Blue anniversary: eighty years since the name Dinamo came to life in the purgerski club

Dinamo following the paths of Građanski, Akademac following the path of HAŠK and later Mladost... That's how the "division of cards" looked exactly eight decades ago. On this day, June 9, 1945, in the Zagreb club, the name Dinamo came to life for the first time. Two extremely important dates have a special place in the blue calendar, two points that are strongly engraved in the historical "timeline" of Zagreb society: a month and a half ago, on April 26, we celebrated the club's birthday, and now, on June 9, we remember the moments when the blue club got its name - Dinamo. So, the blue calendar is rich with two Zagreb "holidays": a birthday and - a name day.

At the end of World War II, a political maneuver followed: the name of the First Croatian Civil Sports Club was banned because it carried a national symbol, and also implied a society of a certain class. In just a few days, the Minister of Health, Aleksandar Koharović, dissolved the club managements that operated during the time of the Independent State of Croatia, so they could not continue with names that had national connotations. Subsequently, on Saturday, June 9, an Assembly was organized where Dinamo was formed.

Just for comparison, it is interesting to note that the period of Gradjanski from 1911 to 1945 lasted as long as the era of the Blues in independent Croatia from 1991 to today: exactly 34 years.

In Koharović's decision, it was written: "I resolve that the administrations of all sports associations, sub-associations, parishes, clubs, and other physical education associations in the territory of Federal Croatia, which operated during the occupation from April 10, 1941, until liberation, be dissolved. All movable and immovable property of dissolved sports forums and clubs is entrusted, until further notice, to the care and disposal of the Territorial Physical Education Committee of Croatia (ZEFIOH)."

Indeed, ZEFIOH was the highest republican sports forum that was authorized to interpret the status and continuity of new and old sports societies. The representative of ZEFIOH at Dinamo's assembly in June 1945, Miro Mihovilović, therefore the only one who, by his function and legitimacy, is qualified to judge on this topic, later clarified precisely:

"Dinamo continues the continuity of Građanski in the same way as Croatia later continued the continuity of Dinamo." The club's management was dissolved, not the club itself.

Građanski continued to exist in the form of Dinamo, and HAŠK's "academics" under the new name Akademičar and then Mladost...

Therefore, the full name of the club had a "double problem": the prefix "Croatian" carried a clear national connotation, and the name Građanski evoked the bourgeois class, which was contrary to the idea of a classless society at the time. In such circumstances, they sought a different name that would be in line with the socio-political changes.

The Assembly in June 1945 was held in the building of the City Electric Power Plant at Gundulićeva 32, so it was somehow logical that the participants of the meeting, thinking about a new name, had a "light bulb moment" with the name Dinamo because dinamo is an electric generator, a source of energy. In addition, the name also fit into the aforementioned socio-political trend considering that clubs of the same name existed in the then USSR, although in terms of identity they had no connection with sports in Zagreb.

The story about the author of the name Dinamo had different aspects because even the direct participants of the Assembly recounted their memories in different ways. Some, for example, claimed that the name was given by Herman Mattes, but the author was, as witnesses who seem most credible told us, actually Ivica Medarić.

Immediately after the war, the entire sports scene was organized according to the Soviet model, based on the idea of mass participation, so that all clubs were transformed into physical culture societies.  In practice, this meant that they had to have more sports branches, not just a football section. In accordance with the new structure of sports in the country, the full name was Physical Culture Society Dinamo, with the prefix FD. Dinamo was presented as a club of city utility companies, and almost all players of Gradjanski were actually employees of city utility companies. Soon after, a club of utility companies was indeed founded, with a simple name, FD Komunalac. Furthermore, even the City Electric Power Plant had a club named Elektra Spartak until the end of the war and shortly after, whose address was precisely at Gundulićeva 32.

Changes within the purger club were in name and structure, and Dinamo's continuity with Gradjanski is evident in the same colors, the stadium in Koturaška, numerous first team players, as well as juniors, the coach, fans, even support staff such as masseurs... Finally, even today's Dinamo crest was designed back in 1969 and officially adopted a year later, precisely following the famous crest from the time of Gradjanski.

