On The Night of The Bonfire


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Europe » Serbia » West » Belgrade
November 13th 2013
Published: November 17th 2013
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At the end of the last year’s visit and my 2nd eternal derby, the Man in the Middle posed the question ……….. “is that the Belgrade derby out the system then?” I pondered and concluded that it was probably time to move on to pastures new. Never say never again!

A year on and we find ourselves on the 9.28 Belgrade express once again. The merry band of 2 has grown to 3. The Man in the Middle is back and we are joined by Football Travels With Ross, keen to check out the Marakana for his first competitive action there since the heady days of 1989. In those days before the internet made fixture spotting relatively simple and visas were required, this was an achievement in it’s own right. We passed the time away talking to our fellow passenger, a Senior Executive of a major construction company en route to Qatar to make Sepp Blatter’s World Cup dream a reality. He concerned himself with our non-existent accommodation arrangements and offered to put us in touch with Dave, a manufacturer of cardboard structures especially designed to keep out the cold of Mayfair’s night time streets. We later experimented with such structures made from pizza boxes and Jelen Pivo cans – naturally empty – on the not so executive streets of Sumice. In exchange for such potentially useful advice, we offered to provide travel consultancy for him to open his world to the £1 train ticket to reduce business costs. Whilst austerity seemed not to have taken complete hold in the construction world, you got the impression that the PA might have a difficult hour or two in the morning. At this point we were gifted a step counter. The Man in the Middle is a great believer in your legs having only so many miles in them, so the device would provide some disturbing evidence later in the week of just how many miles he might have left!

Whilst no cardboard was required, it was a long night in the confines of Luton Airport. The plane took off on time and we were straight out the airport on to the A1 bus with enough RSDinars from previous trips to get to town without exchanging money. The fare seemed flexible – 300 declared on the window, became 400 and the Man in the Middle became the Man on the Dashboard for the 30 minute drive into the city centre. The arrival at the Slavija Hotel could not have been better timed – about 2 minutes prior to a team of teenage Hungarian gymnasts, who flooded into reception. They would make their presence felt at breakfast the following morning.

There was no significant queue at Red Star for the tickets for the 145th Eternal Derby of Serbia. Tickets – 1000 RSDinars (circa £8) for the best seats in the West Stand. The majority celebrated with a Jelen Pivo over the road. The tickets for the Turkish Airlines EuroLiga basketball between Red Star and Panathanikos had sold out earlier in the week in a few hours, so we opted for some daylight photos of our Sunday shopping centre venue stadium. We had lingered over the pivos, so it was dusk after we had climbed the hill to Vozdovac. The daylight plan was therefore clearly thwarted, as was the pre-purchase of tickets to save time at the weekend. The information desk was unable to supply the tickets – try Saturday morning after 10 was the response, although it was said with a suggestion that you would be lucky if they had been sent down from the club by 11.

The landscape around Vozdovac has changed a lot since our last visit in the Srpska Liga 3 years ago. The shopping centre now rises above the neighbourhood, where once there was a semi derelict football ground and unless you had prior knowledge you would be hard pushed to know one of the most innovative new football grounds in Europe is now high above your head. The shopping centre incidentally is quite upmarket, although quite how this will ever fit in with a visit from some of the less savoury sides of Serbian football remains to be seen. We would find out on Sunday, when Novi Pazar arrive.

We headed on to the Sumice Sports Hala and the home of Red Star volleyball. We indulged in pizza and Jelen Pivo and built our temporary structures in homage to Dave of Mayfair. The volleyball tickets were 200 RSDinars and the match was a 3 set procession against Radnicki K in front of 150 interested but not enthusiastic fans.

The shortcomings of the Slavija were evident in the morning, when we discovered the main lights didn’t work in the room. The breakfast the following morning was chaos. The junior gymnasts of Europe had fully descended on the Slavija breakfast room. The Hungarians all appeared to be called Jessica, although that later transpired to some form of branding on their tracksuits - the new Jack Wolfskins of Europe. All Hungarians are called Jessica? The Slavija’s new coffee machine – “choose drink and press only ones” – worked overtime. It was Derby day, but the lack of German and Austrian groundhoppers at breakfast seemed to indicate that the gymnasts had beaten them to the available beds.

