The Forgotten Fans [Part 2]: Eastern Europe

I want to focus part 2 on the best fans in the world, the Eastern European ultras. When anything about Europe is brought up one tends to solely think about Western Europe and almost forgets that Europe doesn't just end after Germany or Austria but there's a huge chunk of the Continent that at times is looked over in many different areas whether it be finance, politics or football. Sadly many of the football teams and their fans in Eastern Europe are not very well known, but they have without a doubt the best fans not just in Europe, but in the world.

From Poland to Croatia & Serbia to Greece and everywhere in between are where you will find the best football supporters in the world. These fans take supporting a club to the extreme. These fans do not just take the singing and flag waving to the extreme, rather in Eastern Europe many teams fans are interweave in Politics and can huge political influence. For a good example of that look no further than Croatia & Serbia. These two countries were one just a decade or so ago, but the people weren't happy. The main event that really flared the civil war to begin was becasue of 2 supporters groups. It was during a match when Dinamo Zagreb, the top Croatian side, played Crvena Zvezda, the top Serbian side. These two teams also have the largest ultras groups: Dinamo's is the BBB ZG and Crevena Zvezda's is the Delije. These two supporters groups clashed before during and after the match in all out riots not just in the stadium, but all over the city. This carried on into the night with Serbs and Croats fighting each other all over the country. Within the next month a civil war broke out and many say that without a doubt this all began with the fight between the BBB ZG and the Delije.

These Eastern European fans aren't all about the singing and flag waving as I said before, but they are more into the fighting aspect. Eastern Europe is the breeding ground for hooligans. Poland, Serbia, Greece all have without a doubt the reputation for having the most feared hooligans in the world. This is mainly because the governments of these countries has not really tried to cut back on hooliganism at all, like countries such as England and Spain have successfully done. In Poland, Croatia, Greece Ultras and hooligans have their headquarters in buildings in the middle of a city just like any other legit company would. At the games they aren't banned from using flares and other explosives. To some people such as FIFA this is wrong and needs to be stopped. But to people like me and ultras all over the world this is a great thing. Modern football is starting to rid the world of ultras and hooligans, but the one place it has not touched is Eastern Europe where they still thrive. They make it known that they do not plan on going away any time soon either by using huge banners and displays in international games that display their stance against modern football.

Eastern Europe can easily be forgotten about in political and financial arenas, but it should never be forgotten about in the footbal arena. This area boasts the best fans in the world without a doubt. Fans that are politically active, and fans that support their club to an extent that is seen nowhere else in the world anymore. FIFA keeps pushing for these fans to be shut down, but at the moment they are not listening. And for a while at least they are the last real Ultras and Hooligans left in Europe.

The Forgotten Fans [Part 1]: Japan

When one generally thinks about the countries with the best football supporters they will normally say: Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, England (although ultras are all but dead there in my opinion). But they forget many others so this is my first out of a few different posts I'll have trying to highlight the under appreciated Ultras from all over the globe.

The first is the Japanese Ultras. These are some of the most well organized, full voiced, colorful, creative fans in the world without a doubt. But because they are not from Europe, they get no coverage. The main team in Japan, who consequently has the biggest supporters group is the Urawa Reds (fans pictured above). These fans finally got to make an international debut during the FIFA match they played against AC Milan. The Reds supporters put the Milan supporters to shame both in Japan and in Italy, not many club's supporters can do that.

It's not just Urawa though, every team in Japan has a fairly large supporters group. Every game these fans are basically color coded with everyone wearing the same color, the color of their club. The second most well known and supported club is Gamba Osaka who is classically Urawa's rivals. Recently in a game between the two violence broke out between the fans of the clubs with Urawa's supporters charging the gate between themselves and Gamba supporters. This is starting to become a reoccurring trend in Japan, where fans are slowly beginnign to move away from being somewhat peaceful supporters, to more violent. Mobs of hooliganas for each team are becoming more and more popular, while the flag waving, team color wearing fan style is slowly fading very similar to what happened in England in the past. But there is no doubt, as one fans blog put it "Hooliganism is alive and kicking (literally, there was a pic of a Gamba fan being kicked by a Urawa fan) in the J-1!"

Japanese Ultras are without a doubt the most underappreciated football supporters in the world in my opinion. They are one of the most organized, passionate, loud, and creative fans you will find today. I believe they do not get the recognition they deserve, but as more and more of the J-1 league gets exposure in other countries, the more these Japanese fans will come to be appreciated and respected.

Green Army

Just a reminder that the Green Army 2008 vid is now up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8eUnw3wpjs

Didn't have it saved on this comp so link will have to suffice.

City boys, we are here! CCS promoted to USL-1!

Wednesday 4 December 2008:

Today is a historic day for Cleveland City supporters. The team has finally come out and announced that we will in fact be moving up to USL -1! This is a huge deal for the team because along with this promotion comes: a new place to play which can hold a bigger capacity = more money, a new tv deal = more money, and even a few matches on FSC = national exposure, and more money.

This is also a great opportunity for the supporters, the CCS Ultras, The Green Army. Now we have a chance to prove ourselves against some of the bigger supporters groups in USL-1 such as the timber army...etc. We need to expand and quickly, but this promotion now gives us a chance for national exposur and to make a name for ourselves.

The Cleveland City Stars have only been around for 2 years but what a 2 years it has been. The first season we lost a close tie in the semi-finals, and in the second season we without a doubt won the championship. It was pretty obvious we needed some new competition because we were quickly outgrowing USL-2. Now a new test comes in the form of USL-1. The best organization in USL-2 for the 2008 season belonged to City and the management must keep this going on into USL-1 for the team to have continued success. If we keep growing as we have been, Cleveland City Stars will be a force to reckon with for any USL team, and the Green Army will become the envy of the other USL-1 ultras.

City boys, we are here!