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The Demise of Yugoslavia and Football: The roots of the ultras subculture in Croatia

Organised supporter groups were formed and began to function in the early 1980s in Yugoslavia. The creation of the supporter scene is tied to the growth of numerous subcultures tied to the alternative music scene. This was also a period of liberalisation in Yugoslavia's socialist social order, as well as one of deep economic crisis and social problems. After the death of lifelong Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the political crisis reached its peak. Frequent political conflicts between Yugoslavia's republics, strengthened by the installation of Slobodan Milošević as the Serbian leader, led Yugoslavia towards collapse and war. The growth in political tensions was especially apparent at football stadiums, which were locations in which forbidden political narratives were expressed en masse. The supporter scene formed within this context. The secret service monitored members of supporter groups due to their flirting with nationalism. By using a historical and sociological approach, we wish to avoid numerous mystifications about the supporter scene from the period that exist in the media and some of the academic literature. The thesis of this presentation is that young supporters in the 1980s, interacting with their peers and society in general, created new forms of collective action. In addition to violence and nationalism, which represent important elements of the supporter scene at the time, we claim that the subculturalisation process itself was key in creating a specific subcultural style of football hooligan, which indelibly marked the 1980s in Croatia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia. Understanding the origins of the supporter subculture in the 1980s is also key to an understanding of the political dimension of the modern ultras subculture in Croatia.

Politics, Football, Ultras, Yugoslavia, Croatia

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