At the beginning of 1938 - according to the data Milan Raičević - in the premises of Urs' unions in Podgorica, the work of the Abrašević Cultural and Artistic Society was renewed and a football club was founded that continued the tradition of the banned clubs Zora and Budućnost.
"We didn't stay in that club (Cetinja Sloga) for long, because an initiative was launched in Podgorica by the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia to renew the work of Budućnost," he said. Vlado Božović, secretary of the Local Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Montenegro and organizational secretary of the Provincial Committee of Skoja, one of the founders of the new society.
The first time Montenegro was mentioned in the domestic press was in Zeta on 26 June 1938. At that time, the club was not yet registered in the Cetinje Football Sub-Association, so it was necessary to play two matches, and the text emphasized that it was founded by workers. Montenegro continued on the beaten path of its predecessors. Its first match, known for, but not its result, was played against Sloga, the team that succeeded Lovćen, at the end of August 1938. Already on 4 September of the same year, the Podgorica team defeated another Cetinje team, Crnogorac, with a score of 2:1, in a "qualifying match", probably one of those required for registration.
DON'T MISS IT
The club was new, but the players weren't - among them were Arso Markovic, captain Vlado Božović, Asim Djurdjevic i Ibrahim Peko Methadzovic - who soon showed an enviable level of quality. In a friendly match on October 23, 1938, Montenegro played against a combined team of Crnogorac and Sloga, because the management "decided to conclude such a match in order to give the players the opportunity to play one match with an equal opponent, because, as is known, in every match played until then it had a great superiority". The "Cetinje national team" did not resist either, as it was defeated with a score of 2:1.
"SK Crna Gora, yesterday's wild club, with its work in its founding was like the youngest newborn of sports Podgorica," wrote Zeta, emphasizing that in less than two years of existence, the club managed to attract the attention of the Podgorica sports audience with its sports knowledge and technical skills.
Despite the poor financial situation, which hindered even older clubs, Montenegro, with its modest membership fees and disciplined work, set an example of a united and reasonable understanding of football activities. With almost no help, the club rose to an enviable sporting level through active work, while the Yugoslav Football Association accepted it into the fold of its highest forum, and the players tirelessly prepared for championship appearances.
The Podgorica team confirmed these praises on the very day the text was published, August 27, 1939, when they defeated Velež in Podgorica with a score of 5:1, identical to that of the Mostar match seven years earlier. The following day, in a new match, the Mostar team responded with a 3:2 victory.
The attack of Nazi Germany on Poland on 1 September 1939 ignited a war conflagration that engulfed almost all of Europe and marked the beginning of World War II, and Yugoslavia could not remain on the sidelines. As early as early October, Zeta noted that Balšić and Montenegro were not training, because war psychosis had caused discouragement and confusion among the football players. Problems with the pitch and conflicts with the Cetinje Football Sub-Association further worsened the situation, so in mid-May 1940, the Sub-Association ordered that the semi-final matches of the championship be played in Tivat, where the most functional pitch in the Zeta banovina was located. The reason given was that Podgorica did not have a fenced pitch, although it had the Ćemovski polje, flat as the surface of the sea.
Montenegro and Balšić ignored this decision and played two duels against each other in Podgorica on 26 May 1940 in the final of the first group of the first class of the sub-federal championship. The first match ended in a 1:1 draw, while the younger rival won the second 2:0. During its existence, Montenegro only played outside Montenegro once, and that was on the anniversary of the German attack on Poland, on 1 September 1940, when Velež in Mostar returned the hospitality. The match itself remained in the shadow of the events that followed: workers, youth and citizens gathered at the Rondo, red flags and slogans appeared, the police and gendarmes fired, and many communists and members of the SKO were arrested and taken to prison. The delegation from Podgorica was ordered to leave Mostar immediately, with the obligation to report to gendarmerie stations along the way, while Velež was banned just two days later, on September 3, 1940. It was also the last match of Montenegro that left a written trace.
(From the monograph “Proud Past, One Future”, which will be on sale soon)
Bonus video:
