Delije - There is No Smoke Without Fire

Europe » Serbia » West » Belgrade
May 10th 2012

Published: May 12th 2012

Edit Blog Post

John Miranda

Crazy North

Time for the flares

It was the day of the Eternal Derby. There would be tension in the air. It wasn’t apparent as I made my way outside after breakfast. It was just another sunny morning In Belgrade. I decided that I wouldn’t stick around in the city to watch the drama unfold ..... at least for the time being. I caught the bus to Ada Cinajila, the island playground in the Sava River where Belgrade goes to relax on a summer weekend. It is now dominated by the new bridge crossing the river. Ada Cinajila is a combination of sport and relaxtion. The side closest to the city is the base for both the Red Star and Partizan rowing clubs. The local versions of Oxford and Cambridge were out on the water, presumably training to be Olympic hopefuls later in the year. I took some snaps of the Red Star clubhouse and a couple of guys sitting outside queried my motive. It wasn’t the same inquisition as I’d had outside FK Obilic and one introduced himself as the trainer and club secretary of Red Star. We perused the photos in the notice board of a previous trip to England to row at Henley. He

Marakana

.............check out the car on the cheek

gave me a business card and told me to ring should I need any help whilst in the city.

I wandered along to the Partizan base. There was more activity, as crews got ready to take to the water. The feel of Ada was a bit Sleepless in Seattle – house boats moored on either side of the island with access walkways supported by old oil drums. There was certainly no derby day tensions out here. I caught the bus back into town. The long lenses would have to go to sleep for the afternoon, as I couldn't see any possibility of getting that into the game later. I got changed and took a bus down the Marakana to assess pre-match activity. The previous visits to respective matches at Red Star and Partizan had been very much alcohol free, so I was expecting to retreat after my initial sortie to find a drink. However, the bar directly across from the ticket office was open and serving alcohol. When I bought my ticket 2 days before, the venue was very much a building site. It was clear that the prospect of a profit had provoked some serious building

Gravediggers

The Partizan display

works to finish it, although as I sat there a guy was busy adding tiles to the terrace. I was assured that they could serve alcohol until 3 hours before kick off. It was only 1 o’ clock – plenty of time for a drink then. I ordered a large Jelen pivo. The table next door to me was ticket tout central. The ticket office was still open and selling, so I couldn’t initially figure out why the demand. Perhaps the North Stand was sold out? Everybody wants to be a Delije - a Hero - for the day. Anyway, ticket tout central had plenty. The main runner was doing brisk business and was returning to replenish his ticket stock and hand over his profit. An hour later, things didn’t look so good for him. He was clearly upsetting some of his customers – it was perhaps an old fashioned switch he was performing .... show a genuine ticket and pass over another after the cash was secured. A couple of riot police intervened after a while and the runner laid on the ground looking for some mercy at those apprehending him. The “mercy” arrived in the form of what

Marakana

.......previous disturbances/

appeared to be 2 plain clothes officers. They slapped him around a bit more and then dragged him off by the arms – he protested from his position on the floor and they kept dragging. The controllers took this as their cue to leave, presumably in case the runner pointed out he wasn’t acting on his own.

I went back to my beer and surveyed the local newspapers in the bar for something I could attempt to translate from Serbian. I got as far as looking at the pictures in the cyrilic versions, but it is surprising what you can understand from the latin script if you are of a mind. The capacity was to be restricted to 46,000, so it was a bit of a surprise when I read the following day that the attendance was 47,836. There would be 7,200 Partizan at the game, although their support would be split with empty sections in between due to “tensions” in their ultra groups. The Zabranjeni would be split from the main Gravediggers. Partizan might have sold all their 7,200 tickets, but I never saw even one outside the ground.

The results of the

Marakana

last 10 derbies were listed in a double page spread. It did not make good reading for the Red Star faithful. In the last 4 years, it showed a mere 1 victory – a meaningless pyrrhic victory in a 2^nd leg of a Cup defeat. The results were spelled out in great detail.