The first port of call was Cukaricki in pursuit of FK Komgrap. It would be a walk or a bus from the end of the tram line, but the directions were sparse. We asked a passer-by, who helpfully nipped round the corner and gave us a lift to where he believed the match would be played at the Serbian Institute of Sport. Would that happen in England? There were some mixed views. Alas, the Belgrade Football Association website had not been as helpful and it transpired that Kompgrap had moved on to the 3G pitch on Ade Ciganlija. We hurried back to the main road for
SumiceSumiceSumice

Red Star " My Club "
the bus and made it with 20 minutes to spare. The sun was shining on the summer playground of Belgrade – at 23 degrees it was summer. The new bridge crossing the Sava glistened in the sun.

FK Komgrap thoughtfully provided free admission. The 18 FK Brodarac fans swelled the crowd. They removed their shirts to take full advantage of the weather and ferried in the Lav supplies from the kiosk outside the ground. The Man in the Middle followed suit with his shirt, but opted for Jelen Pivo supplies over Lav. I counted the total crowd of 92 in true Navigator style. We were hoping for a swift turn around at half time and no injuries to ensure we didn’t miss any of the FK Sindelic match, but incidents were frequent in the Komgrap game. A very suspect looking penalty provoked mass hysteria on the Broderac bench, as the Manager threw a tantrum in true Mouriniho style and marched on to the pitch to discuss the matter in more detail with officials. The ref sent him to the stand, but he chose to ignore the instruction and continued to debate his point for at least another 5 minutes. He finally retreated and then sat meekly on his own in the stand for a while before he realised he could continue with his instructions unobstructed from the near side. The Brodarac contingent made their feelings known and expressed their views to the linesman about one of his decisions in the form of an empty Lav can. The majority of Serbian matches are not complete without riot police, so there being none on show at this level indicated that there would be no comeback for their actions. The local plod then turned up on their mountain bikes from park duty, had a quiet word with the top man and retreated to the middle of the stand before retrieving their bikes in case they got nicked. Cue incident 2 of the match. FK Brodarac secured a suspiciously offside equaliser. The linesman, conscious of the travelling 18 stood right behind him and the prospect of another beer container landing on his head, kept his flag firmly down by his side. He then had to be rescued from the Komgrap players. The Broderac fans feted their new hero. It was a turning point, as they went on to win 3 – 1.

The delays had done nothing for us achieving the kick off at Sindelic and the kick in the teeth came when the 55 direct to the ground sailed straight past the bus stop. We caught the next taxi and missed a few minutes of the largely uneventful game. Bezanija knew enough to sneak a 1 – 0 win. The 400 crowd continued to enjoy the sunshine. We sampled some more of our healthy sausage diet and caught the bus towards the Marakana.

The Wizzair magazine helpfully pointed out that November 5 was Guy Fawkes night – an English tradition – otherwise known as Bonfire Night. In Belgrade, the date has been changed to November 2. The usual complement of riot police lined the routes to the ground, some with batons drawn to spell out the obvious. We took our seats in the West Stand ………… well actually we took somebody else’s seats, because everybody else does and ours had already been pre-selected by others. Let the entertainment begin!

The North Stand of Red Star organised their displays, whilst the fragmented Partizan fans split between the main Alcatraz section and the Juzni Front tested the parameters of how far you could throw a lighted flare into each other’s sections. The mutual aerial bombardment was tolerated to a degree for a while, until the riot police decided to move Alcatraz further along the South Stand to create more segregation. The fans declined the offer to move without a dispute, so gave up on the diplomacy and both sides went for it. The order restored, the displays of pyrotechnics began at both ends. The West Stand was alive with foreigners busy recording on a range of cameras and other electronic devices.

