Bohemians, beyond 11 #FootballAgainstRacism

In this opportunity the comrades of Love Bohemians Hate Racism shared with us a short biography of their club and Ultras group. Here it is:

Bohemians 1905 is a Prague football club, which was originally founded in 1905 as AFK Vršovice. The club won the Czechoslovak First League only once, during the 1982-83 season. The colors of the club are green and white.There are a number of football clubs in Prague, the three biggest being Sparta, Slavia and Bohemians, so naturally the other two are our biggest rivals. The biggest rivalry is with Sparta Prague, which is the country’s most successful team and the most hated opponent. The most prestigious match is the derby with Slavia Prague called The “Vršovice Derby” . Both Slavia and Bohemians are located in the Vršovice district of Prague and their stadiums are separated by only 1 km.

The best known player from Bohemians’ history is Antonín Panenka, known for scoring the winning penalty kick of the 1976 European Championiship, Czechoslovakia vs. West Germany, with particular style and grace.

Bohemians’ mascot is a kangaroo, the legacy of a 1927 tour of Australia, when the club brought back an actual live kangaroo to Prague.

Years 1973 and 1995 are the most successful era for the club, as the club remained in the top flight in those years. What’s more, during the 1982–83 season the club won the Czechoslovakian League Championship and advanced to the semifinals of the UEFA Cup. In the year 2005 it survived bankruptcy, which was a consequence of miss-management. The club was not allowed to compete in the spring part of the 2004–2005 Czech 2. Liga and its results were expunged. The club was relegated to the 3rd Czech division due to its financial insolvency, but later was saved by its fans, who started a trust fund and paid off portion of the club’s debts. The club was able to advance back to the top flight in 2007, where they stayed until relegation in 2012. After only one season in the 2nd league Bohemians returned to the premier league in 2013, in 2015 Bohemians is still in the premier league.

Ultras

Ultras Bohemians were born in 2002; the main founder of the groups was a forward thinking man that we reserve to name, who put together a group of people who wanted to do something at Bohemians. Bohemka was known to have a fan scene with a strong anti-fascist tradition, which led to it being ridiculed by the fascists. Around the year 2004, before the collapse of the club, a very good relationship with the fans of St.Pauli was formed, and at home games we routinely exhibited flags against fascism or the logo of St.Pauli.

In 2004 the club went bankrupt, but the fans collected over 3million Czech crowns in a short period and managed to save the club. Over time, the Bohemians fans scene began to attract large percentage of anti-fascists, people from the punk, hardcore and skinhead scene with an antifascist orientation. Anywhere the Ultras go they can always count on the support of local anti-fascists.

Ultras have very good and friendly relationship with the club management which comes down to good communication.  In 2011, the club had to relocate to the stadium of our rivals Slavia Praha – Eden -, as our own stadium – Dolíček- didn’t meet the criteria of the FA. There is a big rivalry between us and Slavia which sometimes results in conflict. Our move to Eden was not welcomed by anyone – our own fan scene or the Slavia fans. It led to a rapid decline in attendance and a boycott of home games by most of the fans and ultras from both clubs.

Bohemka was relegated to the second division for the 2012/13 season and we were allowed to return to Dolíček. This meant a return of the good old atmosphere back at Bohemians matches.