Novice
THE BEGINNINGS (1974 - 1986)
First attempts of organized support for our beloved Olimpija date back to the mid seventies, when a group of youngsters gathered in Hala Tivoli and started supporting The Olimpija Basketball Club. Interestingly enough, they never chose a name for themselves but this did not stop them from supporting Olimpija all over the former country of Yugoslavija. Their fanatical loyalty was something they were well known for and was the reason for frequent incidents with other groups. But their biggest trademark was their friendship, comradeship would be a better word to describe them.
THE YUGOSLAV ERA (1988 - 1991)
Mid 80-ties were a bit quiet but quickly disrupted by great performances of our beloved football club Olimpija, which had great chances of rejoining the first premiership league. Sporadic chanting was always present at Bežigrad (our not so beloved stadium) and eventually grew into full scale support on the terraces in 1988. The Game between Olimpija and Priština in the fall of 1988 is generally considered as our founding date. This was namely the day when the first banner with the magic words - GREEN DRAGONS - appeared on the Stadium fence. The Author remains unknown but one thing is certain - he probably was not aware of the effect his home-made banner would have on the future.
The first couple of matches were under full control from the Zasavje lads (Trbovlje, Zagorje... the industrial area in a god forsaken place north-east of Ljubljana). Soon after Olimpija made it back into premier league Ljubljana's boys took control of the group and most of the city districts (Črnuče, Bežigrad, Šiška, Vič...) found their place on the terraces. Derbies with "Big four", as the four largest clubs were called, quickly became a reality. The political situation in the country was getting worse with every passing month but even though Green Dragons did not pay much attention to other people's fights, some sort of a coalition between us and Croatian groups was formed whenever we played against Serbs. For example - three Croatian groups came to Ljubljana when we played the game with Crvena Zvezda, incidents were expected mainly because of the political tensions but aside from some other minor clashes the day passed without any significant troubles. The First group that came to Ljubljana in large numbers was Armada from Reka and after their rumble with the police they took hiding place in our sector and together we repelled the police intervention. This was probably the sole reason for future preventive actions by the police and many of our guys spent their nights at the police stations.
Olimpija did pretty well in the premiership and we shall always remember our first attempts in pyrotechnics (Partizan), new flags and banners, victories and especially the games where Olimpija totally humiliated clubs such as Zvezda, Hajduk... We still had to get over some baby diseases which any newly formed group has but we proved our maturity at a national game between Yugoslavia and Spain played in Ljubljana. We cut out the "red stars" (Yugoslav socialistic symbol) from the flags of The Republic of Slovenia and sang Zdravljica (future Slovenian hymn) a couple of times during the match. We were of course held for frustrated teenagers and the newspapers suggested banning us from the stadiums. Naturally, in the end nothing happened.
The group also quickly showed that it is not going to be pushed around by the football club management and staged two strikes. The Second one was a complete victory and we gained the control of our terrace and this led to home games free of charge for the Green Dragons. This benefit still remains. Olimpija was followed by Dragons throughout the whole country during this period, sometimes we were present with only a couple of our members, and sometimes over 200 (in Split for example we turned out in large number). Our last "Yugoslav" game was played with Dinamo in Ljubljana and BBB surprisingly started anti-Slovenian chants. This was the end of our friendship but we were even more surprised by approximately ten guys from Maribor who joined BBB under the name Marinci. All of them lost all their club symbols, the loudest also got properly disciplined.
FIRST SLOVENIAN YEARS (1991-1995)
The first months after our secession from Yugoslavia and its disintegration were a bit weird. Nobody knew in which league Olimpija would play (there was also a debate about forming an inter-country league), but eventually The Slovenian League was formed. This was quite a big strike for us, namely because the opponents were light years behind us. Some of our members withdrew from the group and formed new groups which supported their local clubs and we saw absolutely no need and had absolutely no interest to prove ourselves to every kid who had some spare time and no clue of what supporting your club means. But as the ultras boom in Slovenia progressed - new groups arose: Tifozi, Trotters, Ribari, Viole, Black Gringos... Most of them did not last long, many of them even disintegrated and re-established themselves later on. We basically concentrated on basketball and ice-hockey games where our two clubs were doing really well.