In just the first twenty days, 16 players who had previously played for Gradjanski played for the blues, some for the first team and some for the junior team, not even counting Milan Antolković who was part of Dinamo but could no longer play due to injury.

As confirmed to us by Dinamo's president from the time of the Croatian Spring, Dragutin Božić, there were also public demands from numerous fans for the return of the name Građanski. The management discussed this topic on several occasions and always remained of the opinion that the club under the name Dinamo had earned a "honorable place in post-war football" with an interesting addition: "if considering changing the name, then it should seriously consider what that name will be." Although the idea did not receive political support due to the name that, as they believed, clashed with the idea of a classless society, the club managed to promote a new official crest in 1970 inspired by the era of Građanski.

The continuity of the Zagreb club from the era of Građanski through Dinamo was emphasized by the veteran journalist Žarko Susić, a witness of the times, a participant in events, and a great connoisseur.

HAŠK continued its activities under the name Akademičar because it had to remove the national prefix. As HAŠK was already colloquially referred to as "akademičar," it became the official name after the war. The same people who led HAŠK before the end of the war, led Akademičar, with Ivan Ico Hitrec at the helm. Interestingly, after the war, Akademičar even sought the return of HAŠK's property through a legal document. Two of them - Hitrec and Medarić - also helped in organizing Dinamo, with Hitrec, in addition to his main job at Akademičar as a continuation of HAŠK, assisting as a technical advisor for Dinamo's football section by organizing the first training sessions at the ZET stadium. He also called upon former HAŠK member and coach Branko Kunst for help. , who briefly led the team in the absence of the coach of Gradjanski, Marton Bukovija. After the war, there was no competitive continuity of any club because all previous competitions were interrupted and everyone started from scratch. All clubs started from the lowest level, which in practice meant that they first played local qualifiers, then the local championship, then the republic level, and based on those placements, national leagues were formed, from the top down.

Marko Belinić, one of the key figures in Dinamo's post-war structure, reminded in his past presentation:

"In the summer of 1945, they visited me as the president of the City Committee of the Trade Union of Croatia and the secretary of the People's Liberation Front Dr. Jerko Šimić, Franjo Wölfl and Ivan Oskar Jazbinšek." . They presented me with a situation in football and suggested reviving the work of Gradjanski. They did this because they knew that I had been an active member of Gradjanski for many years. Soon we agreed to continue the bright football traditions of Gradjanski, to gather all eminent players, and to start working with youth. However, the atmosphere was such that it was not possible to carry out this action under the name Gradjanski, so we agreed that the club with a new name would continue the football traditions of Gradjanski. Gradjanski had its base in the Zagreb Electric Power Plant, where, among many other eminent players of Gradjanski, Franjo Wölfl, August Lešnik, and many others worked. "We decided that the club's color would be blue, just like the color of the First Croatian Civil Sports Club founded in 1911 in Zagreb."

Dinamo continued the line of Građanski in 1945, and also won their first championship title in post-war Yugoslavia in 1948, playing most of their home matches at their old stadium in Koturaška.

Under the name Građanski, the Blues won five championship titles, being the most successful club alongside Belgrade's BSK in the pre-war era. Later, under the name Dinamo, until 1991 and the clumsy name change, they were four-time national champions along with one (un)recognized title from 1979 in the infamous "Tomić case". They won the national Cup seven times, with the brightest point being the Cup Winners' Cup in 1967, a competition that eventually evolved into the UEFA Cup, today's Europa League. Four years earlier, the Blues also played in the final of the same competition, where Valencia emerged as the better team in two matches.

In the summer of 1991, the club received the historically unjustified hybrid name HAŠK Građanski, only to be renamed NK Croatia at the beginning of 1993. Dinamo's name came back to life on the unforgettable Valentine's Day in 2000. In the past 34 seasons in independent Croatia, the Blues have won a record 25 league titles, 17 Croatian Cup trophies, and eight Super Cups.