16 years ago, a friendly match was played between Bosnia and Croatia in Sarajevo, and throughout the match, Bosnian fans chanted a slogan to anger the Croats: "Zagreb će biti Turska mahala" (Zagreb will be a Turkish quarter)
When I saw the fridge magnets embroidered with the Croatian flag on the map of Turkey on Twitter, that match came to my mind.
Of course, there is no point in producing conspiratorial theories. There must have been some confusion at the factory in China, where all the magnets are made. But here are some Balkan issues
The article I shared about my match impressions 16 years ago is here.
Saturday 3 December 2022
Željezničar – Konyaspor
Stadium: Grbavica / Sarajevo
Time: November 29, 2022 – 18.00
I haven't posted on this blog for a long time.
The reason why I opened this page in 2007 was to create a medium where I could
write comfortably by going out of the academy from time to time during my
doctoral dissertation study on "Football support in Sarajevo". For a
while, Turkey was always matched with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the same
qualifying groups, and the articles on the blog mostly focused on the national
team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In other words, the axis of the blog had
inadvertently shifted from the Bosnian league to the national team of Bosnia.
After that, I completely distanced myself from the subject and my interest in
Bosnian football decreased to the level of one or two games a year.
Fortunately, I was in Sarajevo in the most
important matches of the last 10 years. I was in Grbavica for the first night
game on 22 April 2009 after the reconstruction of the war-torn lighting system.
On April 1, 2017, I was at the stadium in the first match of the newly constructed Grbavica's
East Stand (Istok). I won't make any promises, but I can share a few notes on
these matches later. As far as I remember…
Unfortunately, I could not attend
Željezničar's 100th Anniversary celebrations last year. I had to content myself
with staring at the lights of Grbavica with sad eyes as I grappled with the
scourge of Covid at home.
Grbavica through my window.
There have been some developments lately that
has made me refocus on Bosnian football culture. At the end of the summer, a
message came from Tanıl Bora, editör of the respected social sciences
periodical Toplum ve Bilim (Society and Science): “Would you write something
about the World Cup in Qatar?” Of course, I could not refuse it. Thus began the
process that allowed me to take “football culture” seriously again. At the end
of September, I prepared an online presentation on “Bosnian women's football”
at a conference in Zagreb. When I announced this on social media, a few friends
encouraged me to restart my studies on Bosnian football.
It has been almost 15 years since I finished
my one-year field research for my thesis, and when I look back, I realized that
Bosnian football culture did not take a lot attendance in the meanwhile by other
scholars. I thought that it would not be bad to focus on the subject again.
Moreover, this time, I do not have an obligation such as a "thesis".
After spending almost the entire Fall in
Turkey, coming back to Sarajevo I decided to renew my enthusiasm for Bosnian football
culture as soon as I arrived.
While looking at my social media accounts, I
came across an announcement from Željezničar's official Twitter account: There
was a friendly match against Konyaspor on November 29. Here is the opportunity
to start my field research again!
After 15 years, I took the road to Grbavica
again as an ethnographer. In fact, I have been to Grbavica several times during
this period. After all, it is the team of my neighborhood…
My first match in Grbavica and the first photos I have taken for the fieldwork.
The match with Konyaspor is Željo's fourth
match against a Turkish team, and all four matches are friendly. They played
their first match against Adana Demirspor (Railway workers’ club of Adana) in
1953 and won 4-1. Long live the brotherhood of railway workers! In the summer
of 1965, they went on a tour to Istanbul and drew 0-0 with Galatasaray and
defeated Beşiktaş 1-0. In the previous evening's match, they lost 2-1 to
Konyaspor.
In the first minutes of the match, it was obvious
that the football players from Konyaspor had a very weak relationship with the slippery
ground. The temperature, which reached 2 Celsius at the time of the match,
pointed to the "hidden icing" and the football players of Konyaspor
were constantly slipping and falling. I was thinking: “Oh guys, did you come
from Antalya?” as Konya is also known to be under effect of continental
climate with freezing temperatures in winter. However, they recovered quickly
as and found their first serious goal-posting in the seventh minute. Just after,
in the eighth minute, Konya scored the first goal with Iche Ikpeazu. In the
ninth minute, Željo's Brazilian Santos dribbled well from the left, but his
last shot was bad. In the 11th minute, with Croatian player Pavicic’s goal, Konya
doubled the lead. Željo responded with Haydarevic in the 21st minute. You can
watch how interesting this goal is in the 14-minute video shared on
Željezničar's official Youtube account.