Eventually even the football situation improved and we finally got couple of decent opponents. The turning point was probably away game in Medvode when club players gave up their bus for us and drove to the game with their cars. The peak of that season was definitely the home game against Maribor on the legendary May 6th 1992. The game passed by in phenomenal atmosphere with imaginative choreographies, lots of pyrotechnics and the pitch invasion after the game was over. 600 people (an incredible number for that time) of Green Dragons celebrated the victory and, by the way, took nearly all the banners and the flags our arch-enemies brought to Ljubljana.
150 of us were also in Milano where we played against one of the most respected football clubs - AC Milan. Italians returned the favor showing in great numbers in Ljubljana where heavy rain spoiled what was expected to be a great show on the pitch and on the terraces.
Olimpija was an absolute ruler on on Slovenia's football pitches and eventually traditional ice-hockey derbies between us and Jesenice took the primacy in ultra duels of Slovenia. Large crowds were drawn to the games and the hatred between the fans was incredible. There were ambushes at railway stations, mass-fights between both groups, stake-outs for the cars with wrong register plates which were then turned over and demolished... We finally lived to see the title returning to Ljubljana in 94/95 (after 11 years) and we have not let it go until just recently - 2005.
Hockey really was a hit during those years - national games were completely sold out or to put it better over-sold by at least a couple of thousand. Around 7000 people attended the match with Kazakhstan in Hala Tivoli, so people had to stand sideways and often also in two rows to be able to see the game.
Basketball also received some well deserved attention from our side and we did not forget about our beloved football club as well. Sometimes we were present with only a couple of cars, and sometimes with a couple of buses. We declared our "tolerance" towards all other groups but this was like a magnet to eager youngsters wanting to prove themselves against us. But they were no match to us and as explained most of them disintegrated soon after.
Celebration of 5-year existence in 93 was something Slovenia experienced before then. 103 torches were lit across the south of the stadium and this was only in addition to all other choreographies we pulled at that match. Celebration continued in a night club outside Ljubljana and our fifth birthday was finally over late the next day. One of our biggest performances was the basketball Cup final '94 in Swiss Lugano, where Olimpija won the trophy and a couple of hundred supporters from Ljubljana received public recognition from huge mass of Bask supporters. This was pretty much the final act for Igor and Stevo who left their thrones after the game with Beltinci which also brought us fourth (and up to now - 2005 - last) football title.
NEW GENERATION (1996 - 2001)
The leadership of the group was then passed on to six individuals and the improvement was soon visible in form of a well developed marketing under the trademark of Green Dragons. We also managed to unite all Slovenian groups for the national football team at the game with Ukraine and this also prepared the grounds for future football successes.
Basketball games were something special in this period. Innovative ideas were put into reality and we could easily say that we were one of the best groups in basketball arenas at that time. To put it better - when CNN shows the footage of you as a Play of the Day there must be something to it.
96/97 Basketball season also brought the Final Four competition in Rome where 1400 Olimpija supporters and although outnumbered by 1:5 by the Greeks (Olympiakos) did a good job. Olimpija came third but the troubles were already on the horizon mainly because of incompetent leadership of the hockey and basketball club. We decided to refocus on the football club and the decision was proved to be correct a couple of years later when both clubs fell into big financial troubles.
Years passed by and we were approaching our 10th jubilee which was celebrated in a spectacular manner. The Ice-hockey game was totally sold out and we really did pull some good choreographies. Basketball was a bit smaller show (due to limit on the tickets we were able to buy) but was still done as it should be for the 10th birthday and the club (as well as most of the mass media) publicly expressed their gratitude for our support and assistance over the years. Football game was another story... the best was saved for last and we can easily say that we were to pull something that was probably never done before. But the club's management together with the police back-stabbed us and brought a year and a half long anti-management strike upon themselves. We were present on every single game but among other Olimpija fans in other sections of Bežigrad. Goal posts were sawn off, the whole stadium was covered in anti-management slogans, and we even organized a boycott of one premiership match when only 30 people were present throughout the stadium. After year and a half the club's president resigned and we thought that the situation in Olimpija would finally improve...
On the other hand, the national team was doing a terrific job and Slovenia qualified for the EC2000 in Belgium and Nederlands and this was the reason for the "migration of the nation" to the north. The game with Spain will be forever remembered because of more than 11.000 Slovenians in Amsterdam who filled the streets, squares and finally the north of the Arena. The "football fairytale" ended after the first round even though we would definitely have been one of the biggest surprises with a bit more luck against Norway in the last game.
Next season was really something else. With Sebastjan Cimerotič Olimpija got the first true football star in Slovenia. Fans immediately connected with Cime and Olimpija had one of the best starts of the season ever. We have to point out the riots on our train trip to Maribor in that period. A small conflict caused by the incompetent police on the train was the reason for the biggest fan incident in Slovenia ever. More than 40 police vehicles (fully manned) stood against approximately 200 GD's and the consequence of the final clash was a totally trashed train with more than 80 arrests on our side.
These were the times of wide-spread euphoria which followed the long expected change in FC management. The premiership was getting to its end and the last game was something one can only desire. The decision on who is going to take the title was to be determined between us and Maribor at a home game in the last leg. More than 1500 GD's gathered and when our sector closed (even though additional space was provided by opening another one) many of us had to buy tickets for other sectors. The draw left us empty handed but the police was well prepared for the match and no serious incidents were reported that day.
Another incredible start of the season followed but due to Cime's departure the football in Ljubljana (and last-years disappointment) lost its appeal. We still continually supported our Olimpija but perhaps the focus was again on basketball games with Barcelona, Kinder and Panathinaikos playing in Ljubljana.
2002 AND ONWARDS...
2002 was besides everything else again marked by our national team which qualified for the World cup in Korea and Japan. We definitely were a part of that success mainly because we orchestrated the ultras support from the terraces and because we made Bežigrad an impenetrable fortress. Around 100 GDs went to Korea where most of them had the time of their lives. 18 days for 100 people for minimal costs was a result of a great fund-raising, organisational and logistic skills of the group's leadership and the group once again established itself as the leading group in Slovenia. Provincial fans of course got everything wrong and Slovenian fans split into two groups. A coalition between jealous groups was formed against Green Dragons and their sympathizers and friends were formed and when the friendly with Italy (in Trst) took place, nobody (specially not the Italians) managed to stop the riots on the terraces. There were around 250 of us among a couple of thousand of Slovenians in Trst and the media attention after the game was incredible.
FC Olimpija managed (at least we thought so) to better organize itself and brought a couple of renowned players to Ljubljana. People started returning to Bežigrad and we also improved our numbers at the games. Unfortunately we were once again left empty-handed and another year passed by without the premiership title. Basketball was a bit better, we were in Paris and in Barcelona for the 6th time. A moment to remember is also a fight with security personnel (who also provoked it) at the game with Žalgiris where almost 100 people were fighting on and off the pitch.
Next year 30 of us visited Dublin, Olimpija easily passed Shelbourne and the draw presented us with Liverpool. The night before our home game we did a very good job on the streets of Ljubljana and Olimpija managed to pull a 1:1 the next day. 130 intended to see the away match but for unknown reasons the plane in Treviso never took off. Basically all 130 of us were deported from the airport but 30 (who went to Liverpool the day before) still managed to see the game. FC Olimpija really started to deteriorate and all major sponsors withdrew their support of the club.
Ljubljana's sport (football, basketball, ice-hockey and many others) is currently struggling to survive and all Olimpija's sections are in the worst situation ever. Basketball club almost did not make it after the former management left and is still facing some huge debts caused by harsh taxation policy and former management's decisions. Our Hockey club started to deteriorate in the last couple of years but our biggest concern is FC Olimpija who is facing its last months of existence. Its future is still undetermined and nobody knows what will happen with her after this season is over.
The leadership of the group was passed to new lads after 2002 and they are making sure the proud name will not drift away into history. Some great shows (away game at Jesenice, Maribor at home and many others) were done by this new leadership, the marketing regained new momentum with lots of GD merchandise now available for people to buy and we still remain the so-called consciousness of the club and many guerilla actions were done in order to put the FC Olimpija back on the right track. This shall continue until we are finally able to support a healthy and perspective club on the football pitches of Slovenia and Europe.