As you know (if you missed it, you can read it here), Overtime started initiative #HNLforVukovar. The primary goal of the initiative is to remember Vukovar at the football fields and stadiums.
It is not a ‘revolutionary’ idea. There is a similar initiative in the UK, where they call it a ‘Poppy Day’ (read about it here). There is a special day when this European region remembers Vukovar and the Patriotic War – November 18th. Our idea was for every football club or any other sports organisation to wear badges on their shirts with a symbol of the initiative #HNLforVukovar (Croatian Football League in Croatian is HNL – Hrvatska Nogometna Liga). We created our proposal for this activity, and our designer Alen created the badge.
We invited all the clubs from HNL (Croatian football league) to support this initiative by putting this decal on their shirts, coaches’ jackets and other sports clothing and apparel and by sharing information about this initiative through their social media and other communication channels. We contacted Croatian Football Federation as the main body of Croatian football league, and they agreed to support the initiative.
There wasn’t a lot of time to implement a greater number of activities for the initiative. Because of that, we implemented the idea with decals on the shirts. Our next move is to include all sports and clubs in this initiative, and we will try make something useful for the people in Vukovar.
Meaning of our ‘Remember Vukovar’ decal:
Water tower: a symbol of Vukovar by itself and represents what was left after the war, awakens memories, emotions and sentiment
Rose: a gift to people we love; represents the blood of martyrs in Christianity.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE
– All Croatian first league clubs put #HNLforVukovar badges on the shirts and jackets in their official league matches (Dinamo, Rijeka, Hajduk, Osijek, Lokomotiva, Zagreb, Split, Slaven Belupo, Istra 1961, Zadar)
– Dinamo, Lokomotiva and Cibalia put the badge #HNLforVukovar on their profile pictures (social media). The fans were thrilled, and they liked and commented this content with support.
– Story about #HNLforVukovar was on all mainstream media like Sportske novosti, 24 sata, Goal.com, Index.hr, Vecernji.hr, etc…
– Basketball Club Cedevita joined the initiative. They put hashtag #BasketballforVukovar, and they played the game with decal in the Zagreb derby against BC Cibona. They made the special shirt for this game, and the head coach wore badge on the suit.
– People talked about remembering Vukovar on another way, not political, and that was also the goal. We tried to make a shift from the politic and radical view, and that was achieved.
GOALS FOR 2015
We set up goals for 2015 when greater number of sports clubs in Croatia would be included. Clubs and individual athletes would put decal on their kits and shirts, and after the game, apparel would be put on auction. Also, on the initative’s website shirts would be sold with the same motive (similar to Cedevita’s shirt players wore before the match against Cibona).
All money will go to charity, but for a specific cause, i.e. kids’ playground in Vukovar or something similar.
Many clubs and athletes contacted us after the activities in 2014 were finished, so in 2015 initiative will probably have a broader name #Sport4Vukovar.
We talked about this initiative with some sports clubs, and they are thrilled about it. That is the best news for the future for this initiative.
Summary
We achieved what we planned for the first year. It is important to mention that without Croatian football federation, football clubs and BC Cedevita, that wouldn’t be possible. Excellent support from the clubs, fans and media showed us how important is to remember Vukovar in a decent way. Also, it is important to make this initiative better each year.
This year, we will try to gather all clubs in initiative #Sport4Vukovar, and we will try to sell their kits with decal on the auction. All funds raised from the auction will be donated to a cause that is pre-determined.
PHOTO: sib.hr, kkcedevita.hr
