Fighters, footballers and nation builders: wartime football in the Serb-held territories of the former Yugoslavia, 1991–1996

Abstract

The outbreak of war in the Yugoslav republic of Croatia during 1991, and its subsequent emergence across Bosnia and Hercegovina in the following year, had a devastating effect upon cultural life. Football was no exception. Yet in spite of raging conflict, the game continued to be an important aspect of everyday life throughout the region. This paper focuses upon the newly emerging states of Republika Srpska and Republika Srpska Krajina, the Serb-held territories of Bosnia and Hercegovina and Croatia, respectively. Football served as an important morale-boosting activity, providing soldiers with a distraction from the front, but it also served a higher cause. Via league and cup competitions, it assisted in the creation of ethnically homogenous states. Alongside media coverage of them, these competitions helped ‘map’ the ‘imagined communities’ of these incipient polities. Football was also harnessed as symbolic proof that all Serbs continued to belong to Yugoslavia. The game, and the sporting press that wrote about it, also provided an ideal subject for propaganda about enemy nations and a platform from which journalists could expound the necessities of the unification of all Serb states.

Notes

^1.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 23–4.

^2. Ibid., 23.

^3. Work on the role of football in the collapse of Yugoslavia includes the following: Čolović, Politics of Identity, 259–86; Vrcan and Lalić, ‘From Ends to Trenches’; and Sack and Suster, ‘Soccer and Croatian Nationalism’. Previous research on Yugoslav football in wartime examines the plight of a single club during the conflict: Mills, ‘Velež Mostar Football Club’. The unrelenting playing of sport during times of intense armed conflict has been documented in many historical and territorial circumstances. For example, Veitch, ‘Play Up! Play Up! and Win the War!’; Collins, ‘English Rugby Union’; Rollin, Soccer at War; Nielsen, ‘Sport at the Front’; Kuper, Ajax, the Dutch; Riordan, Sport in Soviet Society, 153–60; and Edelman, Spartak Moscow, 133–4.

^4.Billig, Banal Nationalism.

^5. Ibid., 6.

^6.Torsti, ‘History Culture and Banal Nationalism’, 143.

^7.Billig, Banal Nationalism, 16.

^8. Andrew Crampton, cited in Mitchell, ‘Monuments, Memorials, and the Politics’, 447.

^9. Momo Joksimović, ‘Vrijeme povratka’, Derbi, April 19, 1994. The problems inherent in producing sporting publications during times of wartime shortages are addressed in the British context of the First World War in Osborne, ‘To keep the life’, 141–3.

^10. ‘Promocije na sve strane’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^11. Rodoljub Petković, General Secretary of the (RS) Football Association, telegram reproduced in Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^12.Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 100. A considerable proportion of Croatia's ethnic Serb population did not live in the areas claimed by RSK, but in urban centres beyond its borders.

^13. These clubs were NK Borovo, Mladost Petrinja and Šparta Beli Manastir. Dragoljub Jovanović, Igor Kramarsić and Misha Miladinovich, ‘All-Time Table Yugoslavia Second Division 1947-1992’, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, 2004, http://www.rsssf.com/tablesj/joeg2alltime.html#yug.

^14.Barić, Srpska Pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 458.

^15. Ibid.; and Dragoljub Petrović, ‘Selo koje je izgradila “Oluja”’, Danas.rs, August 4, 2010, http://www.danas.rs/danasrs/drustvo/terazije/selo_koje_je_izgradila_oluja.14.html?news_id = 196398.

^16. Stanko Križanić, ‘Naš tip – Banija’, Derbi, July 19, 1994.

^17.Barić, Srpska Pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 458–9.

^18. Željko Đekić, ‘Jedan trofej – pet želja’, Derbi, July 19, 1994.

^19. Mile Sovilj, ‘Tuča, Prekid, Nastavak’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^20. For example, the 19 July 1994 issue contained two paragraphs about the Eastern Slavonia/Western Srem Group, mentioning five constituent clubs: J.B., ‘FK “Borac” (Bobota) – Bolji od Borova’, Derbi, July 19, 1994.

^21. Željko Đekić, ‘Jedan trofej – pet želja’, Derbi, July 19, 1994.

^22.Anderson, Imagined Communities, 62.

^23. Ibid.

^24.Barić, Srpska Pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 459.

^25. Tatjana Papić, ‘Morao sam otići’, Derbi, July 26, 1994.

^26. Ibid.

^27. For more on prevalent political infighting among the RSK elite, see Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 99–129.

^28. Željko Tica, ‘Šampionski dar za rođendan’, Derbi, August 2, 1994.

