Nationalist insults against Albanians became an integral part of cheering at football derbies between Budućnost from Podgorica and Dečić from Tuzi. The last match between these two teams, which was held at the beginning of April, was interrupted by the fans of Buducnosti - the "barbarians".
The "Barbarians" were banned from the next four away games, and Budućnost was fined 5.000 euros for fan pyrotechnics and another 5.000 for insulting the rival on a national basis. Punishing clubs for insults on a national basis is more recent.
Insults and hate speech followed the sudden rise of Dečić who in recent years has been playing an increasingly prominent role in Montenegrin football, and this year he is fighting for the title. For the first time, there were derogatory chants against Albanians from the stand of "barbarians."" could still be heard during the finals of the Montenegro Cup in 2021.
This season, Fuducnost has already been punished with three matches without the presence of an audience after the "barbarians" in the second round match" insulted Albanians on a national basis.
The FSCG rulebook is clear in case of a repeated offense - which refers to insults by fans "with a gesture or a written banner" against an opposing player, club, association, football official or spectators - a penalty of nine points is imposed. For the third violation, the club is relegated to a lower competition rank.
A day after the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the Football Association of Montenegro to fine Budućnost with 10.000 euros, as well as with four games without the support of their fans, the President of the Municipality of Tuzi reacted strongly Lindon Dzhelaj.
"Everyone who was in the stadium that day, as well as the spectators who watched one of the most important matches of this season on television, witnessed another unprovoked outburst of savagery, hatred and chauvinism. And instead of, after several similar scandals, the FSCG determinedly showing zero tolerance for racism, which is also the tendency of UEFA itself through the Say No To Racism campaign, the Disciplinary Commission showed with its decisions that it directly encourages this kind of behavior, which does not serve the honor of the state or sport in general", stated Đeljaj.
He also said that he will consider a solution for Dečić to withdraw from the First League, and that he will complain to the European and world governing bodies of football - UEFA and FIFA.
UEFA punished for racism
Last year, in May, UEFA fined the football associations of Montenegro and Serbia after the match between these two national teams in Podgorica. The umbrella European organization assessed that the cheering of part of the audience was "derogatory and racist".
Due to racism, FSCG was also punished in 2019 after the match with England, when a group of Montenegrin fans sent "monkey screams" to footballers of African origin from England.
While the rules in Europe are clear, a sports journalist Aleksandar Radovic za CIN-CG says that the question is what the state authorities and the system as a whole are doing about hate speech.
"I am not aware that an individual or individuals have been punished in any way for insults on national, racial or religious grounds during football matches, and it is not the first time that such chants have been heard at matches between Budućnost and Dečić. As far as I know, not even the mildest punishment, such as a ban on entering stadiums or sports facilities, has been imposed, not to mention fines or imprisonment".
Fan nationalist rampage is also present in the lower leagues. At the beginning of this year, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms stated in the opinion, which was signed by the deputy Nerma Dobardžić-Kurti, that OFK Grbalj, as the host of the match that was played on October 15, 2023, did not, in accordance with the Act on the Prevention of Violence and Misbehavior at Sports Events, take appropriate measures against fans who, by their behavior, incited bigotry, intolerance and hatred and called for violence against to the members of FC Otrant Olimpik from Ulcinj.
The National Council of Albanians in Montenegro announced that they were at a match between Grblja teams from Kotor and Otranto from Ulcinj, played in October last year, heard "hysterical shouts of racist content towards Albanians", such as "kill, slaughter, that Š***** does not exist". They stated that these shouts are often heard on sports fields in Montenegro and are identical to those that could be heard almost 10 years ago at the match between the national teams of Serbia and Albania played in Belgrade.
In a statement submitted to the Protector, the Football Association indicated that cases of religious, racial, gender and any other discrimination in the stands or in the halls are the responsibility of the FSCG Disciplinary Commission, which made the decision to initiate proceedings against FK Grbalj.
OFK Grbalj stated in their statement that they organized the match in accordance with the competition proposals adopted by the FSCG, and that they hired eight members of the authorized security agency and that, in accordance with the obligations regarding public gatherings, the club promptly informed the Police Directorate, whose members were not present at the stadium. They pointed out that OFK Grbalj does not have an organized fan group, but that the present spectators react individually to the events on the field, and noted that at the end of the match there were hooligan outbursts by a group of underage spectators, which they could not prevent and whose chanting they strongly condemn.
The club is silent, the influence of the fans is great
The reactions of the clubs are mostly negative or absent.
Radović notes that this practice was repeated even after the last incident.
"Future did not defend itself or condemn the chanting in the last match against Dečić, which, I believe, speaks more to the fact that the fan structures have a strong influence on the club's leaders, and not to the fact that the club's leaders support or encourage such behavior," says Radović.
