Antisemitic banner at Tottenham match showed how Serbian clubs are blighted by ultras and until teams join forces with the authorities and Uefa it will remain that way
A large tree-lined artery runs through Belgrade’s southern Banjica suburb, leading away from Serbia’s capital city. It is named Liberation Boulevard in reference to the nation’s struggle for freedom in 1945. Starting near Partizan’s stadium, it goes right along Red Star’s Marakana before fading into a thick forest.
There, hidden by foliage, an oak-panelled door stands at the entrance of the Banjica concentration camp from where thousands of Jews, Serbs and Roma were deported from July 1941 to October 1944. The first week of October will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
The families of those imprisoned at Banjica will have reacted with horror to the antisemitic banner displayed by Partizan ultras in the Europa League game against Tottenham last Thursday. The club named after Tito’s anti-Nazi resistance movement now waits for a possible sanction from Uefa on 3 October.
The incident (the banner, based on the Only Fools and Horses logo, said “Only Jews and Pussies”) was reported by both clubs and the referee, Alon Yefet, from Israel. It prompted renewed outrage in England following the controversy surrounding the Under-21 game in 2012 when Danny Rose was racially abused. Partizan offered an apology and the club’s general secretary, Darko Grubor, pledged it would do everything to “identify and prosecute the idiots”. The real concern, however, is what will happen if the supporters are identified.
This is not the first time Partizan’s Grobari ultras have grabbed headlines for the wrong reasons. Last season one of their members descended pitch-side after a Champions League exit to Ludogorets and snatched captain Marko Scepovic’s armband. The following day they staged a surreal press conference explaining how both were actually good friends. It was mostly the ultra doing the talking.
This came after another ultra had slapped Lazar Markovic, now with Liverpool, in the face after a draw against Sloboda. There was no press conference that time to shed light on whether Markovic turned the other cheek. A culture of silence prevails over what plagues Serbian club football and the perception of Serbia abroad.
Every year Partizan’s top players leave the country but the ultras remain. The support from the Grobari and the Delije (their Red Star counterparts) is fanatical. Red Star closed in on the league title last season with obsessive support even at training sessions. However some unrestrained individuals sometimes invite themselves to the party and turn it into a disgrace. In 2007-08 Partizan were expelled from the Uefa Cup despite an 11-1 aggregate victory against Zrinjski Mostar, after their away fans fought with the local police.
Domestic institutions charged with dealing with the matter have proved unfit to carry out the task. A defiance of authority since the tormented 1990s has intoxicated political and social spheres and reared its ugly head in football too. Many ultras took part in the armed conflicts and carry their scars today, translating the tribal nature of the Yugoslav wars to their clubs and ultras groups.
Partizan have repeatedly attempted to ban a number of ultras but to no avail owing to a mixture of anxiousness over making decisions, and a shortage of means to implement them. Some came back proudly announcing themselves as The Forbidden Ones and regularly clash internally with other factions of the Grobari.
The Serbian football federation appeared equally powerless in Italy four years ago when hooligans led the referee Craig Thomson to abandon a Euro 2012 qualifier after seven minutes. The ministry of sports went so far as to attempt to prosecute 14 fan organisations at once but the charges were finally dropped after ministers moved on to other positions.
Enforcing ground bans is easier when clubs are able to pay their employees. Despite winning the league every year between 2008 and 2013 and selling players every summer, Partizan struggle financially. Red Star cannot even afford their stadium’s floodlights. Serbia’s recent friendly against France was shifted to Partizan’s stadium which was described by Serbia’s manager Dick Advocaat as “looking a 100 years old”. For these clubs, financial sustainability comes before acting against their ultras.
The problem is not confined to Serbia as highlighted by the 56 Paris Saint-Germain hooligans apprehended in Amsterdam last week, but the Serbian authorities simply do not have the clout to deal with the ultras.
Red Star were expelled from the Champions League in June for breaching financial fair play, making it even more difficult for the club to pay their staff and players.
Last Friday, Michel Platini unveiled the Euro 2020 hosts with the surprise inclusion of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, a city the Uefa president has visited on several occasions. Belgrade’s bid included the construction of a national stadium and upgrade of facilities but it failed to make the cut.
Azerbaijan was also spared once more from being drawn with Armenia in Euro 2016 qualifying with Uefa citing the dispute between the countries over Nagorno-Karabakh to justify its decision. Yet Serbia and Albania are at odds over Kosovo but they have been paired together. The first game between both nations is scheduled in Belgrade on 14 October and will doubtless lead to nationalist sentiments from the past again being thrown into the limelight.
The problems will not go away until there is a joint effort from Uefa, the Serbian authorities and the clubs. At the moment that is not happening.
The banner at Partizan Belgrade's Europa League game against Tottenham Hotspur on 18 September. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images
