Everyone has a special memory of the arrival of the Vatreni at the central celebration marking the silver medal win at the World Cup. Something special impressed each person, something they will remember. It would not be entirely true to say that I was most impressed by the bus. But it did impress me strongly and in multiple ways. And it is certain that I paid the most attention during the several-hour broadcast precisely to the bus.
Yes, it is about the so-called panoramic bus. The one that transported the world runners-up in the most-watched game in the world, just after their games and results had media-wise recorded (more than returned) Croatia in a grand style on the world map, the official Croatia transported from the airport to Ban Jelačić Square.
I did a little googling while the plane with the national team was delayed, and there was no program at the central celebration according to a very unusual official scenario. I was curious about what those panoramic buses that drive winners to national celebrations look like.
Junk as a Picture of the State
It is interesting, for example, to see what it looked like when Real’s team, after winning the Champions League, rode in a panoramic bus to the festive welcome in Madrid. Magnificent: a powerful bus, a powerful team greeting the crowd on the streets and police ensuring a slow, but at every moment uninterrupted ride.
There are also more modest versions: every larger European city has decent, average panoramic buses without roofs, from which the seats can only be removed from the upper deck. And there you have a suitable solution for the occasion. And the occasion was extremely important from the perspective of representing Croatia in the world: all major world television stations showed at least footage of the Vatreni’s welcome, some foreign sports channels broadcast the entire welcome. The images from the welcome of the national football team were no longer just images of the team. They were images of the state in the most literal sense.
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No one found anything controversial about the improvised old ‘panoramic’ bus. Unfortunately, it has become normal for us: to be a nursery for the export of talent, intelligence, and skills. And a protected state reserve for the preservation and safeguarding of networked (below) average.
And while I was waiting for the bus, because at no moment did I doubt that the national team and the people would rise to the occasion, next to the plane that brought the footballers, an improvised junk parked. At first glance, it seemed to arrive from a time machine, from former Albania during the period of Enver Hoxha. Or perhaps it was borrowed from Šijan’s film ‘Who’s Singing Over There?’.
That was our panoramic bus. Technically, as far as could be seen, it was created by cutting off part of the roof from an older ZET bus and putting a bar around it. And it becomes panoramic if the representatives climb onto the unprotected piece of the roof. Or, in the other, so-called chimpanzee variant, if they stand on the seat backs in the bus, grab the bar that replaced the roof, and manage to maintain balance during the four-hour ride to Ban Jelačić Square, with a panoramic view.
The Value of the Pelješac Bridge
Since they are in good condition, the Vatreni somehow managed to keep the bus panoramic in both variants. And coach Dalić helped them, holding them by their shirts and tracksuits in the riskiest moments so they wouldn’t fall off the roof. The scene reminded one of those overcrowded buses from poorer Indian or Pakistani provinces from which people hang who couldn’t fit in the bus. Everything ended happily, no one fell off the roof. Only the junk broke down along the way. The water boiled.
No one could think to at least ask the director of Real to rent them what is truly a panoramic bus. He would probably have given it for free for that occasion. Because it is cheaper for him than having 100 million euros fall off the roof.
And now seriously. That panoramic junk was a faithful image of official Croatia, a picture of the state in the most literal sense. Someone decided that this transport on the metal roof of an old ZET bus was appropriate for the national football team, which at this moment has a market value of about 300 million euros. Somewhere like the Pelješac Bridge.
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No one could think to at least ask the director of Real to rent them what is truly a panoramic bus. He would probably have given it for free for that occasion. Because it is cheaper for him than having 100 million euros fall off the roof.
No one thought to rent a real panoramic bus in any serious European city. Or it was too expensive in a country where every local bureaucrat buys limousines with special performances for themselves. And no one, as far as I heard in all the broadcasts, found anything controversial or unusual in that. Nor did anyone wonder what kind of image of the state that scene sends – world runners-up, on a hot metal roof. Because, unfortunately, it has become normal for us: to be a nursery for the export of talent, intelligence, and skills. And a protected state reserve for the preservation and safeguarding of networked (below) average.
