A whole century has passed since football was played seriously in these areas, and during the hundred-year period of development, it had various phases. As a rule, the elders always told the younger ones that football in their time was, if not of better quality, at least more beautiful, that it had a soul and some rebellious spirit that the new generations cannot understand.
The oldest football fans under Trebjes will say that they remember the sixties and seventies of the last century as the most beautiful period of football.
Ađanski, Stanišić, Gardun, Međedović, Grahovac, Đurović, Kovačević, Bokan, Tibljaš, Zeković and Samatović, and with them Tadić, Damjanović, Perović, Matović, Đukić, Kontić, Magovčević and Ivković are the generation of players that in ten years of togetherness left perhaps the biggest mark since the "ladybug" rolled across the Nikšić field.
"BEST FROM BISTRICA"
The audience used to value players who are remembered for their quality, but also for their irresistible charm, both on and off the field. The period that was marked on the world stage by big names like Pele, Eusebi and Best, or in Yugoslavia by those like Džajić and Šekularac, had its heroes on home soil as well.
Branko Baja Samatović and Drago Kovačević, i.e. the left and right wings of Sutjeska, were the backbone of the team that led a football revolution near Bistrica. Long hair and rebellious spirit were indispensable for the masters of this game at that time, which was also the case with the Nikšić blue-white tandem.
Kovačević arrived in Nikšić from Pljevalje, while Samatović had a longer journey, because he was born in the village of Jaša Tomić in Vojvodina. A long-term plan was drawn up, i.e. a team that would take Sutjeska to the company of the best, so the dice were made of players from their own school, but also talents from all over Yugoslavia.
It didn't take long when the second division teams started to tremble in front of Sutjeska, and the Nikšić audience rewarded the excellent games. The avalanche of football euphoria started, and its end was not in sight.
Nikšić's "blues" were then followed by around 5.000 fans on certain away games, while fans from all over Montenegro arrived near Bistrica. Spectators came to enjoy the football romance, waiting for the inevitable results. After a couple of attempts, this generation of players from Sutjesk managed to reach the first league scene, and then there was a period when the players of the "big four" of Yugoslav football knew how to leave the stadium near Bistrica with their heads down.
"After several seasons spent in Rudar, a call came from Sutjeska. The Nikšić team then had ambitions to fight for entry into the first league, and for me that whole story represented a great challenge and I arrived at the club with great joy. However, I could not imagine what kind of football story would be made and how much joy we would bring to Sutjeska fans. I believed in myself and my qualities, but I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would leave such a mark. Slowly but surely, a very strong team was built and we saw right away that we have the capacity for great things. The matches for entry into the first league showed an incredible energy that was present both among the players and among the fans. The city lived for football and for Sutjeska. Then we reached the First League, and then we just became the heroes of the city. In addition to human and football qualities, the team had a spirit of unity, and I would especially like to emphasize the role of coach Šijaković, with whom it was a real pleasure to work for me", says Drago Kovačević in an interview with "Vijesti".
Football workers were not lazy to "scatter" the entire country to get the right reinforcements, and the case of "Besta sa Bistrica" confirms that they had both knowledge and feelings. Many are of the opinion that Branko Baja Samatović would have been a member of the best team in Yugoslavia if Dragan Džajić was not on the left wing.
"At the persuasion of my father, who was a participant in the battle on Sutjeska, I came to Nikšić and put on the blue and white jersey. I quickly got used to both Sutjeska and Nikšić and I have remained there to this day. We had a great team and I didn't regret coming here for a single moment. I used my potential to the maximum, and in addition to getting results, we also played beautiful football. It wasn't easy from the very beginning. There were various obstacles and things that have nothing to do with football, especially when we played play-off matches to enter the first league. However, we managed to overcome all that and bring Sutjeska into the company of the best. We were accepted then by the fans as well because football at that time was at a high level and people lived for it because it was a working class she found an exhaust valve in him, and that hasn't been here for a long time. Keeping the whole team together for even a decade today is equivalent to science fiction, and that's why football is where it is today. We didn't have the conditions that the players have today, but we seem to be we loved the game much more and we didn't run after money", Branko Baja Samatović, who got the nickname Best from Bistrica because of his great resemblance to Manchester United legend George Best, tells "Vijesti".
THIRD LUCK
In the 1968/69 season. Sutjeska finished in second place in the Southern Group of the Second League, with one point less than Budućnost. Qualification duels with Radnički from Kragujevac followed. The first match ended with a score of 2:2, while in Kragujevac it was 2:1.
"Radnčki was an exceptional team. Later, many of those players performed on the first league stage, such as Paunović, Paunovski. We were composed of a lot of anonymous individuals guided through the second league competition by the great coach Dragoljub Šijaković. The championship season in which we qualified was difficult. We considered Šijaković a second father, primarily because of his approach and parental relationship. We learned a lot from him, and like a bolt out of the blue came the news about the dismissal of coach Šijaković, Bebulo Milošević, and that had a great impact. "When I think back to those two games, I don't think we were any worse, but a combination of various circumstances took their toll," Kovačević points out.
The following year, Sutjeska had Borac from Čača as a rival in the play-off. With Radovan Bokan's goal, Nikčići went to the rematch with a minimal advantage.
"The people of Čača knew that they had to stop me and Drago Kovačević, so all night they flooded the stadium with pumps, especially on the wings, and they even narrowed the pitch. Perhaps there is no real justification from this distance, but the second chance was also missed. The team struggled for another year and finally luck smiled on us", Samatović points out.
The following season, more precisely in 1971, Sutjeska started the qualifications, again as first place in the South Group, and again with Borce. In Čačak, the loss was 0:1, and in Nikšić it was 3:1 for the "blues", when Samatović and Kovačević scored, and Grahovac along with them. And the decision on the first league team fell in two duels with Proleter. A 2:0 victory against Bistrica and a draw in the second leg were enough to finally make dreams come true.
After the triumph in Zrenjanin, a large number of people came to meet the players at the Podgorica airport, and the journey from Golubovac to Nikšić itself took several hours. On that occasion, the fans carried their pets on their shoulders through the city center, when the famous catchphrase "Better Baja than Džaja" was born, which will be used until the end of Baja's career.
An interesting fact is that in those years, Sutjeska had exceptional goal scorers who were at the top of the Second League. First, Vojin Lazarević stood out, who later went to Crvena zvezda, then Josip Tibljaš, and then Baja Samatović, who together with Tibljaš was the best scorer of the South Group in 18 with 1970 goals scored. A year later, Radovan Bokan also stood out.
Cooperation with Tirket
Kovacević and Samatović played together in another team, namely the Olympic team of Yugoslavia, which was then led by the famous Aleksandar Tirnantić Tirke.
"Collaboration with Tirket was phenomenal. He was a man of the people, and in addition to imparting knowledge, he also knew how to create an atmosphere in the team. The experience with the Olympic team led by a man who played in the first World Cup was a great thing for us and a lot it meant to us in our future careers. What delighted me and Baja was that Tirke accepted the joke at his own expense, and he didn't even get angry at our mischief," Kovačević points out with a smile.
After the departure of the great generation, Kovačević's football path did not take him far, because he continued his playing career in Budućnost, and ended in Bjelopolje Jedinstvo, but later successfully engaged in coaching, leading many Montenegrin clubs.
On the other hand, Samatović spent a short time in Bor, and then headed to the United States of America, where he played for two years and met many great players, and had the opportunity to meet the legendary Pele. Nevertheless, his heart was pulling him to return to Nikšić, where he still lives today, and he enthusiastically accepts any interlocutor who is ready to talk about football, especially about the one from the past, when there was plenty of football romance.
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