the Ottomans. This sincere relationship between Ottomans and Bosnians were such deep that Habsburg monarchs, who occupied and annexed Bosnia to Austria-Hungary in 1878 had to accept that Bosnians would be directly connected to Sheihk-ul Islam (religious head) who was residing in Istanbul. Bosnians identify their religions as “Turkish type Islam”, and even not very fond of those neo-Turks in Bosnia: “Those neo-Turks do try to cnvert us to Arabic type of Islam.”

In that “football culture”blog, I will not bother the reader with the friendship of Bosnians and Turks. I just wanted to open a paranthesis before introducing in the subject of recent football matches between Bosnia and Turkey. Friendship between Turkey and Bosnia has great historical and cultural background. While Bosnian Serbs have got close ties with Serbia, and Bosnian Croats with Croatia, this situation makes Bosnian Muslims (aka Bosniaks) closer to Turkey: “If you have your Beograd and Zagreb, we have our Istanbul!” The national football matches between Turkey-Bosnia, or football matches between Turkish and Bosnian football matches in UEFA cups are played within this atmosphere. It is very common to see Turkish flags in the stadiums of Bosnia.

On the other side, it is somehow strange that the first friendly match between Turkey and Bosnia was played in August 16, 2000. Turkey could only by then think of playing with her sister eight years after the independence. The result of the first friendly game between Turkey and Bosnia played in Koşevo Stadium was 2-0 for Bosnia.
The destiny made two teams to play couple of times in the international tournaments. The first match between Turkey and Bosnia in the qualifying group was played in June 2, 2007. Although Turkey had scored the first goal, Bosnians were the victorous side at the end: 3-2. The revenge of that match was played by November 21, 2007 in Istanbul. Instead of identifying it as “played” we would better to say “acted like to be played”.Bosnia, who did not have any chance in the group did not make the thing more difficult for Turkey and the result was areasonable 1-0 defeat for Bosnia. The headlines of Hungarian newspapers were meaningful: “Eternal Brotherhood”. The threepoints of Turkey gathered from that match made it possible for Turkey to go to Austria and Switzerland instead of Hungary.
I had written about possible attitude of Bosnians about Turkey-Croatia match in that blog before: Zagreb ce biti turska mahala.

Hence, I had also mentioned how they celebrated Turkish victory: Turmoil in Bosnia After Turkey-Croatia Match.

For South Africa 2010, Turkey and Bosnia were seeded in the same group again. I had mentioned that Bosnia would not bean easy team to pass: Bosnian Surprise for Turkey.


The first match would be in Istanbul, at October 11, 2008, in İnönü Stadium with the new trainer of Bosnia and Hercegovina. Ciro had asked Bosnia fans to not to wear Turkey jerseys during the match. It is well known that Bosnians have great sympathy to Turkish football, not only on national level, but on local level as well. Not only those jerseys or accessories of great teams of Istanbul, but even Turkish teams which do not play in Super League can be seen on Bosnian football fans. Just before that match, Ciro had asked Bosnian fans: “I know you enjoy Turkish flags, but at least in that match come only with Bosnian flags!”. When I have wrote about this in my blog, our “football fans” began to produce conspiracy theories about “anti-Turkish character of Ciro”. Bosnians did not do any surprise for Turkey. Athough they had scored the first goal, the rule that “who scores Turkey the first goal will be defeated” was valid in that match as well, and the final score was 2-1. And among 1600 fans of Bosnia, it was possible to see Bosnians with Turkish flags, scarves or other accessories.

Bosnians never hesitate to be kind to Turks in such circumstances. But, it is visible that Turks do not reply that kindness very often. On the contrary, when Bosnians lit torches, they are groaned down by Turkish fans. When Bosnians prefer to sing their original national march “Jedna si jedina”, during their artificial national match is played in the stadum, or when they replace the artifical flag with the original Bosnian flag with the “ljiljans”, Turkish fans start jeers again. It ispartly because of disinformation about Bosnian history and reality, and partly because of other sentiments.

In fact Bosnian did not make a surprise in Zenica in September 9, 2009. One could see numerous Turkish flags in there as well and the result of the match was a draw:1-1. But, it was Bosnia at the end who had obtained the right to attend in play off matches. “Emperor Terim the Arrogant”s desires were avoided by Belgium in fact, but how could our brothers Bosnians could do that to us? They had to know their place and since they did not they have right to be target of Turkish football fans and media.

