Memorie.al/The participation of our national football team in the finals of the European “France 2016”, is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in the history of Albanian sport, since their creation until today. But it must be acknowledged that even before the ’90s, many club teams, such as “Partizani”, “Vllaznia”, “17 Nëntori”, “Dinamo” and even “Flamurtari” of Vlora, (who spent several rounds in European Cups), have made dignified appearances in many international meetings, achieving very satisfactory results for our time and country from the most backward on the continent. And at the same time raising the name of Albania and our national pride.
And not only football, but also many other athletes such as volleyball players of “Dinamo” (male and female), weightlifters, athletes, shooters, etc., etc., received gold medals and raised the flag of Albania in many European stadiums. And all those big names in sports, legends such as: Boriçi, Halili, Pano, Zhega, Bizi, Rragami, Hafizi, Bajaziti, Çeço, Ballgjini, Përnaska, Zëri, in football; Fagu, Papavangjeli, Shaka, Radoja e Çaçi in basketball; Russia, Uka, Doçi, Tase, in volleyball; (male) Tase, Ibrahimi, Duni, (female), Mihali and Toska, in athletics, Karabolli and Mata in shooting, Gërnjoti and Janku in boxing, Pampuri and Kondo in weightlifting, Guri e Fishta in wrestling, Muço and Dervishi in chess, Krifsa e Kërçiku in table tennis, full of others, who made eras in different periods of their career, and it takes whole pages of newspapers to mention them all.
But it must also be said that those athletes gave a lot to the Albanian sport, the name of the homeland and took a little from it, or more precisely from the current regime of the ‘90s. But, this was the smallest evil, as many athletes, with dozens, big names of Albanian sports, from those we mentioned a little above and many others became the object of unmasking, were expelled from sports, were interned, were introduced even in the prisons of that regime And this not only because of their family biography, but also for reasons so banal for that time, as well as ridiculous for the generation of young people today, who cannot imagine how the big names of Albanian football, like the boys of “Flamurtari” of Vlora in the mid-80s, which made the giants of “Barcelona” tremble, were stopped at our customs points for a lighter, watch, pack of cigarettes, women’s scarf, radiomagnetophone or rarely and a television set. And for this fact, many of them were expelled from the sport forever, or were sent to the deepest trenches of the country, like some of the football players of “Vllaznia”.
In fact, based on what awaited him in Albania, some did not return at all and sought political asylum, like some football players of “Vllaznia” of Shkodra in 1987. This is best evidenced by these archival documents that are we publish them all in one writing cycle, starting with today’s issue. (Note, titles inside the article, are editorial).
ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY Secret
DISTRICT PARTY COMMITTEE Nr. 155/1 Prot.
Shkodra, më17.12.1987
Subject: On the passage of the football team “Flamurtari” at the border crossing Hani i Hotit
Central Committee of the ALP
(Education Sector)
On 26.11.1987 at 22.00, the football team “Flamurtari” arrived at the border crossing Hani i Hotit, after having stayed abroad from 15-26.12.1987. In carrying out customs operations, the members of this team behaved correctly, causing no inconvenience. With some rare exceptions generally, they had also brought with them a radio-tape recorder, which were kept by customs for price control and verification. But, during the control of the bus, a typical pornographic magazine with ugly pictures of this type, 2 bracelets and a women’s scarf were found hidden in very masked places.
On the customs side, these were kept as undeclared goods, as despite consultations with the teammates, it was not identified who had brought them. We are of the opinion that this action should be the subject of discussion in the “Flamurtari” Club, as especially the attempt to bring pornographic magazines was made with certain purposes and I do not comply with the legitimacy of our communist morality.
Secretary of K.P. of the District
Gjorgj Grabova
Meeting in the Central Committee with the heads of the districts and the Ministry of Interior and Defense
Note: This material was worked on in a meeting we had in the Apparatus with the propaganda secretaries of the Party Committees of the districts: Tirana, Shkodra, Vlora, Korca, Durres, Fier, Berat, Elbasan, etc. and the secretaries of the Party committees of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior, as well as the leading associates of the Physical Education Committee, Mehdi Bushati and Hazis Tahiri, on November 18, 1987. November 19, 1987
Anastas Kondo
ON THE FURTHER DEEPENING OF THE FIGHT AGAINST FOREIGN APPEARANCES IN SPORT
Recently in the field of sports and specifically in some sports clubs we are facing very ugly performances, even anti-national. The party and sound social opinion are concerned about these performances coming as direct pressure from the bourgeois-revisionist world. Therefore, preventing and combating them is of paramount importance, first of all by the party committees of the districts and departments where these sports clubs and teams are located. It is very important that the problems of the fight against foreign performances be in the center of our attention, as these are related to the education of our youth and the healthy development of our sports, with their dignified presentation in national events. and international. As it is known, in recent years the participation of our teams, clubs and national team in international sports activities has increased in quantity and quality. But it is a fact that in the framework of these representations, some unpleasant events have been born and manifested, such as theft, unworthy anti-sports attitudes and actions, up to escape.
