The dark nineties are long gone from history, generations in this region are changing, but hatred and chauvinism are still alive and publicly expressed. As in the nineties, so too today, the ideal stage for this is the stands of football stadiums.
Montenegro, which got its national team a little later than most of the former Yugoslavia members, also had the opportunity to experience it all. Over the years, eerie cries and calls for killing, glorification of war criminals, could be heard from the away corner of the southern stand...
At the same time, the rest of the stadium under Gorica fought the winds of the ugly past from these areas and withstood its blows. Although there are things that could be criticized by our fans, what is clear about them is that Montenegro comes first, love for their country and national team, and at the same time respect for their rival.
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Every anthem and every sports legend was met with applause - even when the basest provocations and horrible chants came from fans of Serbia (most of them residents of Montenegro) and Croatia.
Two months ago, Montenegrin fans used the first ever football match against Croatia to send a message that they were ashamed of Montenegro's participation in the wars of the 1990s and the attack on Dubrovnik. A nice gesture, and from a generation that was not part of one of Montenegro's ugliest periods.
"Maksimir's" answer was correct at the time and showed what most Croats were thinking, but the group of fans of that national team that arrived in Podgorica managed to show that individuals still have not made a deal with the past.
They responded to the message for Dubrovnik with an offensive banner, to the applause for their anthem and legend Luka Modrić by singing Ustasha songs, shouting Ustasha greetings, calling for the killing of Serbs...
The rest of the stadium showed that he did not share the same ideals with them with whistles, and the fans from the north stands with an anti-fascist slogan: Ustashas, Chetniks - you fled together.
Short, clear, effective and in a cultured manner, and then the song that carried the Montenegrin football players continued.
And that's how it should be, even though we are witnesses to the fact that there is another side to Montenegro, where those who recently wanted to expel the Turks (although it seems the reason was Azerbaijanis) are also present, introducing visas for them overnight...
This Monday's rainy Podgorica night is one of the rare moments when we feel like a bright spot in the Balkans - it would be nice if there were many more of them.
Bonus video:
