Horde Zla
Horde Zla is the organized Ultras group that supports Bosnian football club FK Sarajevo. The group's logo consists of a stylized depiction of the Grim Reaper, borrowed from a Zagor comic book at the time of the group's inception. Horde zla is one of two major football fan groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group's organizational structure is fairly decentralized with many subgroups present at the stadium's north stand – the gathering point of the club's most loyal and passionate fans. Some of the most well known subgroups are Outlaws, Maroon Brothers, Vutrasi, Ultra North, Fina Gradska Raja, Downtown Crew and Central Force.
History
Background
From the moment FK Sarajevo was established on 24 October 1946 it quickly grew a following in the city of Sarajevo. The fact that nearly all pre-war Sarajevan clubs were banned by the new communist authorities left a large vacuum in a city that was traditionally a footballing centre in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The majority of fans stemmed from the numerous downtown Sarajevan Baščaršija, Stari grad and Centar neighbourhoods predominantly inhabited by Bosniaks. This is not to say that other ethnicities did not support the club. They did in huge numbers, but the history of organized support for the club is nevertheless closely tied to the aforementioned neighbourhoods. The only major Sarajevan football club not banned by the post-war authorities was FK Željezničar, based in the Grbavica neighbourhood of the city, which would go on to become the maroon-white's biggest rival. FK Sarajevo supporters were historically known as Pitari while an individual was, and is still known as a Pitar. The nickname, meaning a consumer of the local Bosnian dish pita, was originally a derogatory label given by fans of working class Željezničar that implied the upper-class background of most FK Sarajevo supporters. This notion was based on the fact that the old downtown neighbourhoods of the city were the traditional centres of commerce and artisanship, even though the socioeconomic landscape of the city had dramatically changed by the time the club was formed. FK Sarajevo being formed by the post-war communist authorities also meant that the club garnered support from the political and party establishment of the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina which created a specific symbiosis between the progressive state establishment and the traditional, conservative Sarayevan Mahala.Beginnings
The first contours of organized support for the club were drawn out in the late 1950s when the eastern stand of the Koševo stadium drew in the most ardent of supporters. As Sarajevo folklore stipulates, no footballer was ever fully accepted by the eastern stand which was for decades known as a polygon for the city's particular sense of humour and as the main proving ground for every player wearing the maroon and white jersey. The legendary east stand was generally a meeting point for residents of the Sarajevan mahalas that would picnic with their friends, relatives and neighbours while watching matches, only fully supporting players that stemmed from the city's downtown neighbourhoods – a particular form of local patriotism that has, in a way, survived until today. By the mid 1980s, the eastern stand's rowdiness during matches of the time provoked large media coverage. During a league tie against Red Star Belgrade on 17 April 1986 it was reported that a maroon painted snake, reported by some as being a specimen of the venomous horned viper, was thrown off the eastern stand onto the visitors bench. This was never verified by the police or club, while other rumours in circulation stated that the incident against Red Star was caused by someone from the crowd hitting the referee with a large stone. Again, this rumour was never verified either and has in subsequent years become an urban legend, as is the case with the snake rumour. Nevertheless, alarmed by constant incidents and media coverage, the club management headed by then Director Svetozar Vujović opened the north stand of the Koševo stadium to the most fanatical of fans.The north stand was traditionally not very popular with the footballing public, but was found to be the most adequate because it was the farthest from the field. This move coincided with the Ultras subculture reaching the Former Yugoslavia in the mid 1980s, and finding fertile ground among both members of the Punk and Mod subcultures and non-affiliated football supporters. Soon after, Horde Zla came into being. Namely, several prominent FK Sarajevo supporters of the younger generation, influenced by the Ultras subculture decided to meet, as the story goes, in an alternative nightclub of the time known as AG and create a new identity based on a popular Zagor comic book of the same name. Soon enough, Horde Zla became one of the most popular youth organizations in the city of Sarajevo. By the end of the 1980s Horde zla had become one of the five largest and most organized fan groups in SFR Yugoslavia, alongside Delije, Grobari, Torcida Split and Bad Blue Boys, out-marching to all of FK Sarajevo's matches across the country and travelling to Italy in support of Yugoslavia during the 1990 World Cup. At this time the group also became known for some of the most infamous examples of football violence in the country, including the 1991 stabbing of two FK Partizan supporters in front of the JNA Stadium in Belgrade and the 1989 riots in the city of Mostar before a league fixture against Velež, resulting in the stabbing of a local resident and the destruction of huge amounts of public and private property. While most other Ultra firms in Yugoslavia popularized and marketed the growing nationalist fervor that would lead to the Yugoslav Wars, Horde Zla mostly stayed apolitical. As political tensions escalated on the eve of the Bosnian war, Horde Zla shifted its apolitical course and became one of the first organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina that openly endorsed and supported the return of the old, historical name for Bosnian Muslims – Bosniaks, as well as calling for Bosnian independence.