The remaining 70 minutes of the game,
especially the last half hour, were terribly boring. The cold and misty weather
may have also been effective. Although there was movement in the last
minutes, it was not enough to warm either the players or us, who were about
to freeze in the stands. The referee was merciful and finished the match
exactly in the 90th minute. Without adding one single second as extra time…
Maybe it wasn't a very bright match for
football, except for the first 20 minutes, but there were emotional and
beautiful moments. Two Bosnian players of Konyaspor, İbrahim Şehiç and Amir
Hacıahmetovic, got plenty of applause and cheers from the stands as they left
the game. Şehiç and Hacıahmetovic, who took the first steps of their football
careers in Grbavica, were announced as "children of Željo". Born in
1997 in Denmark, Hadziahmetovic started playing football in Nexo and spent
seven years in Željo between 2009 and 2016. He has been on the A team for the
last two years. The goalkeeper Şehic, born in 1988, started football in Željo
and played in Željo between 2007-2011. Hacıahmetovic was in the champion squad
in 2009/10 and Şehic in 2014/15.
What about the fans?
As I mentioned above, during my fieldwork in
2007, with one exception, I watched all the matches in Grbavica with Željo's
legendary fan group Manijaci (Maniacs) in the south stand (Jug). Actually, “I
watched the matches” would be a misnomer. It would be more accurate to say that
I watched the ones who are watching the matches. The only exception was the
match when Manijaci watched in the north stand (Sjever) due to the snow in the
south stands.
After I submitted my thesis, as a family man,
I watched it in Sjever with middle-aged audiences called “pabuçari”, that is,
“slippers”. Since I started field research again, I had to return to Jug. Jug
had about 100 fans in all. I toured the terraces a few times but couldn't
meet any of the old fans. The main fan base was in İstok, the newly opened
eastern tribune. Maybe the fans who were in Jug 15 years ago preferred Istok,
whereas they get older, they are less rough-and-tumble. It is necessary to
experience Istok in the upcoming matches.
The newly constructed Istok (East) terraces.
Of course, the performance of the fans was
quite low due to the friendly match. Before the start of the match, there was a
nice ambiance while the famous song of Tifa, Željezničar's trademark "Grbavica",
was played on the loudspeakers of the stadium, but Grbavica was almost silent
throughout the match.
If you want to listen "Grbavica" from Tifa:
In the meantime, about ten fans of Konyaspor
in Zapad (West) tribune, and about 20 in Istok, attracted my attention. They
were probably Turkish students in Sarajevo.
It is quite difficult for me to acceot that this heroic locomotive symbolizing Zeljo is dumped outside of the stadium.
After last night's Nigeria-Bosnia match, Bosnia and Herzegovina had a farewell to Brasil 2014. For Bosnia, the match against Iran will not be more than a struggle for prestige. In this circumstance, we have more time to read about Bosnian football culture, than watching the games.
In June, three articles are published about Bosnian football and the fans of the Bosnian national football team. Simon Kuper's article published in June 6, 2014 in Fiancial Times titled "Bosnia and Herzegovina's World Cup Debut" is the first one. In the article, Kuper does not have a claim to discover something new about football in Bosnia. But, having been stayed in Bosnia to work on this article, he just transmits the Bosnian reality through his eyes. Without doubt, it is a great joy to read Bosnian football from the writer of "Football Against Enemy", the legendary masterpiece on sociology of football. It is known that, the person who only knows about football, in fact does not know anything football. That is why Kuper's articles are that enjoyable to read and they are that brain blooming: Because his point of interest is not only football. Indeed, when he was in Sarajevo, he wrote one more article titled "Sarajevo: The Crossroads of History" about the 100th anniversary of Ferdinand's assasin, which was the reason to start the First World War.
This is the article, by which I mean as +1 in the headline of this blog entry.
The second article is written by a young journalist: Fatih Saboviç. As can be understood from his surname, he is of Bosnian origin living in Turkey. He wrote an article titled: "Boşnak, Hırvat, Sırp Omuz Omuza" (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats are Shoulder to Shoulder) relying on an interview he did with the leader of Bh Fanticos. The article is in Turkish and was published in Hürriyet daily newspaper one day before Nigeria-Bosnia match, June 20, 2014. Like Kuper, Fatih is also interested in many other issues apart from football as well and a young journalist around 23-24 years old, which would be nice to keep an eye on. Despite his young age, the codes of ethics of journalism that he respects, his maturity in his vacational professionlism and moreover his standpoint in life makes him better than many of those who are regarded as masters of sports journalism in Turkey. This interview was based on intelligent questions, with cleverly put outcomes. The only thing I oppose in this article is the title. Only in a small part of the interview, Sanin Kariç, the leader of BH Fanaticos menitons about his will more than the reality: "Croats and Serbs in Bosnia are also with us.. We all cosntruct a united power". And it was carried to the headline by the ediotr of the newspaper. The third article examines the issue from an opposite point of view. In fact, more than describing the current situation it seeks to find reasons about why the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats do not support the Bosnian national football team. The article written by me, titled "Perception of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Qualification to World Cup 2014" was published last week in the latest issue of Sportmont, the journal of the Montenegrin Academy of Sports.
I had writtten a blog entry about my visit to Podgorica last May. Although I could not take attention of Genclerbirligi club management for the trasnfer of Stefan Magusa, at least I managed to write an acadamic article.
I think, those who are interested in Bosnian football culture will enjoy reading those articles..
