The FLN 1961 football tour of Yugoslavia: mobilizing public support for the Algerian cause

ABSTRACT

In March 1961, the football team of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) played five matches in Yugoslavia. Drawing on the theory of sports diplomacy, the paper studies the rationale of the host authorities behind the organization of these events as having both foreign and domestic political significance. Accordingly, we argue that the state-party elite organized the football tour of Yugoslavia not only to foster relations with the FLN but also to mobilize the domestic public’s support for the provision of material and diplomatic assistance to the Algerian independence movement. Differently from previous works, the paper analyses the FLN team’s matches primarily from the perspective of the host country. The research is based on the records from the archival fond of the Federation of Trade Unions of Yugoslavia kept in the Croatian State Archives and on the articles reporting on the football tour from relevant Yugoslav newspapers of the time.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Alegi, African Soccerscapes.

2. Most of the authors, like Ian Hawkey, Philip Dine and Peter Alegi described the role of the FLN team (1958–1962) as a sporting anticolonial tool in general and as one of the means that shaped the modern Algerian nation. Hawkey, Feet of the Chameleon; Dine, ‘France, Algeria and sport’; Alegi, African Soccerscapes.

3. For more on this well-documented phenomenon, which we will not address at large in this article see: Byrne, ‘Beyond Continents’; Dimić, Jugoslavija i Hladni rat, 276–308; Petrović, Francusko-jugoslovenski odnosi u vreme Alžirskog rata 1952–1964; Rubinstein, Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned World, 84–89; Tot, Yugoslavia – Algeria Relations in the Early 1960s, 3–15.

4. Nye, Soft Power, 8.

5. Kobierecki, ‘The domestic dimension of sports diplomacy’, 17–28.

6. Ibid, 18.

7. Dimić, Jugoslavija i Hladni rat, 278–280.

8. Byrne, ‘Beyond Continents’, 918–919.

9. ‘Sindikalna reprezentacija Zagreba – Slobodni Alžir 3:0.’ Vjesnik, 16 March 1961, 6. The exact authorship of most newspaper articles cannot be determined. All translations from Croatian, Serbian and related languages were, unless otherwise noted, translated by the authors.

10. ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie.’ El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

11. ‘Predsjednik Tito stiže danas u zvaničnu posetu Gvineji.’ Borba, 20 March 1961, 1.

12. Savić and Lukić, Yugoslavia and the struggle for liberation of the Algerian people, 13.

13. Rubinstein, Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned World, 273.

14. ‘Stigli su fudbaleri Slobodnog Alžira’. Sport, 11 March 1961, 1; HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

15. The name was reminiscent of the term ‘Free France’ used for the French resistance movement and the interim government during Second World War. Derder, ‘Formation du Gouvernement provisoire de la République algérienne’.

16. ‘Dragi gosti’. Sport, 9 March 1961, 2.

17. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

18. ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie’. El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

19. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

20. Dubois, Soccer Empire.

21. Morrison, Mubarak, and Stokkermans, ‘Algeria – Equipe ALN and Equipe FLN.’

22. Nikita Khrushchev had changed the outlook of Moscow and its satellites on national liberation movements and started to approach the Third World by offering aid in the state-building process. Rupprecht, Soviet Internationalism After Stalin, 22–23.

23. Tot, Yugoslavia – Algeria Relations in the Early 1960s, 5–15.

24. Mijatov, ‘Sport u službi socijalizma’, 489–491; Sbetti, ‘Like a Bridge’, 810–811.

25. Mills, Politics of Football in Yugoslavia, 113.

26. Boškov, Aziska turneja: Burma, Indonezija, Kina.

27. Mijatov, ‘Sport u službi socijalizma’, 487–488.

28. Mills, Politics of Football in Yugoslavia, 113–114.

29. Mijatov, ‘Sport u službi socijalizma’, 490–491; Mills, Politics of Football in Yugoslavia, 108–114.

30. ‘Alžirski fudbaleri dovali u Opatiju’, Borba, 9 March 1961, 7.

