The audience from the stands defeated Macedonia

Blagoja Georgievski, sports journalist / Photo: Free Press

A hooligan cacophony of whistles, shouts, insults, will give the radicals from the Bulgarian side an argument for their claims that anti-Bulgarian hysteria is spreading in the country

Let's leave the politics to the politicians, we are athletes and that's all we should be interested in. After the match in Razgrad, I thanked the reception, and now we have to respond in the same way. We are only interested in the sports aspect. I urge the audience to be correct.

The selector Blagoja Milevski made this appeal in vain, because the night before last night, at the National Arena "Todor Proeski" in Skopje, before the football match between Macedonia and Bulgaria from the UEFA Nations League, whistles rang out from thousands of throats during the broadcast of the Bulgarian national anthem.
The echo of this uncivilized act will reverberate for a long time in the ears of the European leaders, who are sending us experts to overcome the current hate speech. While the signatories of the Good Neighbor Agreement are finding ways to overcome the mundane public discourse, not only on social networks, but also in general, "on the ground" the boiling passions erupted.

A hooligan cacophony of whistles, shouts, insults, and even slapping the nearest person within their reach will give the radicals on the Bulgarian side an argument for their claims that anti-Bulgarian hysteria is spreading in the country. All those who have an interest in the further deterioration of relations between the two countries, who do not want Macedonia to become a member of the European Union, immediately reacted by asking us to be punished.

Applause and cheers of their pets were overshadowed by insulting shouts directed at the visiting football players. And that's how much support the Macedonian footballers needed, who after the exclusion of Todoroski already in the 14th minute, only ten players remained on the field. Instead of the fans helping them (there were almost 20 thousand of them), they just denied them. The nervousness among the players of both teams was visible which resulted not only in the red, but also in several yellow cards.

No matter how frustrated and angry the Macedonians and the citizens of Macedonia are regarding Bulgaria's policy towards our country lately, the booing of the national anthem and the chants "Bulgarians Tatars" cannot be justified. Especially not on the sports fields, that arena which by definition should be a contest of chivalry and fair play. Apart from the fact that guests in the country, wherever they are from, should be treated with hospitality and respect, regardless of political relations. It is a rule that should not be deviated from. Paradoxically, a large part of the same sports fans who whistled, previously on social networks probably demanded that politics take their hands away from sports.

The football selection of Bulgaria also benefited from a sporting aspect. Although we went into this match as favourites, the Bulgarian footballers said that the booing and insults gave them extra motivation to win after four years without a win away from home. They succeeded in that precisely on the hot field in Skopje, with which they achieved a multiple effect - they passed us in the table, that is, they took over our second place and avoided a worse ranking in the next draw. Unlike Macedonia!

Whistling someone else's anthem before a sports match is not a sign of patriotism, but a lack of sports culture and civilized decency, and it humiliates, first of all, the one who whistles, not the one who is booed. Unfortunately, we missed a chance for a real reaction from the stands - to show a gesture of goodwill, with which we will show that we are above the games of official Sofia in relation to Macedonia. Thus we would grow up in the eyes of the world. This is how we scored an own goal. An act that hurts more than losing on the football field.

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