In February
2006, when it was the first time for me to be in Sarajevo, I was a bit amazed
when I saw the crowd on the streets of Sarajevo, despite the freezing cold.
Around midnight, when I went out to eat something, this time I was surprised
that the streets were almost totally empty, opposite to what I have seen only
two hours ago!
After some time I spent in Sarajevo, I have seen that the night
life in Sarajevo is not surviving on “territorial” basis, but on some special
points. In other words, the streets may be empty, but certain pubs hidden in a
silent street or under a building can be a good host for those who want to
enjoy the night life in Sarajevo.
This is a “football
blog” and I will surely not talk about night life in Sarajevo. However,
football became a part of night life in Sarajevo where the matches start in
midnight.
…and an
anecdote:
Year: 1986.
The World Cup is organized in Mexico. The one when we could watch Valdano, Igor
Balnov, Butragueno, Rummenige, where Gary Lineker was the top goal scorer and
Maradona scored by the help of God’s hand. Mexico is not in the southern
hemisphere like Brazil is. In mid-June, the matches were played under the hell
shining sun of Mexico. But we, or better to say, our fathers, could watch the
games in the chilly nights. Some matches were starting at 01:00 and it was not
that easy for a kid to watch the games, whose mother is a primary school
teacher.
But, in the middle of the night somebody pokes you when you are sleeping: “Dirim,
wake up. There is the match of Platini…” While murmuring and rubbing the eyes a
critical warning comes from dad: “Ssshhh. Be silent. If you mother will wake
up, she will settle our hash.” My dad could not allow his son to miss his
favourite player’s matches…
The
concepts of “World Cup” and “watching the match in the midnight” have not been
far away for my perception. I also remember that we were forced to match early
in the morning, with semi-sleeping eyes during the World Cup 2002 in
Japan-Korea, and therefore, I always prefer to watch a match in the midnight
instead of early in the morning, relying on my experiences.
Cinema Kriterion,
which was opened three years ago in Sarajevo, and soon became a point of
attraction by intellectuals and artists, organized an activity. Before the
match, one episode of the documentary “Football Rebels” would be shown which is
about Predrag Pasic, an ex-player of Yugoslav National Team and recognized by
his football school Bubamara for children whom he opened during the war when
the city was under the rain of shells. After the documentary show, Predrag Pasic
was there to reply the questions of the audience. After this activity, there
was the live match broadcast on cinema screen.
I had to be
there…
A short description
of the place for those who have been in Sarajevo, or who will soon visit here:
Kriterion is by Miljacka River. Just 50 meters to Dom Syndikata (for those who
know; the place where there was my wedding), on the opposite side of the Greek
embassy. Visit there when you come. Enjoy a beer.
I enjoyed
the documentary film. More enjoyable was to meet with Predrag Pasic.
Kriterion and Worl Cup Beer Special Small draft beer: 2 KM Big draft beer: 3 KM
First 15 minutes of the match: Pan Beer + Rakija: 2.5 KM Tuborg Beer ++ Rakija: 3,5 KM
After every goal of our team: Reneval of the drinks, on the house.
After the
documentary film, the cinema saloon began to be crowded. Kriterion was ready
for the match, not with the crowd, but with the offers as well. In the first 15
minutes of the match, a beer and a rakija were for 2.5 KM (1.25 Euros).
Moreover, renewal of the drinks is free after Bosnia’s each goal.
A betting
table was prepared on the blackboard before the match. I suppose Marko had his
free beer after his correct guess.
I betted
for 0-0. I was thinking that strong teams like Argentina would prefer to have a
wary start for the tournament and so would be Bosnia as well, playing their
first match in World Cup. So was I as well. I learned to be wary since I
guessed 7-0 victory for Bosnia against Turkey, four years ago in a TV show in
Turkey and I decided to bet for a modest record.
However, I
managed to be subject to reactions when I was writing my bet. Bosnians neither
would like to talk about a defeat, nor about a draw. The cars and fireworks
were ready in Sarajevo for celebrating Bosnia’s victory against Argentina.
Some say “Bosnia
needs a success”. They believe that a success of Bosnian national team in World
Cup may change the bad luck of this country. There are those who believe that a
Bosnian Croats or Bosnian Serbs may begin to support Bosnian national team, and
a belief on unity of the country may revive thanks to a success in football. I
am not that much optimistic about it. Recently I have written an article about
this and it is just published in Sportmont, the journal of Montenegrin Academy
of Sports. Soon, I will load the article in my blog.
Predrag Pasic,
the experienced football player, an experienced intellectual and an experienced
citizen of Sarajevo, expressed his pessimism and claimed that unless the
problems in political sphere are solved, it would be a dream to expect that
Bosnian Croats or Bosnian Muslims would support Bosnian national team.
It also has
to be noted that the first eleven of Bosnian squad was all Bosnian Muslim,
except Zvijezdan Misimovic.