31. Pečar, Alžir do nezavisnosti, 593, 599–600.

32. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

33. Tot, Yugoslavia – Algeria Relations in the Early 1960s, 13–15.

34. Tito, Govori ’78., 59.

35. Tot, Yugoslavia – Algeria Relations in the Early 1960s, 31–32.

36. ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie’. El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

37. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

38. ‘Za alžirsku djecu’. Šibenski list, 15 February 1961, 5; ‘Un geste des efants yougoslaves’. El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 460.

39. M. P. ‘Prva pošiljka poklona za alžirsku djecu stigla u Rijeku’. Vjesnik, 21 March 1961, 11.

40. ‘Un geste des efants yougoslaves’. El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 460.

41. Yugoslav journalist, historian and participant of the Algerian War of Independence Zdravko Pečar listed 50 such cases from 1958 to 1962. Pečar, Alžir do nezavisnosti, 857–864.

42. ‘Le cargo yougoslave “Srbija” est intercepté au large d’Oran et conduit à Mers-EI-Kébir’. Le Monde, 17 March 1961, 8.

43. Ibid.

44. Dimić, Jugoslavija i Hladni rat, 293–308.

45. Tot, Yugoslavia – Algeria Relations in the Early 1960s, 13–15.

46. ‘Revija fudbala’. Borba, 28 March 1961, 9; ‘Pozdrav gostima iz Alžira’. Narodni sport, 14 March 1961, 1.

47. ‘Stigli su fudbaleri Slobodnog Alžira’. Sport, 11 March 1961, 1.

48. ‘Reprezentacija slobodnog Alžira – sindikalna reprezentacija Rijeke 4:1 (2:1)’. Borba, 13 March 1961, 6.

49. ‘Igrači za utakmicu sa slobodnim Alžirom’. Vjesnik, 11 March 1961, 6.

50. ‘Sindikalna reprezentacija Zagreba – Slobodni Alžir 3:0’. Vjesnik, 16 March 1961, 6.

51. ‘Remis Alžiraca u Mariboru’. Vjesnik, 20 March 1961, 6.

52. ‘Zgodovina NK Maribor 1961–1970.’

53. Ibid.

54. B.S. ‘Nogometaši Alžira u Mariboru.’ Narodni sport, 18 March 1961, 3.

55. Morrison et al., ‘Algeria – Equipe ALN and Equipe FLN.’

56. ‘Naši gosti iz Alžira’. Sport, 28 March 1961, 1.

57. We must point out a discrepancy in descriptions of the match, sometimes portrayed as between the FLN football team and the ‘Olympic football team of Yugoslavia’. However, the Yugoslav and Algerian press at the time only mentioned the Belgrade trade union team. Judging by the players involved in the match, we are inclined to accept the latter description. Cf. Morrison et al., ‘Algeria – Equipe ALN and Equipe FLN.’; ‘Naši gosti iz Alžira.’ Sport, 28 March 1961, 1 and ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie.’ El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

58. B.St., ‘Dve lekcije’. Sport, 30 March 1961, 2.

59. Marković, S. ‘Reprezentacija Slobodnog Alžira – Sindikalna ekipa Beograda 6:1 (2:0)’. Borba, 29 March 1961, 9.

60. B.St., ‘Dve lekcije’. Sport, 30 March 1961, 2.

61. ‘Pozdrav gostima iz Alžira’. Narodni sport, 14 March 1961, 1.

62. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Schedule’; ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie’. El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

63. ‘L’E.N.A. en Yougoslavie.’ El Moudjahid, 15 April 1961, 459–460.

64. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

65. B.S. ‘Nogometaši Alžira u Mariboru’. Narodni sport, 18 March 1961, 3.

66. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.

67. Ibid.

68. Ibid.

69. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report – attachment’. Later a prominent Algerian politician, Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi was, at the time, also a leader of the Algerian Student Muslim Organization. He had already visited Yugoslavia on two separate occasions before 1961.

70. HR-HDA, SSJ-VSH, box 498, ‘Report’.