A kind of analogy is very common to be made considering the relationship between Turks and Bosnians: “Turkey and Bosnia are brothers. Turkey is the elder one, Bosnia is the younger,and it is obvious that from time to time the younger brother would wish to beat the elder brother in games.” Aparently, Turks consider Bosnians as somebody from “home”. However, it might be because of the deformed vision of pax-Ottomanism which examine some nationalities as subjects of the Empire, more than being the “younger brother” some Turks likely are more likely to see Bosnians as “step-brother” who knows who is the real boss.

I do not want Turkey to seed in the same group with Bosnia ever again. It is not because of my fear from Bosnia, which is getting better results like her ex-Yugoslav sisters as inheritors of the magnificient Yugo ecolé. I am from the generation who witnessed defeats of disastrous scores of 8-0s. I can deal with defeats, but not with some other things. Before Bosnia played with Armenia and Estonia, there were rumors in Bosnia that considerable amount of money passed to Riga and Erivan from Turkey. I remember an oldie was complaining that the real situation made him to be fan of Armenia. For those who live in my beautiful country Turkey, maybe not in other spheres, but surely at the top-5 in corruption world wide, rumors about “incentive bonus” offered to Armenia or Estonia would not be surprising to hear. That is what I cannot deal with as well.

For those reasons, I really do not want Turkey to seed again with Bosnia in the same group…

SARAJEVO - SLAVIJA

Stadium: Koševo - Sarajevo

Time and date: February 25, 2006 - Saturday, 13:30

“Go to Sjever. The fans are found in Istok (east) and Sjever (north) part of the stadium, but the real boys are in Sjever”. After last nights experience in a pub with him, I had learned to take into consideration of Sanjin’s advices, the receptionist of the Hostel Ljubicica. After a simple breakfast in a buregdzinica (pie house) in Baščaršija I began to have a walk towards stadium via Mula Mustafa Bašeskije Street. Since a long time, those sequences had been the only ones when I have got the opportunity to feel like a “tourist”. I never have enough time in abroad cities. I usually have my touristic experiences when I am running from one place to another. The first thing that takes my attention in Sarajevo is bullet holes on the buildings. I try to “see” the buildings instead of remains of the war, twelve years after the war, I try to see the Sarajevans who try to enjoy daily life. Anyhow, it is a bit difficult. In fact, just after a ten minutes walk I pass next to the marketplace where 63 Sarajevans were murdered with a shell. My heart is squeezed. The three-storey building of Turkish Culture Center had surprised me with its modern and nice looking. I would not expect such a thing from our guys. I went on walking straight ahead on the street while checking it from the city plan I have in my hands. And I arrived to an alley: Marshall Tito. Just at the beginning of the alley is the “Vječna Vatra” – literally means “Eternal Fire”- the monument dedicated to Partizans. You can see Roma children around this fire in winter evenings. Following the Tito Alley, just before turning right to the Koševo Street I saw a billboard. Another “Vatra” but this is “Anadolska Vatra”, the “Anatolian Fire”, which is a dance group from Turkey, similar to that of “River Dance”. I thought about watching their performance in Sarajevo that night until I learned that the tickets were already sold out last week.

Since I am on Koševo Street, I began to follow the football fans to find my way to the stadium. Being close to the stadium, I am passing next to a graveyard, which was a training pitch before the war. Since it was apart from artillery range, Sarajevans had buried their martyrs to here. Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats, all Sarajevans are here who were murdered during the war. Walking towards a slight sloppy street, after 15 minutes I reached the pre-fabrique ticket sales office and bought my ticket for “Sjever” which costs 3 KM (Kovertible Marke – 1 Euro=1,95 KM). There are some “čevapčići” (Bosnian grill) chapmen around. Of course I do not eat them. Surely not because of hygienic considerations, but to have some empty space in my stomach to try more Bosnian pies.

I go to the “curve” of the stadium on the northern side. I am looking forward to have a sort of communication with the fans. Suddenly, a boy who has got a scarf with Turkish flag on takes my attention. Unfortunately, he does only speak Bosnian language. But, some boys who can speak English help me and take me to their leaders, known as “Mai” whose fore teeth are damaged and have some scarves on his face. In fact, for me he is a cute guy. One of the boys introduces me as an anthropologist who is making a research on Sarajevo football fans. He is not interested at all. He asks something, and the boy replies “Turska”, which causes a dramatical change of Mai’s behavior towards me positively. So, lesson 1: Before you introduce yourself as an anthropologist, better to tell people that you are from Turkey.