Just at the
beginning of the match, the silence covered the souls in the cinema when the
Schalke 04’s young left wing defender, who decided to Bosnian national rejecting
the offer from German national team, Kolasinac scored an own goal. The smoke
from the cigarettes in the cinema rose from the disappointed Bosnians. Yes,
here is Bosnia and we watch the match in cinema with beers and cigarettes.
Despite the
early goal, Bosnia does not give up. They exhibit the beauties of Yugoslav
football with elegant offensive faults, with nice ankle movements, and with
short, rapid and direct passes. But they are not lucky to score. Statistics of
the match show that as well. The number of shots on goal and shots on target of
Bosnian squad is more than that of Argentina. On the other side, they lose a
lot of passes especially when the team is on attack.
The
potential stars of the match were also silent. Dzeko was marked man-to-man
quite well. And Messi was even marked by three defenders from time to time.
Another young star of Bosnia; Muhammed Besic, who was born in Berlin in 1992,
and currently playing for Ferencvaros, was like the shadow of Messi during the
whole match. It is even rumored that they saw Besic just in front of the door
of Messi’s room in the hotel after the match, waiting for him to go out.
Obala Naba Kulina street and Kriterion behind during the half time of the match.
There was a
very good game in the first half an hour. But it began to be a bit boring
afterwards. I went out to have fresh air next to Miljacka in the half time.
Obala Bana Kulina was almost empty and only a few cars were passing on Sarajevo’s
one of the main streets, which was opposite to the scene just before the match.
In the
second half, Messi proved his talents and scored the second goal of Argentina at
65th. I personally had hopes for Bosnia but drowsiness was settled
on Bosnian squad. In the last five minutes, they woke up from their sleep and a
veteran player, Vedad Ibisevic scored at 85, increasing the hopes as well. But
a second goal did not follow.
I witnessed
something in Sarajevo after the match, which I have never seen before: Traffic
jam at 2 am!
However, we
reserve our hedonist attitudes for a victory against Nigeria for tonight!
I have presented a paper about my PhD research, and it is published as a "working paper". The paper can be regarded as a short summary of my PhD thesis titled; "Football Fandom and Formation of
Cultural Differences in Bosnia: A Comparative Ethnographic Study on FK Željezničar and FK Sarajevo Fans in Sarajevo". If you want to read it, please click HERE.
And please visit HERE to see other working papers not only submitted in the conference in Vienna, but also includes those which were presented in the four other conferences as a part of FREE project.
FK Mladost
is not a team from Bosnia, but from Montenegro. However, I believe that those
who are interested in Bosnian football culture would also enjoy reading
something about football in Montenegro. Apparently, both countries have common
political, historical and cultural traits, and having a common Yugoslav past is
one of the important junctions where both countries share similar patterns in
football culture.
…
Çemovsko Polje and the surrounding Dinaric Alps.
When
compared with the scale of the country, Montenegro has a relatively successful
national football team. They ranked at 3rd place behind England and Ukraine in
FIFA 2014 qualifying group chalking up a total 15 points. The other teams in
the group were Poland, Moldova and San Marino. On the other side Montenegrin
football league is considered as one of the low quality one according to UEFA ranking
where they stand at 42nd place above Liechtenstein and below Iceland. But they
are a bit better this season, since they were at 43rd place last year.
…
Years ago,
Botaşspor from Adana (Southern Turkey) the sports club of the Iraq-Turkey crude
petrol pipeline company, which was quite famous with Women Basketball Team,
where I also was a licensed swimmer for a while, decided to establish a
football club. As was the case for the female basketball team, the first
players of the football team were the children of the employees of the company.
Although we moved from Adana to Ankara in 1987, I used to keep on spending overall
one month of a year as part of my winter and summer holidays in Adana, in Botaş.
Like any other teenager, I was playing football with my friends just before the
sunset, when the Mediterranean sun was just to lose its sharpness. From time to
time, we used to watch the training matches of Botaşspor.
There was a
player in the team. Let’s keep his name anonymous and use a nick name: Orhan.
Orhan was a good player; he was playing with his heart. But his passion was
causing him to leave his territory from time to time which was making the
trainer a bit mad about it. Trainer calls him: “Orhan!” Orhan does not hear.
Trainer increases his voice: “Orhaaan!” No reply from Orhan. Trainer calls him
with his voice at optimum level: “ORHAAAAAN, to whom I am calling hah?!” Finally,
Orhan turns his face to trainer: “What the f.ck!” Surely, an unexpected reply
from the player which makes the spectators to laugh a lot, and trainer is
unsurprisingly calm: “You will see the f.ck”.
After many years, a similar scene in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro takes
me to the memories…
FK Mogren
Budva is playing against the team of the capital city; FK Mladost Podgorica.
The defender right wing player of Mogren is a handsome young man. He does not
play bad. His timing in interference, his sense of keeping ground is quite well
but he just looks a little bit unserious. His hand is always on his shorts,
pulling it down in search for following low-hip fashion trend. His levity makes
the trainer mad. Trainer calls him: “Jovane”. Jovan does not hear. Trainer
increases his voice: “Jovaneeee!” No reply from Jovan. Trainer calls him with
his voice at optimum level: “JOVANEEEEEEE?!” Finally, Jovan turns his face to
trainer: “Jebote Jovane.” (F.ck your Jovan) We laugh in the rows and the
trainer silently goes back to benches.
