Pride of the Revolution and the National Liberation War: Let the heroes of Podgorica not be forgotten

FUTURE IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD (29): From the monograph "Proud Past, One Future", which can be purchased at the Future fan shop

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Photo: UGC
Photo: UGC
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

The National Liberation War (NOB) and World War II were a period of the deepest wounds, but also of the greatest pride, for those members of Buducnost (Montenegro) who fought and gave their lives for freedom. Already at the beginning of the summer of 1941, after the Nazi attack on the USSR, during the period of preparations for the July 13th Uprising, a large number of members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) and the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (Skoj) from Podgorica took refuge on the outskirts of the city and prepared for the fight. Among them were five first-team players and ten members of the Buducnost, or Montenegro, administration. In the 1941 uprising alone, 107 athletes from Podgorica clubs participated; of the registered football players and members of the management of Podgorica clubs, 60 gave their lives as fighters of the NOB.

The following people, as members of the board or players of the pre-war Buducnost, earned the Order of the People's Hero: Radovan Vukanovic, Vlado Božović, Spiro Mugoš, Radule Radulović Russo, Gojko Radovic, Veljko Jankovic, Radoje Jovanovic, as well as the people of Nikšić Veljko Zeković i Đorđije Premović, former first team players of the “red club”. The club leaders who participated in the July 13th Uprising were Periša Vujošević, Marko Radovic, Vido Uskokovic, Radovan Vukanovic, Spiro Mugoš i Sergije StanićThey all played important roles in organizing the uprising. Their names are still recognized today as the names of numerous streets, schools, and organizations in Podgorica.

It is also recorded that by the end of the summer of 1941, a number of club officials - partisan insurgents - had returned to occupied Podgorica, operating illegally. At the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942, two partisan companies were operating in the city, and the commander of one of them was Stojo Rasovic, the same one who was one of the founders of the Montenegro club. Miloš Lucic, the pre-war president of Buducnost, was an active participant in the City Committee of the People's Liberation Front Podgorica, and the role of the long-standing secretary of the club, Sergij Stanić, who headed the subcommittee of the People's Liberation Front in Kuči and Zeta, was particularly prominent.

FK Budućnost monograph
photo: Mirko Savović

At Vreli Ribničke, in the summer of 1942, a large number of revolutionaries and partisans were shot. Among them was Vido Uskoković, one of the founders of Zora and Budućnost, during the war the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for the Podgorica district and the battalion commissar. In the Albanian camp of Tepa, he was shot Omer Abdovic, a member of the leadership of Montenegro. In June 1942, in the fighting in Bosnia, as a member of the Fifth Proletarian Brigade, he was killed Luka J. Cetkovic - worker, member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and one of the founders of Montenegro. During the fourth and fifth enemy offensives in 1943, a number of first-team players and club leaders were killed. Among them was Špiro Mugoša, who was also the commander of the Fourth Proletarian Brigade at the time of his death. In the most difficult battles, after the Battle of Sutjeska in 1943, some of the key officials of pre-war Buducnost and Montenegro - Sergije Stanić and Marko Radović - lost their lives heroically. Both were members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia since 1926, and died in the fighting on Mount Ozren (BiH) in July 1943.

On the eve of the anniversary of the liberation of Titograd, on December 14, 1985, on the west side of the stadium, under the official entrance, a memorial plaque was ceremoniously unveiled with the names of 22 football players and club management members who died and were shot, who laid their lives in the foundations of Yugoslavia and Montenegro. The memorial plaque was unveiled by the national hero Savo Brković, who in his speech mentioned the glorious revolutionary and war days and the enormous contribution of Buducnost to the victory over the enemy.

May they never be forgotten.

photo: FK Budućnost

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