The fan group of Sarajevo, namely “Horda Zla” (the horde of evils) was established in 1987. They are renown as being active in the trenches during the war. But –as usual- their ex-leaders Dzilda and Tselo became mafiosi after the war. Those fanatics, who were appreciated by the Sarajevans during the war had retained to their old status as “troublemakers” after the war. I had already added my article about football fans in Bosnian to my blog that was previously published in “Four Four Two”. If you wish, you can check it from the archive.

Sjever is quite fascinating with flambeau and scarf shows, with banners and poetic chants... Although I cannot understand the lyrics, obviously they are poetic. Most of the fans are warm to me. I exchange my “Alkaralar” scarf with Miki’s “Sarajevo” scarf. Miki –or Mirać, 17 years old- is one of the potential leaders of Horda Zla. His hair is dyed in blonde and he has got earrings. Son of a martyr. He is a hard fan. He was in Istanbul for the match against Beşiktaş. He admits that he brought a Turkish flag that is on the wall of his room. He is one of those who were in Belgrade in well-known match between Serbia and Bosnia.

Just after the Sarajevo – Slavija football match, there is a basketball match between KK Bosna and Partizan in Skenderija Sport Complex. The fans invite me there.

Just a few notes about rival team: Honestly, I did not have information about Slavija. I would not assume that Slavija would involve in my “football life” in Bosnia. Slavija is a team from Republika Srpska (One of the two autonomous republics in Bosnia and Herzegovina). The fan group of Slavija is “Sokolovi” (The Falcons). There were 39 of them in the match in Koševo. They use Cyrillic alphabet in their banners.

The match was quite boring and the result was 1-1. In fact, Sarajevo is the leader in Bosnian Premier League and Slavija had been one of the successful teams. After the match, I walk towards Skenderija with Horda Zla. Entrance is free for the Horda Zla, from which I benefit as well. The famous team KK Bosna will play against Partizan from Belgrade. I do not know the details very well but they play in a sort of basketball league that consists of teams from ex-Yugoslav countries. Without doubt, it takes more attention than Sarajevo-Slavija match. Senad, one of the leaders of Horda Zla shows me good place to sit and advises me to not to leave there. Match was quite exciting with KK Bosna’s victory. A few Turkish flags take my attention in the hall. I learned that when playing against Bosnian Serb teams, etc. Bosnian fans are likely to bring Turkish flag to make the rival team upset.

After the basketball match, I had a coffee with two fans in Cafe Kolobara, which was previously a caravanserai built by Ottomans.

For visuals about Slavija-Sarajevo match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-e0_4oTFAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq4LTr3-xVk

A visual from KK Bosna - Partizan basketball match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq4LTr3-xVk

THINGS ARE A BIT COMPLICATED IN BOSNIA

(Published in Turkish edition of "Four Four Two" in June 2007)

The fresh air of Sarajevo becomes extremely cold when it becomes dark. At the evening of March 24, considering the chilly weather outside I was putting on warm clothes just before leaving home to watch the match between Greece ad Turkey in a Turkish restaurant, while at the same time I was glancing over screen for the game between Norway and BiH which was played in Oslo. Yet the match had just started, Bosnian fans lit tens of flambeaus and made a heavy smoke in the stadium. It is regarded intrinsically as a great honor for fans to lit flambeaus and to halt the game for a while. Moreover, it has been a tradition in Balkans. However, now, it caused not only a few minutes, but a thirty-five minute halt which has other reasons exceeds anthropological explanations. Indeed, a banner on the rows took my attention: “NFSBiH=Mafia”. The action of Bosnian fans was aimed to protest NFSBiH (Nogometni/Fudbalski Savez Bosne i Hercegovine – Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Boro Kontic, journalist from the weekly “BH Dani” implies that besides energy, tobacco & spirits and telecommunication, “football” is one of the cash businesses in a small country like BiH. Therefore, NFSBiH is one of the important political institutions of BiH, in a country which is separated into RS (Republika Srpska) and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that consists of four Croatian, four Bosnian and two mixed cantons, though de facto administered by OHR (Office of Higher Representative). Even, Jusuf Pusina, who was the first chairman of NFSBiH had been one of the closest friends of Alija Izzetbegovic. In fact, after resigning from being the chairman of NFSBiH, Pusina is actually general consulate of BiH in Istanbul. Although Ibrahim Muratovic, a sports journalist from FTV (Federal TV) argues that Pusina was one of the main effective features behind the international recognition of NFSBiH. It is known that Bosnian football fans are not easy with NFSBiH chairmen and administration of NFSBiH. Before mentioning the relationship between football fans and NFSBiH that goes beyond the events in Oslo, it would be better to have a look at institutional development of football in BiH.

Football fans will easily remember; during the siege years, the match between those players who stayed in Sarajevo and UNPROFOR that was played at March 1994 and ended up with the 4-0 victory for the Sarajevo players took attention of the international public. NFSBiH was one of the first established institutions of BiH during the re-structuring period just after the Dayton Peace in 1995. However, recognition of NFSBiH by UEFA and FIFA had not been before RS football clubs were included, which were previously enjoying in the football leagues of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnian Serb player Vladan Grujić’s involvement in BiH national football team in October 2002 was an important step in the name of the integration in BiH football.

Although the integration of Bosnian football had well been provided, fractions especially within the fans can be easily seen in BiH football. Unsurprisingly, ethnic differences are one of the main reasons. BiH Premier League consists of sixteen clubs, where five of them are from RS, and among the BiH Federation clubs four of them recognized as Bosnian Croat and seven of them are recognized as Bosniak clubs. This fractured structure is especially very much visible in the matches between the teams from Sarajevo and Slavija. Slavija is a club from Lukavica which is a subdistrict of Sarajevo, but now re-named as Istoćniy Sarajevo (East Sarajevo) within RS territory. Since Slavija has limited number of fans, violence is not observed in the matches of Slavija in Sarajevo. On the other side, when Željezničar and Sarajevo plays in Lukavica, at least thousand fans of the visitor team raid and violence is expected. Without doubt, the most dramatical clash rooted in ethnic differentiation takes place in the matches in Mostar. As mentioned by the Bosnian hip-hop group Dubioza Kolektiv, divided by emerald green Neretva, after the collapsed of Berlin Wall, Mostar remains as the only city in Europe which is divided; the east recognized as Bosniak, and the west recognized as Croatian part. The main determinant of rivalry between Velež and Zrinjski is ethnic differentiation. Adnan, Denis and Arnis, who are members of Velez fan club “Red Army” opposes to define Velež as a Bosnian Muslim (or Bosniak) team whereas Zrinjski is recognized as Bosnian Croat club. It has to be mentioned that the struggle against recognition of football clubs by ethnic identities are mostly held by those fans of so-called Bosniak (or Bosnian Muslim) clubs. As a matter of fact, it is unlikely to see any kind of expression referring to the ethnic identities of Bosniak teams. The clubs that are from RS are recognized as Bosnian Serb, whereas those who have got the squared red-white Croatian national symbol on their emblem are recognized as Bosnian Croat clubs. The “rest” are known as Bosniak teams. It has to be mentioned that Bosnian Croat teams are usually financially equipped and RS teams enjoy hiring players from Serbia.

It is misleading to argue that the only separation in BiH football is based on ethnic differentiation. A conflict like Bizans – Antibizans in Turkey appears in BiH between the cities, so to say between Sarajevo and other cities, although we cannot talk about a strict oligarchic structure in BiH football. Having been insulted as Palanka (rural – stemming from the word “town”), those who are residents of rest of BiH except Sarajevo are unlikely to have friendly emotions towards the teams from Sarajevo being unconfident about the flow of the huge part of investments to the capital city. This is reflected in football as well. Especially, during the matches between the Zenica’s club “Čelik” and the teams from Sarajevo, bloody conflicts may occur. Even, two years ago a Željezničar fan was killed by knife after a match with Čelik. It has to be noted that, both Zeljo and Čelik are recognized as “Bosniak” teams. In case of Mostar – Sarajevo issue the case is a bit different. Whether it is Zrinjski, which is recognized by its Croatian identity, or Velež, the most important rivals of Mostar teams had always been the teams from Sarajevo.