Mogren was
leading the match 1-0 away when this anecdote appeared, which took me to
memories. However, at the end Mogren lost 3-2 and I do not have an idea what
kind of communication occurred between Jovan and trainer in the dressing room.
…
Geographical location of Montenegro and the mountains topography of the country. (Spurce: freeworldmaps.net)
Montenegro
is a small country. Just about 13 thousand square kilometers. But distances are
far. Deserving the name, Montenegro is surrounded by high and sharp rocky
mountains.
When I left
Sarajevo ahead to Podgorica, to attend the conference organized by Montenegrin
Academy of Sports, (http://www.sportmont.ucg.ac.me/conference2014/)
I already had a pre-vision that it would be a journey that would stem some
nostalgic memories. One night before, when I checked the web site of the bus
company I was quite surprised that O303 Mercedes buses, which were produced in
early 1990’s in Turkey were still in charge in intercity roads, even in
inter-national routes.
When I was
in the bus station in the morning, another surprise was waiting for me. I would
not be travelling to Podgorica from Sarajevo by a bus, but by a midibus for
seven hours! The midibus was one of the first exemplars of Iveco which were
produced by Otoyol in Turkey in 1990’s.
Since for a
long time I do not calculate the distances in Balkans in terms of kilometers.
If so, then it is very likely that you may face some small surprises. You have
to take notice on duration of the travel rather than the distance. Then, for
example, the 250 kilometers of travel which will take seven hours will not make
you to be psychologically tired of travelling. It is not only the vehicle which
makes the duration longer, but also the topography. Montenegro really deserves
her name and curvy road through the sharp mountains is not an exception. But
what a panoramic view!
On the
contrary to general topography of Montenegro, Podgorica was established on a
plain. The name Podgorica means “Down the Mount Gorica”. Podgorica is located a
flat plain, but surrounded by mountains.
Road to Podgorica from Sarajevo by the bench of River Piva.
One of the numerous tunnels on the road.
The
population of Podgorica is almost 170 thousands. But it is a capital city! According
to tourist guides, it is a waste of time to visit Podgorica. Indeed, the city
was not of importance before Tito Era, with a population of 10-15 thousands.
The city’s population had dramatically increased in Tito era, while the city’s
name was replaced to Titograd; City of Tito.
Podgorica stays
under the shadow of Montenegro’s tourist attracted historical cities on the
coast like Budva, Kotor, and Herceg Novi. Podgorica does not have a coast, the
night life is stagnant and the life is without any spirit after 23:00 and for
sure, only one from Ankara, which shares the same attributions, may enjoy
Podgorica.
Podgorica
should be loved. If one wants to claim that he/she has been in Montenegro, he/she
has to visit Podgorica. Moreover, he/she should make a journey through those
mountains to Serbia or to Bosnia, preferably with those outdated buses. Only
than he/she can claim that he/she has been in Podgorica.
…
The University
of Montenegro arranged a tour in the last day of the symposium to a historical
monastery about 15 kilometers to the city center. Some colleagues did not want
to miss the opportunity to visit the historical temple. What a coincidence
that, at that time there was a football match in Podgorica as well. Certainly,
the temple of a football fan is not a monastery! To be honest, I have to confess
that I had a dilemma between going to the football match, and going to that
historical monastery. The other day, I have realized that experiencing a city
in my case began to be limited only to experience the gastronomic and footballist
affluences. I am slightly considering making a change. Probably it would be
easier for me to retreat from different tastes but footbalism is a difficult to
be treated sickness. That, frankly speaking, even before leaving from Sarajevo
I took the notes about matches to be played in Montenegro, and I have to
confess that it was not coincidence.
While my colleagues
were on the way to the historical monastery, I was already in Çemovsko Polje
(Çemovsko plain), which also known as the Stari Aerodrom (old airport).
Montenegrin First League involves 12 teams. FK Mladost Podgorica is the 10th on
the table with 23 points, and will play against FK Mogren Budva 11th on the
table with 22 points. The other team of the capital city; FK Buduçnost will
have an away match against Rudar Pljevlija, a team from Sandjak region on the
North of Montenegro. Rudar means “miner” which already evokes sympathy.
Pljevlija is also like the homeland of my wife’s father’s side.
Buduçnost is
the leading team of Podgorica. They do not play their matches in plain or on
meadow, but in the biggest stadium of the city; “Podgorica Stadium”. In fact,
Buduçnost have always been supported by the city elites. I do not know if they
have got a story of being promoted to a higher league by military regime but
they always had more fans than Mladost. (1) The colors of the team are navy blue
and white. If it would be yellow instead of white, it would be more ironical. The
“other” team has the red color. (2) The more striking fact is the name of the
team with the red color: Mladost Podgorica means Youth of Podgorica, also
resembles that of Gençlerbirliği, which literally means Union of Juvenile or
Union of Youth. Is it possible that a man from Ankara, a fan of Gençlerbirliği
will not have some passion towards that team?
Next to the
1500 capacity stadium of Mladost in Çemovsko Polje, there is the management
building and training field of Buduçnost.
The rows
are not full just before the match. There are around 150 fans that came to
watch the match in a rainy day.
Mladost playing against Mogren. Behin the pitch the administrative building of Buducnost on the left, and their training fild behind, and Mladost's administrative building on the right.
FK Mladost
was established in 1950 with the name FK Mladost Titograd. The name was changed
into OFK Titograd (Olympic Football Club) in 1960. In 1990, the name was turned
into Mladost again. But this time the name Titograd was replaced with Podgorica
due to change in city’s name. The biggest success of Mladost in Yugoslav
Football League was a fourth rank in the second division in 1956-57. Mladost’s
history is the story of relegations to third division, and promotion to second
division. During Miloşeviç’s Yugoslavia, when only the teams from Serbia and
Montenegro participated in the Yugoslav league, they succeeded to be fourth in
the second division twice during the last two seasons.
Since
Montenegro became independent in 2006, their biggest success was to be the
fifth rank in 2010-11, but it has to be noticed that in even the miniature
Montenegrin football league, they have played in second division for two years.
This season
have historical contributions to the club’s history: For the first time in
history, Mladost participated in European cups. They have passed Hungarian
Videoton after the first qualification matches, and Slovakian FK Senica after
the second qualification matches of the UEFA Europa League. But in the third
qualification, they have crashed into Spain’s famous Sevilla after 6-1 home and
3-0 away defeats. This season, FK Mladost Podgorica struggles not to be relegated
to the second division of Montenegro.
In this
context, the match Mogren and Mladost is a match for “6 points”. If they will lose,
Mogren will be two points above Mladost. If not, than the difference between
two teams will increase to five points which will be a great advantage for
Mladost.
Wandering
around the club’s building, I meet with a veteran player of Mladost. I had a
short football chat with him. I asked him about the hero of my teenager years;
Dejan Saviçeviç. The legendary player of legendary Red Star who won the UEFA
Cup in 1991, who has been the chairman of the Montenegrin Football Association
since the independency of Montenegro. I was trembled when I heard that Dejan
Saviçeviç would come to watch the match the match since his son is playing for
Mladost. How is it possible not to tremble! Is it possible to forget a
legendary player who was first playing in Red Star and then in Milan, and the
reason behind my choice to be manager of Milan in the earliest versions of the “Championship
Manager”? How delightful would it be to meet with him after years!
The famous driblings of the legendary Savicevic:
The unforgettable part of the interview with Savicevic in Zagreb:
As soon as
I had the information, I went to VIP section. I will do my best to meet with
Savicevic. It was not that much difficult to enter in the VIP section. A club
officer on duty asked me:”Where are you going?” Relying on the sympathy of
speaking his language as a foreigner, I asked him if I could watch the match in
VIP since it is raining and it is the only covered part of the stadium. He asks
where I was from, and I replied: “I am Turkish but I live in Sarajevo”.
Probably it is not very common to see some Turks coming to visit to watch a
match of Mladost. He turns to VIP tribune and asks the oldies in the tribune if
there is a place for a Turk. The VIP tribune, almost full of elder fans is a
bit surprised but yet hospitable. They even gave me a piece of newspaper to put
over the seat. What a VIP tribune! I feel almost like among the “ihtiyarlar”
(oldies) in Gençlerbirliği tribunes. I seat in between footballcholic oldies
which are like our Hamdi Reis, Necdet Abi and Ozan Abi.
The "oldies" in Mladost tribune.
...and our oldies.
Before coming to the match I have had a basic research about Mladost in web and learned that the fans of Mladost call themselves “Romanticari” (Romantics). I asked to one of the oldies if he is “romantic”. The reply is simple and clear: “I do not know, ask it to my wife”.
Oldies are
a bit curious about me. It can be considered as a normal act to visit Podgorica
for a symposium, but it was quite difficult for me to convince them that the
one and only aim of mine to come to Çemovsko Polje in a rainy day is to watch a
match. They are quite stubborn to assume that I am a scout. I somehow managed
to tell the truth in difficulty. In the meantime, rain quites down and the rows
on the left and right side of the VIP section begin to welcome fans. It seems
the 150-200 fans overall do not enjoy disturbing the football players. They are
so calm during the match.
Maybe they do not like to cheer for the team, but they
watched the game with an optimum attention during the whole match. Different
than what I usually do, instead of watching the fans, I decide to watch the
game on the pitch.
