As promised when we founded our media, we do not deal with political topics and political trade in Montenegro. However, with sport, which has made the nation happy many times and recently brought many disappointments, we want and have the right to do so.
In the first years after the independence of Montenegro, the Montenegrin national team and individuals achieved desirable results. Let’s remember the water polo team, then the women’s handball team, the promotion of basketball players to the “A” division, Ivan Strugar, Marija Vuković and many others. Only football did not work for us at all. There were good individuals, but the national team always somehow lagged.
Lately, success is considered if any national team makes it to the final stage of a competition. Often, justifications are found in the fact that there is not a large selection of athletes in any sport in the country, which, according to the last census, when the number of foreign citizens is deducted, has about 500,000 inhabitants, and that there are poor working conditions in domestic clubs. The first justification could pass, although not completely. Indeed, the outflow of the population of younger generations since the beginning of the World Economic Crisis has reached almost 100,000 thousand, which is a very significant number for Montenegro. However, the second justification used is only partially correct because coaches and selectors change on every basis except for sports and because the state has allocated significant sums of money in the past period to improve the working conditions of clubs and individuals. The only possibility is that the money got lost somewhere on the way to its end users.
Apart from the usual problems known to the Montenegrin public, we will only cite the following example of the attitude towards the national team: The men’s basketball team played the first qualifying match against the German national team a few days ago, and the very announcement of that match had a passive effect on the players as well as on the entire public. The story is that Germany is the champion and that we almost literally have nothing to look for in that match, writing off all hope and faith in our team in advance, even though the boys have shown on several occasions that they can completely match their German counterparts. This is by no means a good approach. On the other hand, after the victory against Sweden, everyone congratulated and supported the national team.
The national teams are ours both when they win and when they lose, and that’s why we currently have the best in team sports. Following that, we need to develop public awareness.
The message of the entire public, and especially sports workers, should be that politics should not interfere in sports, except in the administrative part on behalf of the state, that the selectors should be professionals that everyone will support and that before every match the players prepare to give their all from myself. It is necessary to develop a system of values based on uncompromising respect for one’s nation, state and its symbols and features, mutual respect for teammates, professional staff and all others employed in such a broad family. The reference should also be reflected towards the opponent, with respect and a sporting approach, with the desire to be better than him in the competition. Of course, the sports public, i.e., individuals who enjoy a certain level of respect and experience in sports, will judge the current ranges and which national teams will present their forecasts and opinions. Therefore, the current approach should be changed just as the state’s approach to the severe development of domestic sports teams needs to be changed.
B.P.