On the other side the rivalry between Željezničar and Sarajevo is neither based on ethnic differences, nor on rural-urban (periphery-core) conflict. Not only in BiH, in all over ex-Yugoslavia many clubs do exist named Željezničar, where it literally means “railway worker” in south Slavic languages and shows similarities with clubs in Turkey such as Adana Demirspor, Ankara Demirspor, Eskişehir Demirspor, etc. However, the most famous “Željezničar ” is the one from Sarajevo. The railway workers in Grbavica district in Sarajevo established NK Željezničar in 1921. Yugoslav football, representing the Danube Ecole had boomed during Tito Era, as in BiH. In addition to Danube Ecole’s characteristics of excellent technical capabilities, increasing stamina and modern training methodologies and new collective tactics made Yugoslavia like a “football factory”. During the socialist era in Yugoslavia, new sports clubs had blossomed. One of them was FK Sarajevo, which was established by the help of local administrators in Sarajevo. One of the basic steps for the success of that club, which was also backed by Party administration, was to attract the players of the other team in the city, namely Željezničar. Since than blue-white Željezničar, and maroon-white Sarajevo are known as prominent rivals. After a while, being more or less backed by the Party administrators, Sarajevo likely became the representative of BiH in Yugoslav football, reaching the title twice, whereas Zeljo had only one. On the other side, Zeljo had won the title three times in BiH Premier League, but Sarajevo for once. At the end of 1980’s, fan groups were established in BiH, as well as in whole ex-Yugoslavia. Both Sarajevo fan group Horde Zla (Horde of Evils) and Željezničar’s fan group Maniaci (no need for translation) were formed in 1987. Before the formation of fan groups, Sarajevo fans were named as Pitari, and Željezničar fans were known as Košpicari. Pitar literally means the owner of Burek (pie) house, which signifies a person who has a well income, a good house and a good model car. On the other side, Košpicari literally means “the person who eats a lot of sunflower seeds” which is literally equal to Turkish term of “çekirdekçi”. However, differing from the Turkish meaning, košpicar is the person who wanders around with cheap sports dresses, busy with small scale illegal business, where he also eats a lot of sunflowers since it is very cheap. Today, although “pitari” is still used for Sarajevo fans, “košpicari” is not used for Željezničar fans, maybe because of its pejorative meaning, or maybe Željezničar fans have relatively more wealthy and educated vision.

Željezničar long for the good old days in BiH Premier League because of the financial crisis that they have. Being just above the death line in the first half of the season, they had a spectacular 7-1 victory against Posušje that motivated them to rise to the upper ranks. In fact, in the Sarajevo derby, which was played in FK Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium, they lost the game with the last minute goal. The poor condition of Željezničar does not seem to affect Maniaci. Besides, they continue to support their team as if they are struggling for the title. Even sometimes, Željezničar may find more support then their city rival who will probably have had won the title of BiH Premier League when this article is published. Probably, the most important factor behind that fact is that, Željezničar offers a more clearly defined and powerful identity to her fans.

Željezničar plays in Grbavica Stadium, named with the district that it is located. Being located at one of the central and important districts of the city, Grbavica Stadium is functional not only during the matches, but also other days because of the existence of shops within the stadium complex such as markets, petty ware shop, burek houses and restaurants. Moreover, since it is located in between blocks, stadium is possessed by locals. On the other side, Kosevo Stadium that was built for 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, where Sarajevo plays home matches is located relatively far from the city center and is dysfunctionally located. Therefore, it is a place where fans visit only during the matches. As mentioned by Sarajevan journalist Senad Zaimović, Sarajevo fans go to the stadium as if they are going to holiday, on the other side Željezničar fans go to the stadium, which is already internalized in their daily lives. The different spatial perception has effects on identity formation. In between, I have to mention that unalike to Turkey, it is almost impossible to meet youngsters with fan scarves or jerseys in Sarajevo daily life. The basic reason behind that is; like in any other Balkan country, football fans are perceived as unemployed, trouble making, and uneducated, low cultured persons. One of the basic reasons behind the formation of such an image is “hot” scenes from the stadiums.

In the evening of March 24, Oslo Ullevaal Stadium was like in a fire. Norwegian football fans, which were seldom shown on TV screens were staring to that “barbaric” scene. What they were thinking was very much visible on their sour faces: “God damn Balkanians, you brought your troubles to my peaceful land!” The events that halted the match for 35 minutes in Oslo was not ad hoc. It was a protest against HFSBiH and organized by the fan group called “BH Fanaticos”. But, who are BH Fanaticos?