^29. ‘“Knindže” gaze ka tituli’, Derbi, November 15, 1994. The history of this settlement and its unusual name is discussed in Mayhew, ‘Behind Zara’, 86.

^30.Silber and Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, 353; and Goldstein, Croatia: A History, 250.

^31. Stevo Grkinić, ‘Remi za titulu’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^32.Silber and Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, 355.

^33. Stevo Križanić, ‘Šolić crveni i – udara’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^34. Mile Sovilj, ‘Tuča, Prekid, Nastavak’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^35. Željko Tica, Željko Đekić and Jovica Vučenović, ‘Kistanje u Vinu’, Derbi, July 5, 1994.

^36. Željko Tica, Željko Đekić and Jovica Vučenović, ‘Čočević “uhapsio” Knindže’, Derbi, July 5, 1994.

^37. ‘Ratnik, Političar i Fudbalski Stručnjak’, Derbi, July 5, 1994.

^38. Željko Tica, Željko Đekić and Jovica Vučenović, ‘Mi smo za mir’, Derbi, July 5, 1994.

^39. Jovan Vučenović, ‘Dinara Rafalno’, Derbi, September 6, 1994.

^40. Tatjana Papić, ‘Juriš na peto mjesto’, Derbi, April 4, 1995; and Silber and Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, 355.

^41.Silber and Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, 355; and Goldstein, Croatia: A History, 252–3.

^42. Tatjana Papić, ‘Banija u Vrginmostu’, Derbi, April 4, 1995.

^43.Goldstein, Croatia: A History, 253.

^44. Ibid., 263; and Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 110.

^45. HNK Borovo website, hnkborovo.webs.com/druga.htm.

^46.Wikipedia.org, ‘NK Mladost Petrinja’, http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK_Mladost_Petrinja.

^47. Dragoljub Petrović, ‘Selo koje je izgradila “Oluja”’, Danas.rs, August 4, 2010, http://www.danas.rs/danasrs/drustvo/terazije/selo_koje_je_izgradila_oluja.14.html?news_id = 196398.

^48. Turistička Zajednica Grada Knina, ‘Dan Zahvalnosti’, http://www.tz-knin.hr/index.php?option = com_content&task = blogcategory&id = 38&Itemid = 64 (accessed July 4, 2011).

^49.Silber and Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, 360.

^50.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 9.

^51.Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 100.

^52. Ibid., 23.

^53.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 9 and 17–8.

^54. Dr Radosav Vukić, president of the SDS regional committee, cited in ‘Prvi korak na velikom putu’, Glas Srpski, September 6, 1992.

^55. ‘Odluku o sistemu takmičenja za Fudbalski Kup FSRS’, Fudbalski Savez Republike Srpske, September 9, 1993. Reproduced in full in Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 136.

^56. ‘U Slavu Fudbala’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^57. Ibid.

^58. ‘Kup u Gradišci’, Derbi, June 28, 1994. See also Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 135–9.

^59. M.J., ‘General Gvero Presjednik’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^60. Željko Tica and Zoran Vajkić, ‘General na tribinama’, Derbi, June 7, 1994.

^61. ‘General Mladić predaje pehar’, Derbi, June 14, 1994; and Tatjana Papić, ‘Kup je naš, Kup je naš …’, Derbi, June 28, 1994.

^62. General Milan Gvero, cited in Brane Radulović, ‘Potencijal za fudbalsku orbitu’, Derbi, May 3, 1994.

^63.Ball, Morbo, 151.

^64. ICTY, ‘Charges against Milan Gvero and Radivoje Miletic Released to the Public – Press Release’, February 24, 2005, www.icty.org/sid/8643. Gvero was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in June 2010, but was granted early release later the following month: The Hague Justice Portal, ‘Gvero, Milan’, www.haguejusticeportal.net/index.php?id = 6063.

^65.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 135.

^66. ‘Prvotimci na ratištu!’, Derbi, July 12, 1994.

^67.Baker, ‘Popular Music and Narratives’, 65–6 and 224.

^68. ‘Sport u slobodno vrijeme’, Derbi, November 1, 1994.

^69. Dragan Kisin, ‘Odmora na “čukama”’, Derbi, January 10, 1995.

^70. Nenad Šukurma, cited in Željko Tica, Slobodan Babić and Dragan Kisin, ‘Vrijeme (ni)je za fudbal’, Derbi, February 14, 1995.

^71. Momo Joksimović, ‘Umjesto prve lige – Liga “Derbija”’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^72. Ibid.

^73. Slavko Šarović, cited in Željko Tica, Slobodan Babić and Dragan Kisin, ‘Vrijeme (ni)je za fudbal’, Derbi, February 14, 1995.

^74. Mile Jovičić, cited in ibid.

