Advertisement
Published: December 2nd 2012
Edit Blog Post
As a certain former manager of a team in the North West once said:
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very
disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more
important than that"
And so it is with the eternal derby of Serbia. At least twice a season, to the supporters of both Red Star and Partizan, this fixture becomes much more important! The 143rd meeting on 17 November was no exception, so it was with much excitemnt and a little trepidation that we finally left the comfort of FK Rad's bar and took the 10 minute bus ride down the road to the Marakana. The bus took a slight diversion from it's normal route and skirted past the ticket offices of Partizan. They were open. Still selling tickets or allowing collections? It was difficult to work out. We alighted the bus into night. Riot police stood in strength in the shadows, whilst a few dog handlers amused themselves by letting out the slack on the leads of their alsatians to allow the dogs to have a two yard lunge at every passing fan. Just to remind you
who was in charge mind! There is the usual alcohol ban in advance of the big Red Star and Partizan home games, so the masses make do with a large bottles of coke on the street that clearly have more in them than the coke!
This fixture is more than a game. It is usually the championship decider or at least a pivotal part of deciding who is going to win. A couple of weeks before the game, the Jelen Superliga was nicely poised. Partizan were out front, but had lost to lowly opposition in the Cup and were distracted by their futile attempts to win points against the big boys in the Europa League. Red Star were on their shoulders, but then inexplicably fired a blank against OFK. Derby night took on extra importance.
We opted to enter the stadium. The atmosphere builds up early, as the various factions put up their banners. After rescuing our tickets from the entry gate steward - he clearly was going to retain them and then pas them back out to be resold - we found our seats in the West Stand occupied. The standard match practice is obviously to buy
the cheaper seats, sit where you like and then look in an intimidating fashion at anybody that rocks up with a legitimate claim. We setteled for being intimidated for a while, before claiming our seats. The squatters moved on to do the same to somebody else. The Red Star fans busied themselves with their banners and chants away to our left in the North Stand. As with my last visit in March, the main body of 5500 Partizan fans remain segregated from the other 1500 Partizan fans. The ongoing dispute between Alcatraz and the Zabranjeni -
the Forbidden - is clearly alive. The presence of a large group of Partizan fans in the East Stand adjacent to the Zabranjeni amazingly didn't seem to provoke mass crowd disorder. The atmosphere built towards kick off, but the teams entered the pitch to a more subdued stadium in advance of a minute's silence prior to kick off.
Queue the pyrothenics, fireworks and a wall of noise. The Crazy North unleashed their display, shooting fireworks high into the sky above the stadium. Partizan responded by scoring. It looked offisde at firts glance. Disbelief came over the Red Star fans, but after a moment
to regroup the noise resumed. Partizan let their smoke flares go. Red Star equalised. The place went nuts. The game was paused to let the visibility improve, as Red Star roared their team to get up and at them. Partizan attacked and a Red Star defender diverted a cross into his own net. In most of Europe, the heads of the home fans would drop after such a rollercoaster..... but not the Euorpean Cup Winning brothers.
The second half was one way traffic. Red Star pressured and Partizan buckled. The equaliser provoked mass hysteria with the Red Star players leaping the advertising boards and racing towards their admiring public. The advert boards provided extra amusement for us, as the word Nottingham flashed across the electronic boards ...................
Nottingham. Amico per la Pelle .......the Red Star fightback inspired by their undergarments. As it says on the Crvena Zvezda website ......."
surely one of the leading Italian brands in the production and distribution of male, female and children’s underwear, NOTTINGHAM has recently become a sponsor of the leading Serbian sports brand Red Star".
The pressure continued and the inevitable winner arrived. A remarkable comeback.......... and if my translations are correct
the first time in 143 attempts that Red Star has been losing at halftime and comeback to win.
We made our way to the back of the congested stand a few minutes before the end. As standing in aisles is as commonplace as sitting in someone elses seat, it was a good move. The need for a speedy exit was paramount. It had been a great game, but a quiet night in other respects. There had only been 107 arrests. We had a swift walk back to town, past the lines of the Serbian police who were possibly itching for a bit of action by this point. We settled in the Cafe City Angel behind the St Sava Cathedral and savoured our pint of Lav - the King Of Beers.
Postcript The 3 points secured, Red Star temporarily closed the gap at the top of the table. The euphoria of the victory was shortlived. The following Wednesday they lost to OFK at the Marakana in the Cup Quarter Final and followed this up in the next home game by getting spanked 3-0 by FK Vojvodina.
There is always next year!
Appendix Jelen Serbija Superliga Round 13 Crvena Zvezda 3 v FK Partizan 2
ЦРВЕНА ЗВЕЗДА 3 v ПАРТИЗАН 2
Venue: Marakana, Belgrade
Гледалаца : 44.150
Attendance: 44,150
Судија : Милорад Мажић (Врбас)
Referee: Milorad Mažić (Vrbas)
Стрелци : Касалица у 15, Миливојевић у 48.
Scorers: Kasalica at 15, after 48 Milivojevic и Милијаш у 74. and Milijas after 74 минуту за Црвену звезду, а Митровић у 10 и Јовановић (ауто-гол) у 17. minute for Red Star, and Mitrovic 10 and Jovanovic (own goal) in the 17th за Партизан. for Partizan.
ЦРВЕНА ЗВЕЗДА : Бајковић, Микић, Спајић, Јовановић, Младеновић, Мијаиловић, Миливојевић, Милијаш, Лазовић, Касалица и Мудрински.
RED STAR: Bajković, Mikic, Spajic, Jovanovic, Mladenovic, Mijailovic, Milivojevic, Milijas, Lazovic Kasalica and Mudrinski.
Резерве: Кировски, Максимовић, Димитријевић, Вешовић, Савићевић, Бабаљ, Милуновић. Reserves: Kirovski, Maksimovic, Dimitrijevic, Vešović, Savicevic, Babalj, Milunović.
ПАРТИЗАН : Петровић, Миљковић, Остојић, Иванов, Лазевски, Смиљанић, Марковић, Илић, Томић, Марковић и Митровић.
Partizan: Petrovic, Miljkovic, Ostojic, Ivanov, Lazevski, Smiljanic, Markovic, Ilic Tomic, Markovic and Mitrovic.
Резерве: Живковић, Волков, Сретеновић, Јојић, Нинковић, Шћеповић С, Шћеповић М. Reserves: Zivkovic, Volkov, Sretenovic Jojic, Ninkovic, Šćepović S, M Šćepović.
Гледалаца : 44.150
Attendance: 44,150
Advertisement
Tot: 0.134s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0717s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb