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Mateja Mikulec It is the middle of July and I'm having such a great time here on Cres (an island in the north of the Adriatic). I am 7 and my brother is 4. We are sitting on the beach, playing with our toys, making castles from the hot sand and soaking our feet in the sea, which is the only way to put up with the unbearable heat. We are laughing, running around, and obviously enjoying the vacation as much as only a child can. All of a sudden, a group of children playing nearby start throwing sand at my brother and me and yelling at us. They speak in a strange way and I don't understand them so I take a hold of my brother's hand and decide to run home. Next day, the same thing happens, but this time they don't throw sand at us, but are destroying our sand castles and taking away our toys. I can hear what they are saying, but again I have difficulties understanding them (a phenomenon hardly explicable to me). I am scared now, but my little brother is terrified so we again decide we’d better go home. This time I tell my dad everything and ask him about the unfamiliar word they kept saying: ‘PURGERI’. A smile occurs on my dad’s face and, without explanation, he tells me to call them ‘TOVARI’ and to destroy their castles. One has to listen to his dad, doesn’t one? This was when I first heard of those two words (i.e. 13 years ago); terms that nowadays one cannot get away from in our society, especially if one lives in Zagreb or in Dalmatia. The word ‘PURGER’ refers to the pure-blooded inhabitant of Zagreb, while ‘TOVARS’ are Dalmatians with Split as their center. Both of these words are used as an insult, although each ‘region’ is proud to be called that way. These two towns, or better to say, these two regions, have always been ‘at war’. The hidden hatred between them has been present for centuries, and nobody knows the exact reason for that. However, the most probable one is jealousy. Zagreb is, after all, the capital of Croatia and the biggest cultural, financial and educational centre of the country. There are all kinds of different universities in Zagreb and broader education is offered. Students from different parts of Croatia, including Dalmatia, migrate to Zagreb in order to make their careers and succeed in life. They come to study and stay forever. On the other hand, Split is the center of Dalmatia and the second largest town in Croatia. It is a huge cultural and historical center with the most beautiful architecture from the ancient times. Another thing, probably the most important one to make ‘purgers’ jealous is the sea. Our Dalmatia has a beautiful coast with a lot of small islands surrounded by the bluest sea in the world, one can only dream of. Diversities are what make our country special and unique. We should be proud of what we have and try to work as a team. The last thing we need is a competition between the two most important towns in our country, turning them into rivals. Nowadays, either of the two cities is just waiting for the other one to make a mistake, just as if they were participants in some kind of sport. I think ‘SPORT’ is the key word here. It is true that this Zagreb-Split competition has its roots in the ancient times, but we can overtly admit that the competition is today stronger than ever. The thing that mostly contributed to it and made separation and hatred even greater is definitely soccer. Each of these two towns has its representative team and they both are always on top of the Croatian National Championship lists. Dinamo, the team of Zagreb region, and Hajduk, the team of Dalmatia, are the main rivals in fierce fights for the ‘throne’. After all, is there a sport that has no rivals? However, the problem is not in the teams, but in their fans. In 1950, Hajduk got its first fan group named Torcida (after a fan group from Brazil), which is one of the oldest ones in Europe. The year of 1985 marked the foundation of Dinamo’s fan group Bad Blue Boys (BBB), whose name was derived from at that time very popular movie ‘Bad Boys’ (Sean Penn). Although both of these fan groups were founded in a good cause, such as to help and support players, to follow them and be present on their matches, they eventually turned into vandals. Supporting the teams by mere cheering, yelling, singing and whistling, was not enough and it has recently included soccer hooliganism. Fans started beating up everyone who was not ‘their’, especially supporters of their main rival (BBB vs. Torcida). This supporting turned into zealotry, and Hajduk and Dinamo into biggest enemies. Each time the match between the two takes place, either town has to take the toll: Trams and buses are ruined, cars smashed, people hospitalized – this is a typical picture of the town if the hosts lose. When the guests lose, they usually try to get home safe and sound if possible (because being a minority, they wouldn’t get much by attacking the winners). The newspapers are packed with articles about deviant behavior after a match, and this is exactly the indicator of our society. Fights, graffiti and vandalism unfortunately turned into an everyday phenomenon. Nobody even pays attention to that. Nobody is trying to solve the problem and get rid of the prejudice that we, Zagreb citizens, have towards the Dalmatians, or vice versa. If only the problem was just in fan groups… Their philosophy, their primitive ideas, their uncorroborated opinions mirror our society. The question ‘Who do you root for?’ is a very common one here, and as soon as you come up with an answer, you are automatically ‘profiled’ and categorized into either ‘a friend’ or ‘an enemy’ group. Almost everyone in Croatia is a supporter of either of these teams, and in similar situations or with alcohol in their blood they wouldn’t differ much from soccer hooligans. This is who we are and what we do. Our people in general like to make fun of other people, destroy as much as they can, because this is what they need to feel powerful and superior. The prejudice that we have is partly inherited and partly acquired. I obviously acquired it 13 years ago when those children called me ‘a purger’ and I rejoined with ‘a tovar’, even though I didn’t know then what that meant. If our nation is like my dad (and I am pretty sure it is), who didn’t even bother to explain the problem but just told me to retaliate, I don’t really think that values like tolerance, mutual appreciation and the awareness of the fact that local patriotism is not real patriotism will ever catch on. |
| svibanj, 2005 | ||||||
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