“The youth of the national football team and the girls’ volleyball stole in Bulgaria”
Last year in Bulgaria, several players of the national youth football team were caught stealing. In September of this year in the same country, two girls of the national volleyball team were caught stealing and recently in Finland, 4 players of the “Vllaznia” team were caught stealing from the Finnish police. So, this ugly act, punishable by law, is repeated several times. And these happen with the sports teams “Dinamo”, “Partizani” and “Vllaznia”. Is work being done in this direction and are measures being taken to exclude from sport those individuals who commit such heinous acts, or are measures expected to be taken by the government and sports federations?! We note that the measures given in these cases by sports clubs have been lenient. Meanwhile, the sports bodies here in the center have been broken before various pressures and interventions and in some cases, the athletes who have committed the crime of theft and have tarnished their moral image have been pardoned.
“Two weightlifters fled to Yugoslavia and the translator and two footballers to Greece”
Two years ago, two weightlifters escaped to Yugoslavia. In September of this year, the translator of the “Vllaznia” team fled to Greece, and a month later, in October, two football players of the “Vllaznia” football team fled to Greece. To think that these happened spontaneously, as suddenly, would be as naive as it is a grave mistake. They happen because in some clubs and teams the educational work is shallow, formal and without the proper argumentative force. It turns out that in this so important and determining aspect in the activity of sports clubs are not taken enough, or rather, very poorly taken the clubs, their leaders and the basic party organizations in them. We can say that in this regard, the district party committees work poorly.
“Partizan footballers, unworthy actions in Portugal”
Some players of the football team “Partizani” made inappropriate actions and created scandals during the match with the team “Benfica” of Lisbon in Portugal. For the first time in the history of UEFA, but also in that of our encounters in international sports activities, very serious measures were taken, outside the nature and our sporting and national character. In this regard, the names of the players of “Partizan”, who manifested completely inappropriate attitudes in this match, were commented and curved not only in the UEFA bulletins, but also in the European sports press. As is usually expected, the Yugoslav press speculated on the incident and made vile interpretations.
“Ramadan hit Romanian footballer, weightlifter Hakani, in France with doping”
After the unworthy action of the football player Ramadani in Romania, who was removed from the field of play with a red card for a severe blow to the head of the Romanian football player, UEFA sentences this player with the severe measure, excluding him for 11 years from the activities her. Regarding this case, the foreign press wrote, among other things, about “A massive beating of Albanian footballers in Romania”. Another ugly and unprecedented case for the nature of the athlete and our sport happened with the weightlifter M. Hakani of the sports club “17 November”, during the European Weightlifting Championship last year in France. This athlete was punished by the European Weightlifting Federation for dumping (drug) use.
All these serious and ugly events have weighed not only on the moral figure and the name of sports clubs, but also on our sport in confrontations and representations in international events. These events did not come suddenly. They did not happen spontaneously and accidentally. On the contrary, they have been accumulated in various sports clubs, an accumulation that is explained and argued by the very poor educational and liberalizing work that takes place concretely in these clubs and sports federations. Consequently, we can tell you that ideological work in the sports sector in general, and in some disciplines in particular, especially in football, has many defects and shortcomings, it suffers from formalism and globalism, from shallowness and spontaneity and flagrant liberalism.
“Party employees, fans who interfere in the formation of the team”
The party committees in the districts, the comrades who work there with the sports sector, have fallen into the positions of technocrats and sick fans, all their concern is to lose or win a match. These comrades from party employees, have inadvertently turned into fans, even someone has managed to intervene in the formation of the team, being blindly occupied by the anxiety of victory and two ranking points. These types of employees of the party apparatus, have not infrequently gone so far as to passionately demand that this or that player convicted by the BFSSH bodies be pardoned or his sentence reduced. And it is very bad when the one who asks for such a thing, puts on the power of the party employee, in the district or the functionary in the department that can cover those teams./Memorie.al