Last May, before the final of the state cup, which are Sutjeska and Arsenal from Tivat played in the capital of Montenegro, part of the fans from Nikšić near the stadium near Gorica shouted: "Knife, wire, Podgorica", which refers to the hateful cries of fan groups from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who glorify the genocide in Srebrenica.
Immediately after the match, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica ex officio filed a case against 40 members of the "Vojvode" fan group and gave an order to the Police Department to collect the necessary information and identify the persons who chanted inappropriately.
The perpetrators were identified, evidence and all necessary data were collected, but "the prosecutor's office assessed that there are no grounds for initiating criminal prosecution against any person for any criminal offense for which they are being prosecuted ex officio", she replied to the journalists. Beautiful Medenica from the Podgorica Prosecutor's Office. On the contrary, it was concluded that "the actions of several persons contained elements of offenses from the Act on the Prevention of Violence and Misbehavior at Sports Events".
The Football Association of Montenegro condemned the "scandalous and absolutely unacceptable messages" of the fans from Nikšić, and initiated disciplinary proceedings against FK Sutjesko due to the inappropriate behavior of their supporters. Sutjeska's fans also spoke up, denying that their chanting "has anything to do with genocides and name-calling of minority peoples".
He tried to change the situation in this neglected area Marko Begovic, who in September 2021 was elected head of the Sports Administration.
"After taking office, he initiated several analyses, and the results confirmed that the sports system in Montenegro is quite neglected. Bearing in mind the local unwillingness, it was necessary to establish a strategic partnership with the Council of Europe and the European Commission. With the first, it resulted in enabling Montenegro to develop a joint project on the topic of suppressing hate speech, which continued even after my resignation in April, 2022," Begović, who is now a university professor in Norway, tells CIN-CG.
He says that, while he was at the head of the Administration, he asked the European Commission for financial support and the possibility for Montenegro to participate in various projects.
"However, the intensified international activity did not follow the necessary reform procedures, which I admit are unpleasant but are healing. The unwillingness and insufficient expertise of representatives of public authorities and sports organizations, in addition to numerous abuses of public finances, eventually eroded the integrity of sports, so violence and discrimination in sports are everyday. Since the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have not done their homework, Montenegro has not yet acceded to the fundamental conventions of the Council of Europe that treat this area, i.e. an appropriate institutional arrangement for a systemic response against negative phenomena in sports has not been established".
There are no examples from court practice in which hate speech in sports has been sanctioned. In mid-November 2020. K.D., KR, TM, B. Ž., B. B., in a public place in Donje Luga, they displayed a banner measuring 200 by 120 centimeters, on which it was written: "A Montenegrin who is not a Serb is someone's bastard", which was then published on Instagram under the name "RS - Belgrade - hooligans". The misdemeanor court in Bijelo Polje acquitted the perpetrators of the offense under Art. 19 of the Law on Public Order and Peace, because it has not been proven who was harmed by the act in question on a specific day and time, and "the harmed cannot be an unspecified and unidentified number of citizens, who may not even have been aware of the existence of the disputed inscription". The request to initiate misdemeanor proceedings does not charge the defendants with having insulted specific persons - but with insulting the citizens of Montenegro on the basis of national affiliation and ethnic origin. The reasoning of the court is interesting, considering that they could not insult all the citizens of Montenegro.
"There are also citizens living in Montenegro who, in terms of nationality and ethnic origin, are not Montenegrins and Serbs to whom the disputed inscription refers, so those citizens would not even perceive this as an insult, while, on the other hand, the inscription in question could have been an act misdemeanor against a person who is not a citizen of Montenegro, but also those persons outside of Montenegro who feel themselves to be Montenegrins or Serbs", the explanation states.
Penalties and education
In contrast to Montenegro, in Croatia such outbursts are sanctioned. Fans of FK Dinamo from Zagreb - "Bad Blue Boys" met on 11.6.2020. By agreement, they gathered at the Custosija in Zagreb and waved torches, chanted: "Kill the Serb", carrying a banner: "We will kill Serbian women and children". In February 2021, the Municipal Criminal Court in Zagreb found five fans between the ages of 20 and 22 guilty of public incitement to hatred and violence. The four were each sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment, and the time spent in detention with a two-year probationary period was added to their sentence. One was sentenced to five months in prison, but his sentence was replaced by 450 hours of community service. They are also obliged to pay HRK 500 in court costs. The defendants admitted their guilt and repented.
"In the world, for example, the education of young people who are in any way connected to football, and sports in general, is important for preventing such incidents. With us, that kind of prevention simply does not exist, although due to our mentality and divisions on various grounds, it might be in vain. And late," points out Radović.
At one time, they managed to solve the delay in Great Britain with rigorous penalties, so that now their stadiums do not even have fences between the field and the fans.
In our country, parents still have to think carefully about whether they want to take their children to the stadium and, instead of fair play and sports competition, expose them to watching violence and outpourings of national and other verbal hatred.
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