5 October 2008 Red Star 0 Partizan 2

28 February 2009 Partian 1 Red Star 1

8 April 2009 Partizan 2 Red Star 0

28 November 2009 Red Star 1 Partizan 2

8 May 2010 Partizan 1 Red Star 0

23 October 2010 Red Star 0 Partizan 1

16 March 2011 Partizan 2 Red Star 0

6 April 2011 Red Star 1 Partizan 0

23 April 2011 Partizan 1 Red Star 0

25 November 2011 Red Star 0 Partizan 2

My new friends in the Red Star cafe had made great emphasis that they had waited 4 years for this moment. The form at the resumption of the 2^nd half of the season and the arrival of Avram Grant seemed to be cause for much optimism. There was expert analysis in the

Marakana

paper. Aston Villa fans can feel free to roll around on the floor with laughter at this point. The Partizan expert analysis was provided by none other than their former centre forward by name but nature, Savo Milosevic.

I returned once again to my beer and to survey the Serbian growth industry professions – riot policemen and security staff (mainly provided by Securitas). It would appear being one step behind the boss of the Serbian arm of Securitas might be a healthy financial position. At this point, the staff from ticket tout central returned to set up camp again, although this time the new runner was a little less conspicuous and seemed to survive any police attentions. The beer was going down nicely, but as with many things in Serbia wrong information can filter through. I ordered another one at 3.45 to be told the sales had ceased. I queried the time given that it wasn’t yet 3 hours before kick off, but the flick of the head towards the growing army of riot police just beyond the boundary of the premises was answer enough. No more beer then! I left the bar in search of that

Belgrade

........ a distant view of the Saint Sava

elusive of all foreign match souvenirs – the match programme. They were available in small quantities at the temporary merchandise stalls - a princely sum of 100 dinars was not too much to ask, but successfully put off most local purchasers. Better brush up on the cyrilic after all.

There was still not even a hint of trouble or animosity. I dined and decided to go in the stadium. Despite the heavy security, I didn’t even get frisked. Cameras normally attraction attention, although why would anybody want to use a £200 camera as a missile? Meanwhile, the respective ultras were clearly busy ensuring suitable supplies of flares and rockets were available inside the stadium.

Partizan fans duly arrived and were split in the South Stand. Red Star’s Delije arranged their banners in the North Stand. The volume increased as the two opposite ends of the ground traded insults. The volume went seriously went up when Partizan came out to warm up. The tunnel is positioned just beyond the inside edge of the running track at the North end ........ nicely inside rocket range of the Delije. Riot police lined the tunnel exit to protect the Partizan

Marakana

..........spotted

players, although the missiles were restricted to a few warning shots. The scenes at the November derby were more akin to a World War 1 artillery barrage and resulted in the Marakana being closed for the next Red Star home game.

The start of the game generated an atmosphere that I can only recall from games in Argentina. Noise at unprecedented level, followed by a display of red and white and illuminated by flares. Partizan stood and watched. The Red Star fans through their flares on to the running track and kept half the Belgrade fire service busy for the next 5 minutes. Partizan sprung to life with their own display. The Gravediggers black and white version lasted a similar period and they threw their flares on the running track. The rest of the fire service scurried to put them out. The Zebrenjani had also woken up and thought they would save them a job with their flares. They hurled them into the main Partizan sections. I made a mental note to keep out of their way at any future excursions to Partizan.

Let’s face it,

West Stand

I hadn’t come for the standard of football. It was at best average. Partizan dominated possession, but have no cutting edge. Markovic was clearly the best player on the pitch, but there is no end product – prospective purchasers from the Premier League please take note. He will of course look a world beater in an adidas advert of the future though. Red Star huffed and puffed and took their chances. Partizan kept plugging away with their possession and missed their own opportunities. Coach Robert danced up and down his technical area, as though he was kicking every ball. Avram was less animated – keeping his head down was probably a wise idea as he doesn’t exactly seem popular even with his own supporters. Red Star kept up their volume for the 90 minutes, but there was no open displays of violence. Partizan were more muted and seemed not to have the appetite for their usual rearrangement and destruction of the seating arrangements tactics normally employed on visits to the Marakana.

I made a swift exit at the end and intercepted a tram back to town. The Red Star fans were jubilant, but

Gravediggers

......... the smoke after the fire

quickly covered up their colours as we neared Slavija Square in case the TV spectators emptying on to the streets were of the black and white fraternity. Red Star had waited 4 years for this moment, but with the 2nd leg of the semi final to come in 2 weeks Partizan wouldn't have to wait long to set the record straight. Riot police waited on every corner and thought it best to quit whilst I was ahead and retreat to base.

Additional photos below

Photos: 32, Displayed: 29