During the
first quarter of the match, Mogren seemed to be more effective. The Yugoslav school
of football could heavily be felt. Both of the teams prefer to make short
passes in their own side of the pitch and try to aim goal with long, side balls
and whenever they lose the ball in those attacks, they do not hesitate to make
Yugoslav fault. Despite the position in the European ranking, both teams
perform a very tough game, but still in a virtuous style. The young players
from both of the teams play not only with their muscles, but also with their
brains and with their hearts. However, Mogren players seem to be a bit more
willing. I get the information that Mogren club could not pay the salaries of
football players for a long time, since the club passes through serious financial
problems
Mogren
players were able to use the ball with vertical and cross passes in their own
half of the pitch. Since they realized that Mladost players were not as willing
as they are, they began to organize the game closer to the midfield, going
forward as a block. The left wing defender Luka Pejovic, with the dress number
16 was a key player for the fast attacks. In fact he is one of the most
experienced players in the team: 29 years old and has a national squad experience
in his career.
Although
Mogren was more effective in the first half of the game, the player of Mladost
with the dress number 9 began to take my attention as well. During rare attacks
of Mladost, this young man creates serious problems alone for Mogren defense. I
got some information from the fans about him that his name is Stefan Mugoşa and
he is recognized as the best player in the squad. The 22 years old Mugoşa have
5 appearances in U-21 squad of the Montenegrin national football team, scoring
3 goals. (3) He took part in the squad of Montenegrin national football team as
a substitute when Montenegro lost 2-5 against Moldova at home on October 15,
2013. Mugoşa plays as an attacking midfielder and takes attention with his self-confident,
modest posture. I have learned that Red Star is keeping an eye on him, but it
is also know that the Belgrade team also has serious financial problems.
Stefan Mugosa:
Another
player who takes my attention in Mladost is Radule Zivkovic whose dress number
is 2 and reminds me legendary right wing defender of Beşiktaş; Recep Çetin aka
Takoz (chock) Recep who was the best right wing defender in his time and he was
recognized by his tough tackles which would not allow left wing attackers to
pass him. Like Takoz Recep, Zivkovic does not hesitate to send the ball as far
as possible by kicking the bottom part of the ball and his strong posture with relatively
short height and wide chest with a similar appearance to those Irish boxers reminds
him more like Takoz Recep.
Vladimir
Savicevic, the son of legendary player Dejan Savicevic, with dress number 10 is
at the focus of Mladost fans. I am curious if he is playing in the team because
he has talent, or is it thanks to his father. Fans claim that he is really
good, but I could not witness it during the match.
Mogren had
a rapid start in the second half of the game. By 56th minute they
were just to score the first goal of the match. Just two minutes after that
they found it by Milan Durisic. They even missed a very close goal. After the
goal, Mogren players show signs to be exhausted or not any more willing.
Until then,
the right wing defender of Mogren with dress number 15 was also taking
attention with his performance. He has a very good timing and he is very good
in sweeping the ball from his zone. His name is Jovan Baoşiç, whom I have
quoted above his reply to the trainer of the team. Although he was playing
well, minutes passing by, he loses his seriousness in the game. He is just 19
years old, at the beginning of his career, but since he loses his seriousness,
his performance in the game declines. And during the last half an hour of the
game, the left wing for Mladost attackers turns to be a free-to-pass corridor.
The trainer of the team asks him: “Jovane, hoçeş li kafu?” means “Jovan, do you
want a coffee?”
Sun shows its face in the second half and had a vitalizing effect on the
players, but it seems that it has only affected Mladost players. Finally by the
72nd minute Mugoşa, the star of Mladost denests the ball among two
Mogren defenders and scores with a nice short drop shot into the net. Just 6 minutes after that goal, he scores one
more with a head kick to a cross coming from the right wing and shows that 189 centimeter tall Mugoşa is also
not bad with high balls. It is now 2-1.
Mogren is
under shock, but it is not enough. Just one minute after this goal, Mugoşa
scores one more and reaches hat-trick within 7 minutes and carries his team to 3-1
from 0-1. The man of the game Mugoşa scored three goals, but it seems he does
not lose anything from his posture, goes on playing serious and keeps his
modesty. On the other side, it is visible that his stamina is not that good.
In 90+2, Durisic,
the scorer player of Mogren scores for his team but it is too much late to turn
the game, which results with a 3-2 victory for the home team Mladost.
My biggest
expectation from the match was not realized. Probably, because of the rainy
weather, Dejan Savicevic did not come to watch the game, but my heart begins to
beat for another team from Balkans. Moreover, in this small country, I had the
joy to watch the match with a handful of nice and kind people who are in love
with a modest team.
PS 1) This ironic paragraph refers to
rivalry between Gençlerbirliği and Ankaragücü in Turkey’s capital city.
Gençlerbirliği had always been a smaller club with less fan support and
Ankaragücü has always been more popular club of the city. Military regime’s efforts
to promote Ankaragücü to the top league in Turkey have also to be noticed to perceive
the irony behind those sentences.
PS 2)Refers to the colors of Ankaragücü which
are yellow and navy blue, and Gençlerbirliği has black-red.