One of the original peculiarities of BiH football is that, similar to that of Scotland, the national football team has a fan group. Those who established the BH Fanaticos are mainly the Bosnians in diaspora. The core of the group was the Bosnians in Scandinavia, and contemporarily they have got more than 3000 members from different countries who pay membership fees regularly. Only 370 of them are living in BiH, and as far as we have informed, during last month a Turkish academics that came to Bosnia for an anthropological research had paid his fee and became a member. Members do not have membership cards. Instead, they are given a special t-shirt that only the members are allowed to wear. The administration of BHF is in Sweden. I asked to Nizar Altinowi, the representative of BHF in BiH, if this situation creates a problem for the group members in BiH. Nizar, student of the Faculty of Dentistry in Sarajevo University, says that the division of duties is well done, and admits that in spite of the general outlook of the football fans, BHF members are well educated and that kind of personal problems do not exist in their groups. A friend of Nizar from the faculty, namely Mesut – citizen of Republic of Turkey, who also made Bosnian-Turkish translation during my interview with Nizar, validates that members of BHF are all “well educated boys”.

BHF was established in 2000 and had been active especially in the abroad matches of BiH national football team. BHF members from BiH do only attend in abroad matches that are geographically close to BiH. For example, it was only the members from BiH who attended the match against Moldova in Chisinau. The travel costs were partly paid by the diaspora. It is very much visible that BHF administration is quite serious on financial issues. Even, they are able to help community. For example, nowadays BHF is busy with collecting aid for the “Ljubica Ivezić” orphanage in Sarajevo where five babies had died during a fire in April 22, 2007.

Boro Kontić argues that BHF is an indicator of identity for Bosnian youngsters in diaspora, and serves as a tool to attach them to motherland. Not only the Bosniaks, but also among the members there are Bosnian Croats and Serbs. However, it has to be added that there is no attendance from Republika Srpska in BHF. The Bosnian Serbs who are members of BHF are from cities inside BiH Federation like Sarajevo, Tuzla or Zenica, as such. İbrahim Muratović points out that Bosnian Serbs in RS do never support BiH, and adds that during the match between Serbia and BiH in Beograd, half of the Serbian fans in Marakana supporting Serbian team were from RS. In fact, as he mentions, the RTRS (TV channel of RS) broadcasts football matches of Serbia when it overlaps with that of BiH.

BHF takes attention not only by the support given to the BiH national team in abroad, but also with the conflict against NFSBiH. In the manifesto titled “Rat Savezu” (War against NFSBiH) published in their website www.bhfanaticos.com, they clearly mention it and define their basic wish as total renewal of NFSBiH. The main reason for that wish is that, they argue that administrators of NFSBiH are all politicians and does not have football background. Moreover, they claim that they corrupt the Bosnian players to be in the squad. That is why, they claim, most of the Bosnian players playing abroad reject to play in the national team. Nizar admits that they wish to see Elvir Bolic as the manager, and Barbarez as the general director. Barbarez is a heroic figure not only among the BHF members, but also every football fan in BiH. Originally being from a Serbian-Bosniak family from Mostar, Barbarez does delight fans not only with the quality of football he plays, but also with his devotion to BiH. For Bosnian fans, devotion is an important issue when the NFSBiH presidency is comprised of a Bosniak member who declares that they had won 250.000 Euro after the 0-4 defeat against Greece, a Bosnian Serb member who affirms that he will support BiH only against Turkey, and a Bosnian Croat member who does not hesitate to show his support to Croatian national football team in the World Cup while donating his family with Croatian jerseys and flags. As asserted in the lyrics of the song “Rat Savezu” which may be defined as the “hymn” of BHF and sung by “Frenkie & King Mire”:

Kraljice Bosno nemoj se vise bojat
(Bosnia my queen, do not be afraid anymore.)
mi smo tvoj stit i necemo te prodat
(We are your protective shields, and we will not sell you.)

After the actions of BHF in Oslo, NFSBiH is fined for 36.600 Euro. The next match of BiH will be against Turkey. Nizar mentions that they will attend to the match individually but not as a group to boycott the NFSBiH. I ask: “Who will be victorous?”. He replies: “We have to win to be promoted from the group hand-in-hand with Turkey.” As being a member of BHF and a citizen of Republic of Turkey, I smile by knowing that “we” will win.

(Translated from Turkish by: Özgür Dirim Özkan)

For the draft of the article in "pdf" (acrobat reader) format:

http://rapidshare.com/files/68617481/bosna.pdf

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