^75. Željko Tica, ‘Liga mora krenuti’, Derbi, July 11, 1995.

^76. ‘Vikend bez fudbala’, Derbi, November 8, 1994.

^77. Ibid.

^78. Željko Tica, ‘Fudbal čeka bolja vremena’, Derbi, November 29, 1994.

^79. Derogatory term for Croats, dating back to the fascist Ustaše regime of the Second World War Independent State of Croatia.

^80. L.P., ‘Finale, da ili ne?’, Derbi, August 1, 1995.

^81. Dragan Kisin, ‘Radnik prekršten u Jug’, Derbi, September 13, 1994.

^82. Ibid.

^83.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 141.

^84. Ibid., 41.

^85.Houlihan, ‘Sport, National Identity and Public Policy’, 120–1.

^86. Editorial Board, ‘Jubilej’, Derbi, April 4, 1995.

^87. Ibid.

^88. Željko Tica, Željko Đekić and Jovica Vučenović, ‘Superfinale Kozara – Bukovica’, Derbi, July 5, 1994.

^89. Željko Tica, ‘Superkup u Avgustu’, Derbi, July 12, 1994; ‘Žal za superkupom’, Derbi, November 8, 1994; and Dragoljub Petrović, ‘Selo koje je izgradila “Oluja”’, Danas.rs, August 4, 2010, http://www.danas.rs/danasrs/drustvo/terazije/selo_koje_je_izgradila_oluja.14.html?news_id = 196398.

^90. Željko Tica, ‘Superkup u Avgustu’, Derbi, July 12, 1994.

^91. ‘Kozara – Partizan u Gradišci’, Derbi, July 12, 1994; and Dragoljub Petrović, ‘Selo koje je izgradila “Oluja”’, Danas.rs, August 4, 2010, http://www.danas.rs/danasrs/drustvo/terazije/selo_koje_je_izgradila_oluja.14.html?news_id = 196398.

^92. Željko Tica, ‘Liga Dvije Krajine’, Derbi, March 21, 1995; and Željko Tica, ‘Fudbalsko Ujedinjenje’, Derbi, May 30, 1995.

^93. Željko Tica, ‘Liga Dvije Krajine’, Derbi, March 21, 1995.

^94. ‘Prijedlog za razmišljanje’, Derbi, March 21, 1995.

^95. Željko Tica, ‘Od jeseni jedinstveno’, Derbi, March 21, 1995.

^96. Tatjana Papić, ‘Zajedno je bolje’, Derbi, April 18, 1995.

^97. Ibid.

^98. Ibid. Reports on the RS Handball League confirm that football was lagging behind in this respect: Darko Grabovac, ‘Prva Liga Republike Srpske za muškarce – grupa zapad – start 24. septembra’, Derbi, September 6, 1994.

^99.Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 69.

^100. Ibid., 122.

^101. Ibid., 117–8 and 122.

^102. Ibid., 109–10.

^103. Ibid.

^104. Željko Tica, ‘Fudbalsko Ujedinjenje’, Derbi, May 30, 1995.

^105. Ibid.

^106. Ibid.

^107. Ibid.

^108. ‘Srbija čeka Krajišnike’, Derbi, February 14, 1995.

^109. Momo Joksimović, ‘Umjesto Prve Lige – Liga “Derbija”’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^110. Ibid.

^111. Dragan Kisin, ‘Bez liga – propast’, Derbi, February 14, 1995.

^112. R.D., ‘“Sinđelić” neuhvatljiv?’, Derbi, February 28, 1995; and Tatjana Papić, ‘Juriš na peto mjesto’, Derbi, April 4, 1995.

^113. Milan Fulurija, ‘Borac čemo sačuvati’, Derbi, June 27, 1995.

^114. Branko Lazarević, cited in Momo Joksimović, ‘Umjesto Prve Lige – Liga “Derbija”’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^115. Momo Joksimović, ‘Vrijeme povratka’, Derbi, April 19, 1994.

^116. ‘Vrijeme putovanja’, Derbi, February 7, 1995.

^117. Ibid.

^118. Željko Tica, ‘Borcu je mjesto u jugo-eliti!’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^119. Ibid.

^120. Slobodan Babić, ‘Uspješan dogovor čelnika FS Vojvodine i Republike Srpske’, Derbi, March 21, 1995.

^121. Ibid.

^122. D. Tešić, ‘Radnik se seli u Vojvodinu’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^123. Momo Joksimović, ‘FK Borac “eksport-import”’, Derbi, December 27, 1994.

^124. Željko Tica, ‘Borcu je mjesto u jugo-eliti!’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^125. ‘Na dva fronta’, Derbi, August 1, 1995.

^126. Ibid.

^127.Derbi, November 1, 1994.

^128. ‘U Slavu Fudbala’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^129. Željko Tica, ‘Borcu je mjesto u jugo-eliti!’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^130. Ibid.

^131.Cronin, ‘Playing Away from Home’, 72–5.

^132.Allison, ‘Sport among the Soviet Ruins’, 178.

^133. ‘Na dva fronta’, Derbi, August 1, 1995.

^134. Momo Joksimović, ‘Borac je Heroj’, Derbi, November 1, 1994.

^135. ‘Prvotimci na ratištu!’, Derbi, July 12, 1994.

^136. Ibid.

^137. Željko Tica, ‘Borcu je mjesto u jugo-eliti!’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^138. Ibid.

^139.Caspersen, Contested Nationalism, 135–7.

^140. Momo Joksimović, ‘Borac je Heroj’, Derbi, November 1, 1994.

^141. Ibid.

^142.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 267–82.

^143. Ibid., 267–9.

^144. ‘Intervju: Lešinari Banja Luka’, Navijačke Informativne Novine, No. 13, February, 2009.

^145. G.V., ‘Osim na tribinama’, Derbi, July 25, 1995.

^146. ‘Reprezentacija “Fildžan-Države”’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^147. ‘Prisvojili “Želju”’, Derbi, September 13, 1994.

^148. Ibid.

^149. Ibid.

^150. V.G. ‘Osim na tribinama’, Derbi, July 25, 1995.

^151. Ibid.

^152.Kajan, Sarajevski Derbi, 160–1; and Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 58–9.

^153.Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 55–6; ICTY, Stanislav Galić Case IT-98-29, ‘Public Transcript of Hearing January 22 2002’, 2028; and ICTY, Dragomir Milošević Case IT-98-29/1, ‘Public Transcript of Hearing 19 April 2007’ 4742.

^154.Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 18.

^155. Untitled material signed by the President of Mjesna Zajednica ‘Adem Buć’ regarding the indoor tournament ‘Bitka za Žuč’, scheduled to be played at SC ‘Skenderija’ in June 1993. May 24, 1993. Displayed at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Hercegovina (Historijski Muzej Bosne i Hercegovine); and Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 116.

^156.Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 55.

^157. ‘Prisvojili “Želju”’, Derbi, September 13, 1994.

^158. Ibid.

^159. Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Željezničar, Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 24, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/index.php?s = novosti_citaj&vise = 888; and Željko Tica, ‘“Željo” juri među sedam’, Derbi, April 26, 1994.

^160.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 41–2.

^161.Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 61.

^162. Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Željezničar, Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 24, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/index.php?s = novosti_citaj&vise = 888.

^163.Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 18.

^164. ‘Manijak’ comment on Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Željezničar, Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 24, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/index.php?s = novosti_citaj&vise = 888.

^165. Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 7, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/novosti.php?vise = 832.

^166. For example, in the winter of 1994, FK Sarajevo played matches in Italy and Turkey ‘at the end of a world tour’: ‘Valentić, Repuh i Pita pobjegli’, Oslobođenje: Evropsko Nedjeljno Izdanje, December 8, 1994; ‘Bravo, usprkos porazu’, Oslobođenje: Evropsko Nedjeljno Izdanje, November 17, 1994; and ‘Bursa, grad prijatelja Bosne’, Oslobođenje: Evropsko Nedjeljno Izdanje, December 29, 1994. For more on wartime FK Sarajevo, see Wilson, Behind the Curtain, 172–4.

^167. Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 7, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/novosti.php?vise = 832; and Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 41–2 and 153.

^168. Milan Đorđić, ‘RS-Sport vremeplov: FK Srpsko Sarajevo’, RS-Sport.org, January 7, 2011, http://www.rs-sport.org/novosti.php?vise = 832.

^169. ‘Gdje je Vukovar?’, Derbi, June 14, 1994.

^170. Ibid.

^171. HNK Vukovar '91 website, ‘O nama’, www.hnk-vukovar91.com/index.php?option = com_content&view = article&id = 1&Itemid = 1 (accessed March 20, 2012).

^172.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 311–8; and Hadžialić, Fudbalski Klub Željezničar, 85–7.

^173. ICTY, ‘Momčilo Krajišnik and Biljana Plavšić Amended Consolidated Indictment’, Case IT-00-39 & 40-PT, March 7, 2002; ICTY, Momčilo Krajišnik Case IT-00-39-T, ‘Public Transcript of Hearing April 21, 2004’ 2385; and Honig and Both, Srebrenica, 59–60.

^174. Mills, ‘Velež Mostar Football Club’, 1123–4.

^175.Tica, Babić and Basara, 10. Godina Fudbalskog Saveza, 23.