PS 3)During the days when I was writing
this article, Tanıl Bora, a significant intellectual in Turkey, who writes
every Tuesday to Turkish daily newspaper Radikal about football, wrote an
article titled: “Establish a team, with less Scorpio, and more Cancer” about
the relationship between astrology and football. A quotation from the article:
“The squad of Gençlerbirliği is full of Pisces (Ahmet, Gosso, Nizamettin,
Petroviç, Yusuf Emre). Diagnosis for those Pisces who play in their position: A
type of a player who can do any job which is needed, can be a multidirectional
player, or can get lost if he will not able to find his position”
Maguşa’s birthdate is February 26, 1992. A Pisces. I do not believe in
astrology, but would be good for those who believe in astrology to know that.
PS 4)When I was writing this article,
Mladost and Mogren played again in Podgorica on April 9, 2014 for the first leg
of the semi-final of the Montenegrin Cup and Mladost was victorious again with 2-0.
One of the goals was from Mugoşa.
Last week, just after the leave of
Carvalhal from Beşiktaş when the Turkish newspapers mentioned about a probable
transfer of Slaven Bilic, I immediately checked the Croatian newspapers to
check the rumors. As well known, when the issue is about “transfer” or media is
more likely to publish fantastic fictive stories than real news. However, the
rumors were verified by Croatian newspapers as well, that Biliç had declared he
might think about joining Beşiktaş, following the European Football
Championship.
I have a sort of sympathy to Slaven Biliç,
since I used a photo of him for an article in this blog that I have written
just after the Turkey-Croatia match in Wien in 2008. For some reason, the
sorrow in Biliç’s face, and his attempts to solace the tear drops of his footballers
seemed to be very ingenuous to me. After the loss of Croatia by penalty kicks,
Biliç’s attempts to solace his players like a brother was noticed very clearly.
Like a brother, but not like a godfather, which is the usual visage that we,
Turkish football fans are familiar to see on Turkish trainers?
Three years after, almost five and a half
months before now, when Turkey and Croatia were rooted in play-off match for
the European Football Championship, referring to what I have written previosly
in my blog, I wrote another article relying on a review of Turkish and Croatian
newspapers.
I came up with an interesting thing:
Turkish newspapers were mentioning about Croats fear of this draw because of
their unforgettable unpleasant experience in 2008. When I checked the newspapers
from Croatia, I have seen the cheers for “revenge” and I have seen how they
were happy to have the opportunity for the revenge after three years. Among
this atmosphere of revenge, Slaven Biliç was distinguished with his speeches
free of any hatred discourse. He was mentioning the quality of Turkish team,
but emphasizing that Croatia was a better team. He even had uttered the
opportunity to take the revenge but even that was not enough for the Croatian
media who blamed him to be coward. However, the cool speech of Biliç away from
a hatred discourse made my sympathy towards him to increase.
When I checked his career, I have seen that
I was not wrong about my views on Biliç. The young trainer, who was born in
1968 was shined when he was playing as a defender in Hajduk Split, in the most
brilliant era of Yugoslav football. He was transferred to Karlsruhe with a
transfer fee of 750.000 Pounds. After a successful three years experience in
Karlsruhe, he had gone to West Ham United with a transfer fee of 1.3 million Pounds.
When West Ham was struggling not to relegate, he was offered a transfer of 4.5
million Pounds to Everton. However, he refused this offer until August
mentioning that he could not leave his team in the middle of the season.
They say, “One who only claims to know
football, does not know football either.” Biliç, a graduate of Faculty of Law,
who plays in rock groups from time to time, has a distinct character who does
not limit his life with football. Thus,
his vision of football goes beyond imagination of many others. Unlike
the Croatian nationalist leader Franjo Tudjman who stated that the football
victories, like wars do shape the identity of a nation, Biliç has a different
perspective on football. He is aware of football’s character as a game, as a
part of entertainment and just before the 2008 European Football Championship,
he said: “With the greatest respect to women, football is the most beautiful
thing in the world.”
Football has a vital role in shaping the
Croatian national identity. Croatia can be regarded as one of the countries
where football is exploited widely by extreme nationalism. Within this occasion,
even his endeavor to be away from heroic statements is itself is a positive
attitude. Does it mean that Biliç may not be nationalist? Obviously not. But at
least we cannot get the reply of question through his statements. Considering
what kind of a nationalist pressure are those trainers of national football
teams, I think this is an essential feature of him.
Personally, as afan of Gençlerbirliği, I
would be pleasant to see that kind of man to be the trainer of my own team, who
pays importance on the beauty of the game. I cannot hide my jealousity when I
heard the rumors on a probable move of Biliç to Beşiktaş. For sure, we cannot
predict what kind of surprises are likely to wait for Biliç in a team who made
trouble with many top-quality trainers. Probably, Biliç would be thinking twice
before a move to a team who is likely to cancel contracts with some high
quality –and expensive- players, who is struggling with financial crisis and
thus who is likely to avoid expensive transfers.
But, apparently Biliç seems to be magnified
by Istanbul and fierce fans of Beşiktaş.
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