SPORTS ALSO OPENED THE BORDER

Nova Gorica and Gorizia have jointly stepped into 2025, which has put the cities under the spotlight of the entire European public. For both cities, all this represents a new way of perceiving coexistence and therefore a common display of cultural, historical and natural assets and characteristics of Goriška. Goriška is divided by a border that is not only political, it is also a dividing line between two nations that belong to the Romance and Slavic worlds. This kind of “confrontation” has always been somewhat tense throughout history and has often turned into violent confrontations. The passions “cooled” a bit over the years and decades, so that the atmosphere became so clear that it led to more moderate attitudes, which ultimately led to GO!2025.

In planning and preparing for this extraordinary year, which is the envy of many, there was a race in various circles to explain who was the most deserving, that not only the state, but also the border in the minds of the people, became looser and looser and finally fell. In all these, sometimes somewhat boastful statements, we missed the emphasis on the role of sports and recreational industries, which in their modesty probably contributed a lot to overcoming border barriers.

For many years, I myself have been involved in many events of a cross-border nature, which had various sports as a precursor. Gorizia is an old city and some sports were well developed in it, basketball and volleyball were even at the highest level, while in Nova Gorica, a young city, physical cultural activity was just getting back on its feet. Some Gorizia associations (especially from the Slovenian minority) established contacts with their neighbours even before the introduction of the passes. The pioneer of these contacts was undoubtedly Juventina from Štandrež, who in a unique way went to football meetings with the Železničar team in Šempeter. This was already happening in the first half of the fifties, when the border was still hermetically sealed, although not with a wall similar to the Berin one. The peculiarity was manifested in the fact that Juventina footballers used peasant two-owner permits to cross the border. Many of the Standards had fields in the fields of Vrtojben and Šempeter.

With the introduction of passes, border crossings became more accessible, so that semi-“illegal” crossings were no longer necessary. Football was followed by volleyball and basketball, which were very popular in both Gorice, and it could be said that the industries in the two cities grew together, especially in the youth field. In these activities, it was the associations of the Slovenian minority in Italy that ploughed the ground and slowly but steadily opened the way to new forms of rapprochement between border people.

All of this, however, took place at the level of social contacts, with the participation of a small, almost imperceptible number of young athletes and their companions. Mass transitions, of a recreational nature, began to take place a little later, in the second half of the seventies. At that time, the accumulated tensions on the border calmed down to such an extent that people in both Gorizia began to think about more concrete and high-profile joint cross-border actions. In certain circles, it was understood that it no longer makes sense to cling to a hostile attitude towards a neighbor, despise him and even ridicule him. At that time, crossing the border became something common and, apart from a fleeting check at border crossings with the question of the customs officer and the financier “what do you declare, or cosa dichiara”, it did not pose any major problems. To their mutual benefit, Italian citizens went to Nova Gorica for shopping and other errands, while Yugoslav subjects went to Gorizia for the same purposes. Both of them began to realize that on the other side of the border there were not “bav-bav” people, but people with similar characteristics, desires and needs. Sporting activities have integrated well into these border crossings, filling in those niches that were not just about shops and shopping in them. These activities directly touched people and their desire to overcome border barriers, in many cases also to learn about how neighbors live and what they think about neighbors on the other side of the dividing line. On the initiative of both municipal administrations (the initiators were the then mayors Pasquale De Simone and Jože Šušmelj), the “Friendship Marches” came to life in 1976, which exceeded all expectations, even the most optimistic ones. The organizer on the Italian side of the border was the Salesian association TGS (Turismo Giovanile Sociale), which operated within the San Luigi Institute, and on the Slovenian side the Municipal Association of Physical and Cultural Organizations (OZTKO). It was a novelty that immediately ignited. Initially, this hike was intended exclusively for young people under the age of 17, but later other people joined it. To cross the border, only an enrollment card was sufficient. Attendances reached high numbers, which went into the thousands, and to the march itself must be added the activities that accompanied it: folklore groups, majorettes, brass bands. In short, it was a great celebration of crossing border barriers. A year later, another cross-border event joined the march: Cycling Friendship. This event was conceived by the Nova Gorica side, the cyclists, after riding in Nova Gorica, crossed the border and rode through Gorizia through Štandrež, Sovodnje and Peč, and returned to the then Yugoslavia at the border crossing in Mirno. The path then led them through various villages to their destination, which was in Nova Gorica. The beautiful and meaningful events lasted some 15 years, and were followed by other cross-border hikes, which touched the countryside in addition to both cities. It is worth mentioning the hike Števerjan-Gonjača, Jamlje-Sela na Krasu, Sovodnje-Miren, the ascent to Sabotin, etc. The two cities were revived with the cross-border march “Vivicittà – Let’s Revive the Cities”, which continues to this day. A peculiar event that was born in the autumn of 1986 is also ongoing today. It is an initiative that connected the towns by water and was established under the name “Soča Regatta-Regata Isontina”. The start of kayaks, canoes and inflatable boats is in Solkan, and the finish line is under Pevma (formerly under the road bridge in Podgora). At that time, Yugoslavia was on the other side of the border, but it proved to be very open to such events. Since 1994, the Soča Regatta has added a descent on the Vipava River from Renče in Slovenia to Sovodenje in Italy. Unfortunately, this beautiful water descent didn’t hold up. The organizers of these rowing events were and are also KK Soške elektrarne Solkan, KK Šilec Gorica, ŠD Partizan Renče and ZSŠDI. In May 2004, the administration of the Goriška Province, chaired by Eng. Giorgio Brandolin awarded awards to all associations that have organized cross-border sports and recreational events for at least 10 years.

Only the mass events are listed, which called many people to participate and were also joined as sponsors by the local authorities, who also offered assistance in logistics. In addition to these commendable initiatives, countless events of a unique nature have taken place over the years, but which have had quite a resonance with the public. Of note is the “100 Hours of Football” and the “24 Hours of Basketball” meeting twice with teams and players from both sides of the border. The event in honor of the 1000th anniversary of Gorizia, which took place in the city in May 2001, was very resounding. The title of the event was “1000 young people in the square” with the participation of school children from schools on both sides of the border. After passing through the city, the youngsters competed in volleyball, basketball, and orienteering. The initiators of the beautiful event were the Gorizia associations UGG and ŠZ Dom. No less resounding was the cross-border commemorative relay after Brda in May 2004. With this event, the organizers of KD Briški grič from Števerjan and KS Kojsko celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Števerjan-Gonjače hikes and, of course, Slovenia’s accession to the European Community. On the 35 km long track, 50 male and female runners (25 from Italy and 25 from Slovenia) participated, wearing a T-shirt with the inscription: Brda su jednona!

In 2005, the Association of Slovenian Sports Associations (ZSŠDI) published a bilingual book with the meaningful title: From Osimo to May 2004 – Goriška Sport Persistently Bridged the Border.

Up to here, history. Since then, cross-border contacts have continued unabated. Some initiatives have “dried up”, but new ones have been born, which are created in order to strengthen the established friendly relations and, why not, to get new forms of cooperation.