Football as a Means of National Identification of Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia and Socialist Yugoslavia Cover Image

Nogomet kao sredstvo nacionalne identifikacije Hrvata u Kraljevini SHS-u/Jugoslaviji i socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji
Football as a Means of National Identification of Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia and Socialist Yugoslavia

Author(s): Davor Kovačić
Subject(s): Nationalism Studies, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Sports Studies, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Katolički bogoslovni fakultet u Đakovu
Keywords: Croats; Serbs; Croatia; Yugoslavia; politics; football; football clubs;

Summary/Abstract: It is a mistake to think that football is just a physical movement, a rough coercion of an opponent, because it is often more than a game. Football is a contemporary social phenomenon, and the state of football is often an indicator of the state of society and politics. In the Croatian and generally South Slavic areas, football was the most popular sport from the very beginning, and it attracted the largest number of spectators and aroused great public interest. Football is never just football, it is always politicized and it reflects relations in society in general, and in a way it is an X-ray of everything that is going on in society. The article shows how football in the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia and in socialist Yugoslavia was a means of expressing Croatian ethnical and national identity due to political disputes and divisions.

  • Issue Year: 28/2020
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 549-565
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Croatian