It was easy to forget somewhere in the middle of all this was a football match. The football itself was instantly forgettable, as both teams struggled to string more than two passes together. It was inevitable that a set piece would settle the game – a classic own goal that would have made a Malaysian betting syndicate proud. As the game reached the 2nd half, Partizan decided bonfire night should begin early. A fire was set with considerable success and before long a series of fires littered the main way end. A smell of burning plastic wafted across the stadium. The Belgrade Fire Service went into action with their
Red Star v PartizanRed Star v PartizanRed Star v Partizan

Match ball - it's mine
hoses and succeeded to degree to bring the situation under control, only for other fires to break out. Flags were used as shields against the torrent of water. The tannoy announcement didn’t take too much working out – pack it in or the game will be abandoned. The match was held up and to a certain extent, petered out with the flames once it had restarted. Red Star satisfied with their 1 - 0 advantage sut up shop and held on to the points. Victory above all else! The young Serb behind us had a night to remember, as he clutched the match ball at the end. The ultimate memory of his first Red Star victory over their great rivals.

We made our way out slowly past the massed ranks of riot police. One of a group of Villa fans nearby almost climbed up a lamp post, when the firecrackers started going off outside. Fifteen minutes later, we were at in our comfortable usual post- match bar chewing the fat.

The Man in the Middle posed the question, when we made our way home the following week .....“is that the Belgrade derby out the system then?” I pondered
Red Star v PartizanRed Star v PartizanRed Star v Partizan

The Juzni Front
and concluded that it was probably time to move on to pastures new.

He doesn't believe me!!

Appendix 1

Red Star 1 Patizan 0 Stadium: Marakana / Crvena zvezda

Saturday 2 November 2013 1800 Hrs

Attendance: 40,034
Referee: Milorad Mazic

Scorers: Obradovic (own-goal) in 18'

Crvena Zvezda: Bajkovic, Mijailovic, Lazic, Krneta, Vesovic, Gogic, Milijas, Ninkovic, Pecnik, Kasalica, Dauda.
Substitutions: Vesic, Martinovic, Mladenovic, Savicevic, Mihajlovic, Mrdja, Milunovic

Partizan: Stojkovic, Obradovic, Ostojic, Stankovic, Volkov, Gulan, Markovic, Jojic, Zivkovic, Ninkovic, Kojic.
Substitutions: Zivkovic, Ivkovic, Djemba-Djemba, Ilic, Luka, Grbic, Fofana



Appendix 2

Sindelic 0 Bezanija 1 Stadium: Stadion Sindelic

Saturday 2 November 2013 1330 Hrs


Attendance: 400
Referee: Srdjan Jovanovic
Scorers: Baranin in 66


Sinđelić: Bubonja, Zonjic, Mitic, Djordjevic , Radivojevic (46 Stojanovic), Stevanovic (70 Radovanovic), Blagojevic, Rajkovic (75 Piščević), Jovanovic, Mihajlovic, Markovic

Bežanija: Puletic, Baranin, Matović Bozovic (85 Mitrušić) PUTINCANIN, Zivkovic N, Prodanovic (62 Mulćan) Božičić, Miljkovic, Stanovčić, Sciacca (76 Zivkovic S.)



Appendix 3

FK Komgrap 1 FK Brodarac 3 Stadium: Ade Ciganlija

Saturday 2 November 2013 1100 Hrs

Attendance 92



Appendix 4

Weinerliga Mens Volleyball League

Crvena Zvezda v Radnicki K Venue : Sport Hala, Sumice, Beograd

Friday 1 November 2013 1800 Hrs

3 : 0 ( 25:20, 25:16, 29:27)

Referees: Goran Gradiniski & Svetlana Zotovic

Attendance: 150


Additional photos below
Photos: 41, Displayed: 30


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FK Sindelic

The founding father - 1937
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Red Star

Graffiti
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FK Brodarac

A thoughtful coach after being sent off


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