RM

Like their communist predecessors, the parties that emerged in the late 1980s were aware of the benefits that could be derived from association with sport. Emerging voices of the Right actively courted the affections of the biggest football supporters’ groups. Vuk Drašković and his Serbian Renewal Movement appealed directly to Red Star Belgrade fans through nationalist rhetoric. Further west, Franjo Tudjman’s Croatian Democratic Union erected advertising hoardings inside stadiums during elections and used the re-formed Croatian national team to fuel national pride at a time when this republic was still part of Yugoslavia. Ironically, Tudjman had gained experience of manipulating football for political purposes earlier in his career, as a colonel of the communist-era Yugoslav People’s Army and president of the army club, Partizan Belgrade. Many supporters openly embraced political figures and their dangerous programs, as did some leading footballers. Red Star’s Dragon Stojković was among those to publicly endorse Serbia’s Slobodan Milošević.

As the state crumbled, league matches provided opportunities for fans to express political allegiances and indulge in nationalist exchanges. This was nothing new; similar confrontations occurred regularly in both the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its socialist successor. However, the scale and frequency of politically motivated incidents increased markedly at the end of the 1980s. The legendary Maksimir Riot resulted in the abandonment of Dinamo Zagreb’s match against Red Star before kickoff. While the myth that this Croat–Serb hooligan confrontation sparked actual war is little more than a romantic legend, subsequent events underlined the interrelation between football, organized politics, and conflict.

One reason why the Maksimir Riot assumed a symbolic role as the opening battle of Yugoslavia’s disintegration is that members of the opposing fan groups participated in the conflict that followed. Under Milošević, the Serbian security apparatus took a direct interest in Red Star’s Delije (Heroes) supporters’ group. Željko “Arkan” Ražnatović, a figure from the criminal underworld who reputedly carried out the state’s dirty work, became an influential voice on Red Star’s terraces. Shortly before the outbreak of war, he formed the Serbian Volunteer Guard, a paramilitary organization better known as the Tigers. With a nucleus of Delije members, this notorious unit fought in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and Arkan was subsequently indicted for war crimes. Red Star were reigning European Champions at the time of the Tigers’ first campaign, and the club’s magazine reveled in the military exploits of some of its most dedicated fans.

In Croatia and Bosnia, fans also flocked to incipient army formations. Experienced hooligans viewed the war as a direct continuation of nationalism-fueled stadium conflicts. A tank was named after Dinamo’s Bad Blue Boys, while club badges served as national symbols on makeshift uniforms. Fan groups in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, and elsewhere went on to erect monuments to fallen members and choreographed elaborate terrace displays in their honor.

In contrast to the pride generated by fans’ wartime contributions, direct association with organized politics left a far more problematic legacy. Even before the guns fell silent, the Bad Blue Boys descended into a bitter decade-long dispute with Croatia’s President Tudjman over the politically motivated renaming of Dinamo. In Belgrade, the Delije expressed their frustrations at the way in which Milošević conducted the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, accusing him of abandoning fellow Serbs. Many of the group’s members participated in the revolutionary events that brought him down in 2000. Yet fans continue to express admiration for uncompromising political and military figures, including Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, both of whom have been prosecuted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal.