Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T00:48:06.920Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“The pitch itself was no man's land:” Siege, Željezničar Sarajevo Football Club and the Grbavica Stadium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Richard Mills
Richard Mills*
Affiliation:
School of History, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
*
Email: r.mills@uea.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Inspired by microhistory, this essay explores the wartime plight of a football stadium and the multi-ethnic club that called it home as a means of understanding Bosnia and Herzegovina's descent into conflict, the siege of Sarajevo, and the impact upon civilians. Like the suburb of the same name, Grbavica became part of the frontline during the siege. Deprived of its home, FK Željezničar continued to function, while players, staff, and supporters longed for a return to the shattered ground. At a local level, the organization offers a means of visualizing the development of the Grbavica suburb, from its socialist foundations to its post-Dayton reintegration. In this way, the life of the stadium and those who frequent it map onto the history of Yugoslavia, its dissolution, and the independent republic that emerged in its wake. Moreover, the wartime partition of the stadium, the club, and its supporters’ group – all of which were claimed by actors on both sides of the frontline – were representative of political developments in a state where the ethnic balance was forcibly reengineered. This reconstruction of Grbavica's war harnesses original photographic evidence, oral history, maps, contemporary journalism, and the transcripts of the Hague Tribunal.

Keywords

footballwarBosnia and HerzegovinaYugoslaviaSarajevo
Type
Introduction
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 6 , November 2016 , pp. 877 - 903
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Contemporary Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Bjelogrlić, M., 1992a. “Fudbal ostao na barikadi.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, March 27.Google Scholar
Bjelogrlić, M., 1992b. “Barikade oko Grbavice.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 6.Google Scholar
Bjelogrlić, M., 1992c. “'željo’ bez tima.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 19.Google Scholar
Bjelogrlić, M., 1992d. “Granate i na Grbavici.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 23.Google Scholar
“Iz navijačkog albuma.” 1991. Tempo, Belgrade, June 5.Google Scholar
“Josip Katalinski direktor SD ‘željezničar'.” 1992. Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 14.Google Scholar
Kreho, I. 1995. “Grbavica, ponovo, sjajna lica.” Champion, Sarajevo, December 15.Google Scholar
Lučić, Maristela. 1992. “War Erupts in Sarajevo – Bosnian Lebanon.” Politika: The International Weekly, Belgrade, April 11.Google Scholar
, M. A. 1992. “Ubi ih neizvesnost.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 8.Google Scholar
, M. B. 1991. “'Juga’ na Grbavici.” Tempo, Belgrade, October 16.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1992a. “Vrebao je Šešelj.” Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 13.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1992b. “Ponose se svojim borcima.” Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 14.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1992c. “Uskoro i gradski derbi.” Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 29.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1994a. “Mečevi ‘začinjeni’ snajperima.” Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, June 17.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1994b. “Bogatstvo u opremi.” Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 7.Google Scholar
, P. T. 1994c. “Sarajevo, ili… “ Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, September 6.Google Scholar
“Počeo nogometni šampionat Bosne i Hercegovine.” 1994. Oslobođenje, Sarajevo, July 16.Google Scholar
“Prisvojili “Zelju'.” 1994. Derbi, Banja Luka, September 13.Google Scholar
Repak, Advan. 1991. “'Manijaci’ protiv ‘Guzonja'.” Čao Tifo, no. 10, Belgrade, June.Google Scholar
Šećerov, Zoran. 1992a. “Miris dunja i baruta.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 13.Google Scholar
Šećerov, Zoran. 1992b. “Drviš i smrt, drugi čin.” Sportski žurnal, Belgrade, April 22.Google Scholar
Simeunović, Miodrag. 1991. “Yugoslavia Resides in Bosnia – Sport Ambassador of Peace Again.” Politika: The International Weekly, Belgrade, October 19.Google Scholar
Simeunović, Miodrag. 1992. “From Friday to Friday – War Strikes at Sports.” Politika: The International Weekly, Belgrade, April 11.Google Scholar
“SD željezničar.” 1952. Sport, Belgrade, August 30.Google Scholar
“Sport briše granice.” 1994. Triumph, no. 4, Sarajevo.Google Scholar

Secondary Literature

Anđelić, Dragoljub, ed. 1982. Fudbalski Klub željezničar, 1921–1981. Sarajevo: FK Željezničar Sarajevo.Google Scholar
Ankant. 2008. “Ledra Palace and Old Stadium of Cetinkaya.” Flickr.com, March 31. www.flickr.com/photos/ankant/2407977920/in/photostream/.Google Scholar
Arich-Gerz, Bruno. 2010. “Killing Sports Fields: The Amahoro Stadium Complex in Kigali, Rwanda.” In Stadium Worlds: Football, Space and the Built Environment, edited by Sybille Frank and Silke Steets, 114–126. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Armakolas, Ioannis. 2007. “Sarajevo No More? Identity and the Sense of Place among Bosnian Serb Sarajevans in Republika Srpska.” In The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories and Moral Claims in a Post-War Society, edited by Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms, and Ger Duijzings, 79–99. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Arnautović, Demir. 2005. Zlatna knjiga fudbala. Tuzla: Narodna i univerzitetska biblioteka “Derviš Sušić”.Google Scholar
Bale, John. 1993. Sport, Space and the City. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brentin, Dario, Galijaš, Armina and Paić, Hrvoje, eds. 2014. Special Issue: Football and Society, Südosteuropa, 62 (2).Google Scholar
Burridge, Tom. 2015. “Look Inside Donetsk's Now-Empty Football Stadium.” BBC News, April 5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32187880.Google Scholar
Cooley, Laurence and Mujanović, Jasmin. 2014. “Changing the Rules of the Game: Comparing FIFA/UEFA and EU Attempts to Promote Reform of Power-Sharing Institutions in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Global Society 29 (1): 42–63.Google Scholar
Cronin, Mike. 2000. “Playing Away from Home: Identity in Northern Ireland and the Experience of Deny City Football Club.” National Identities 2 (1): 65–79.Google Scholar
Donia, Robert J., 2009. Sarajevo: A Biography. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Draškić, Miladin. 1988. “Željezničari grade stadion “Grbavicu'.” In Sarajevo u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji, edited by Miodrag Čanković, Vol. I, 591–594. Sarajevo: Istorijski arhiv Sarajevo.Google Scholar
Duke, Vic and Crolley, Liz. 1996. Football, Nationality and the State. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2001. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology. London: Pluto.Google Scholar
Ginzburg, Carlo. 1993. “Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It.” Critical Inquiry 20 (1): 10–35.Google Scholar
Gjelten, Tom. 1996. Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper under Siege. New York: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Glenny, Misha. 1996. The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hadžialić, Nedžad. 2007. Fudbalski Klub Željezničar 1982–2007. Sarajevo: Nedžad Hadžialić.Google Scholar
Honig, Jan Willem and Both, Norbert. 1997. Srebrenica: Record of a War Crime. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hughson, Johnand Skillen, Fiona, eds. 2014. Football in Southeastern Europe: From Ethnic Homogenization to Reconciliation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jansen, Stef. 2013. “People and Things in the Ethnography of Borders: Materialising the Division of Sarajevo.” Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale 21 (1): 23–37.Google Scholar
“Joint Union.” 2015. The Maniacs Official Website. Accessed July 2015. www.themaniacs.org/tm/joint-union.Google Scholar
Joyner, Charles. 1999. Shared Traditions: Southern History and Folk Culture. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Judah, Tim. 2000. The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. New Haven, CT: Yale Nota Bene.Google Scholar
Kajan, Dževad. 1999. Sarajevski derbi: 74 prvenstvene utakmice, 1954–1999. Sarajevo: Mediapress.Google Scholar
Kajan, Dževad. 2007. Bilo jednom na Grbavici. Sarajevo: Megamedic.Google Scholar
Lanfranchi, Pierre and Taylor, Matthew. 1995. “Professional Football in World War Two Britain.” In War Culture: Social Change and Changing Experience in World War Two Britain, edited by Pat Kirkham and David Thorms, 187–197. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Lanfranchi, Pierre and Taylor, Matthew. 2001. Moving with the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballers. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Luedtke, Brandon. 2012. “Playing Fields and Battlefields: The Football Pitch, England and the First World War.” Britain and the World 5 (1): 96–115.Google Scholar
Maček, Ivana. 2009. Sarajevo under Siege: Anthropology in Wartime. Philadelphia: PENN.Google Scholar
Malcolm, Noel. 2002. Bosnia: A Short History. London: Pan Macmillan.Google Scholar
Mills, Richard. 2010. “Velež Mostar Football Club and the Demise of ‘Brotherhood and Unity’ in Yugoslavia, 1922–2009.” Europe-Asia Studies 62 (7): 1107–1133.Google Scholar
Mills, Richard. 2012. “Commemorating a Disputed Past: Football Club and Supporters’ Group War Memorials in the Former Yugoslavia.” History 97 (328): 540–577.Google Scholar
Mills, Richard. 2013a. “Domestic Football and Nationalism in the Construction and Destruction of Socialist Yugoslavia, 1945–1995.” PhD diss., University of East Anglia.Google Scholar
Mills, Richard. 2013b. “Fighters, Footballers and Nation Builders: Wartime Football in the Serb-Held Territories of the Former Yugoslavia, 1991–1996.” Sport in Society 16 (8): 945–972.Google Scholar
Morrison, Kenneth. 2013. “Sarajevo's Holiday Inn: Eventful Past of Historic Hotel.” BBC News, November 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24730400.Google Scholar
“Na današnji dan otvoren Željin dom – Stadion Grbavica.” 2013. Radio Sarajevo, September 12. http://www.radiosarajevo.ba/sport/nogomet/na-danasnji-dan-otvoren-zeljin-dom-stadion-grbavica/125146.Google Scholar
Özkan, Özgür Dirim. 2013. “Football Fandom and Formation of Cultural Differences in Bosnia: A Comparative Ethnographic Study on FK Željezničar and FK Sarajevo Fans in Sarajevo.” Working Paper: Kick It! The Anthropology of European Football, Football Research in an Enlarged Europe Conference, University of Vienna, October, http://www.free-project.eu/documents-free/Working%20Papers/Football%20Fandom%20Formation%20Cultural%20Differences%20Bosnia%20Comparative%20Ethnographic%20Study%20Zeljeznicar%20Sarajevo%20(OD%20Ozkan).pdf.Google Scholar
Özkan, Özgür Dirim. 2014. “Perception of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Qualification to FIFA World Cup 2014 by Different Ethnic Groups.” Sport Mont Journal 12 (40, 41, 42): 167–174.Google Scholar
Read, Peter and Wyndham, Marivic. 2008. “Putting Site Back into Trauma Studies: A Study of Five Detention and Torture Centres in Santiago, Chile.” Life Writing 5 (1): 79–96.Google Scholar
Sell, Louis. 2000. “The Serb Flight from Sarajevo: Dayton's First Failure.” East European Politics and Societies 14 (1): 179–202.Google Scholar
Silber, Laura and Little, Allan. 1996. The Death of Yugoslavia. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Stefansson, Anders. 2007. “Urban Exile: Locals, Newcomers and the Cultural Transformation of Sarajevo.” In The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories and Moral Claims in a Postwar Society, edited by Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms, and Ger Duijzings, 59–77. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Sterchele, David. 2013. “Fertile Land or Mined Field? Peace-Building and Ethnic Tensions in Postwar Bosnian Football.” Sport in Society 16 (8): 973–992.Google Scholar
Toal, Gerard and Dahlman, Carl T. 2011. Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Jonathan. 2006. Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football. London: Orion.Google Scholar
Zec, Dejan and Paunović, Miloš. 2014. “Football's Positive Influence on Integration in Diverse Societies: The Case Study of Yugoslavia.” Soccer and Society 16 (2–3): 232–244.Google Scholar

Interview

2008. The Maniacs of FK Željezničar – Željko, Hamo, and Lejla. Group interview conducted by author. Sarajevo. May. Željko has been attending Željezničar matches home and away since the 1970s. He has been a member of the Maniacs since it was founded in 1987. Hamo has watched Željo since the early 1980s. He has been a member of Joint Union since his high school days. Lejla is a supporter who lived in Grbavica, in close proximity to the stadium, during the siege.Google Scholar

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

2001–2003. Case IT-98-29-T. Stanislav Galić – Interview Transcripts, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. http://icr.icty.org/.Google Scholar
2004–2009. Case IT-98-29/1. Dragomir Milošević – Interview Transcripts, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. http://icr.icty.org/.Google Scholar
“Transkript govora Radovana Karadžića u BH parlamentu,” October 15. Exhibit P69.A. 2000–2009. Case IT-00-39. Momčilo Krajišnik, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. http://icr.icty.org/. 1–4.Google Scholar