Red Army Mostar

Red Army
Abbreviation	RA81
Type	Supporters' group, Ultras group
Club	FK Velež Mostar
Motto	Mostar u srcu, Velez do groba! (Mostar in the heart, Velez until the grave!) Prestati nećemo nikada (We will never stop)
Headquarters	Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Arenas	Stadion pod Bijelim Brijegom (1981–1992) Stadion Rođeni (1995–2024)
Stand	East (Red Army Tribina)
Colours
Website	redarmy-mostar.ba

Supporters of FK Velež Mostar

Graffiti Mostar

Red Army Mostar, also known as "Crvena armija" is a FK Velež Mostar supporters' group in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

Red Army Mostar was founded in 1981 in Mostar under the name Crveni šejtani (Red Devils), after FK Velež Mostar won its first Yugoslav Cup final. The final game was won with a score of 3–2 against FK Željezničar at the Marakana stadium in front of more than 40,000 people. Following its inception, Crveni šejtani fell into a period of decline, but resurfaced again in 1986, when FK Velež once again reached the final of the Yugoslav Cup versus Dinamo Zagreb.

The game was won by Velež with a final score of 3–1. After that game, Crveni šejtani were renamed to Red Army. During that period, subgroups formed, including the Zealots, Eagles, Chicago, Furia, Carina and others. The group of FK Velež fans in Sarajevo was called Red Platoon.

During the Yugoslavia period, FK Velež was considered the pride of Herzegovina and was supported by all Herzegovinians. The fan base spanned Yugoslavia, with the most support coming from Konjic, Čapljina, Travnik, Doboj, Tuzla and Dubrovnik.

During the 1985–86 season, Mostar was a town of 110,000 people. However, eight-thousand Red Army members traveled to Split to watch a Hajduk-Velež match. This is just one of the many examples of the love that Red Army had for Velež. Velež was viewed as a multi-ethnic team. Many Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs played in FK Velež.

Members of the Red Army are be predominantly Bosniaks although the group is welcoming all nationalities. Attendance at the stadium rarely reaches levels seen in the 1980s, but during certain occasions large numbers of fans gather.

Present Day

Today, Red Army Mostar is mostly composed of people from Mostar. A few groups come from Ilidža, Konjic, Jablanica, Čapljina and Stolac.

Red Army's biggest rivals today are Ultras Mostar, a supporter group of another team from Mostar HŠK Zrinjski Mostar. The rivalry is based both on locality, ethnicity and politics. FK Velež and Red Army are multiethnic, while Zrinjski and Ultras are only Croats. Moreover, it is right to say that Red Army is left wing oriented while ultras are nationalistic and right wing oriented. The rivalry began after the end of the Bosnian War, mostly because of conflict between Bosniaks and Croats during the war

The city of Mostar was divided between the east side, which is predominantly Bosniak, and the west side, which is predominantly Croat. Velež's old stadium, Bijeli Brijeg Stadium remained in the west side of Mostar, so the club had to find a new stadium to be able to play matches. Its old stadium was given to Zrinjski. Matches between Velež and Zrinjski are often afflicted with high levels of conflict.

Songs

The official anthem of the former group Red Army Mostar is Bezbolnim palicama by Zoster. Later, a band called Red Army Band recorded seven songs that quickly became popular among former Velež fans. Other artists did the same too, so today there are a lot of recorded songs about the red club from Mostar.

External links

• KN Red Army Mostar (in Bosnian)
• UG Mostarski Rođeni (in Bosnian)
• Rođeni.com (in Bosnian)
• FK Velež Mostar (in Bosnian)