MACEDONIA

Zoran Popovski, AIM Skopje

All changes that followed the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia were reflected in Macedonian society and sport. In the past politics had a major say in sport. Politicians who were in charge of sports affairs stood a good chance of making it to higher office. At the beginning of the 1990s new people were installed by the ruling parties to head sports clubs and associations. Politics has been continuously involved in sport, especially in professional sport, using it for its own promotion in election campaigns.

Fans are also creators of the general policies in sports. In addition to their positive role, their groups often resort to primitive and destructive acts. In Macedonia it has become a trade mark of many sporting events. It is triggered either by political conditions, inter-ethnic friction, causing crude excesses by athletes and the like. Rigorous penalties have failed to eradicate this great evil accompanying sporting events and sport in general, and this is becoming a growing problem.

It is expected that the very spirit of sport will much sooner than expected remove the barriers imposed by politics and other divisions. If for no other reason then for the sake of improving the quality of sport and its financial standing through various initiatives and forms of cooperation in the Balkans. This is expected also to restore the interest of fans and fill the stadiums and sports halls. This should not be feared. Sport leads to opening frontiers and removing of political control. This can also help eliminate the feeling of ghettoization felt by the new, small societies that have been created.