Ultra Boys '99 (Hammarby)

After the summer in 1999 two passionate guys started painting a banner which would get consequences for the whole supporter scene in Sweden and its progress. The banner said “Bajen Ultra Boys” and was just the beginning of a never-ending stream of new green and white flags. In the beginning there was no thought behind writing “Bajen Ultra Boys” on the banner, it was more like a cool thing to write on flags and banners. After a while they also began to participate in making the choreographies at the games of Hammarby. After a while the banner was more than just a banner, but it had - both by the group itself and others - been known as the name of a group of Hammarby supporters. The group grew bigger and in the late year 2000 the group opened their first webpage. 2001 was an important year for Ultra Boys. In the early year they started to get a mentality and when the summer came the group Järfälla Ultraz was incorporated into Ultra Boys. The role models were the ultra' groups in the south of Europe. Their choreographies, chants and flares impressed and inspired the group. In the end of the football season 2001 Ultra Boys made their first scarf, a video film was made with the best from the gold year and during the bandy season they also made a hood and a T-shirt. In Christmas Eve itself they opened a new webpage that changed the way people looked at Ultra Boys. The group wanted a more serious look – clear criterion for membership was made and five leaders were chosen. In the semifinal against Västerås the group made the first advanced choreography ever in Swedish bandy. The group's influence among the supporters of Hammarby had now become big and they felt recognized and respected by other groups and respected supporters of Hammarby. If 2001 was an important year for Ultra Boys, 2002 was something of a middle year for the group, but perhaps also an entrance in the tough reality a serious group must face. Already during the pre-season Ultra Boys got critics from the security of Hammarby when they said that the supporters could not use pyrotechnical effects during the pre-season. In the end of the football season Ultra Boys faced their first serious setback – Hammarby and the Swedish Football Federation decided that a skull was something negative and made up rules that said Ultra Boys and others could not use their symbol any more. The leaders of Ultra Boys now made clear that the group never again would be repressed or get their rights as supporters denied without active resistance. NOW Ultra Boys is per definition a self controlled and politically independent ultra group dedicated to Hammarby IF. The group consists of about 40 members and the number is constantly raising. Organization Ultra Boys has a committee consisting of five members who all have been a part of the group for a longer period of time. These five persons have no official obligations in the group – we do what we are good at. The committee decides every important issue for the group such as official statements, the producing of new materials, and friendships with other groups, creating choreographies and so on. If we can't reach a clear decision we vote and let the majority of the leaders get their will through. To get a place among the leaders you must have been a member of the group for a long time and show a big, burning and active passion for the group. All financial resources from our activity are being directed into the group and is being used for things that improve us as a group. Finally we can say that the organization of the group isn't and doesn't need to be so organized, because we are still a quite small group. Relationship to other groups of Hammarby We have no perfect relationship to any of the other supporter/ultra' groups of Hammarby. Our relations are though based on respect. We think that we all must, as far as possible, accept and respect our differences in mentality to be able to undisturbed give the best possible support to Hammarby. Discussions are good but pure fights between groups are not good for Hammarby or their supporters. That Hammarby as several different groups of supporters is a good thing in our opinion. It means that we have an active, alive and aware scene of supporters, something that not many clubs in Sweden can brag about. A situation of competition is good for Hammarby when all groups are spurring each other to get better. Mentality The mentality of Ultra Boys is our own and difficult to describe, but it's clear where we've got our inspiration from. We are an ultra' group and as every other ultra' group we identify with the original ultras mentality in southern Europe. We have mixed and transformed this style to the conditions in Sweden and in that way made our own mentality. We want to stand for a creative, active and fanatical support to Hammarby. Through constant singing, jumping, using of flags and so on we want to create a passionate atmosphere to bring Hammarby to new victories. We go to the games for one reason only; to support Hammarby (both as a team and as a club) visually and verbally. The supporter culture and the support to your club are not only about supporting the team on the pitch, but also about prestige to other clubs and supporters. We want to make Hammarby the proudest club to represent. We want Hammarby to continue having the most aware and knowing supporters/supporter groups. Clear mentality, style and attitude is very important. Ultra Boys and the supporters of Hammarby shall never in the future be able to be laughed at or made fun of at any level. Fight for the rights Sweden is not an easy country for an ultra to live in. The repression ultras down in Southern Europe experience is nothing compared to what we experience here in Sweden. Here many of the natural rights for the supporters is heavily denied. We want all others supporters to be aware of the problems we are facing. Ultra Boys is always using verbal methods as the first way to solve a problem. In issues when that way does not work, direct action is necessary. No laws or rules is a problem for us to break, we only look at what is good for Hammarby and Ultra Boys. BECOME A MEMBER General policy of recruiting new members Ultra Boys has a big interest in growing. Since we believe in our concept we also hope that many others do. That we are such a small group today is not due to the fact that we don't want to grow, it's because people don't join us in bigger numbers. We get new members, but we are growing slowly… As we said, we want to get new members, but this can't happen at any cost. If we would just let anyone become a member of the group we would destroy what we have built up and become slower in the aim to reach our goals. We are scared of this development. Our basic thesis is that Ultra Boys should commit ourselves on quality in first place. The perfect thing would be if quality and quantity was matched together. Criteria for membership We have made certain criterion for membership that we want all new members to accept before we can let them into the group. We want you who consider membership to read trough this page carefully before you apply to membership: * You must be over 16 years of age and male (females are welcome in Ultra Girls). We believe there are people under the age of 16 that would make our group better, but we also think that we could not handle all the applies for membership from people under 16 if we did not have this rule. *You can't speak to anyone about our activity (such as working with choreographies…) *You can't be a member of another group. If you are a member in Ultra Boys, you must be active in our group. Our members are only our members. *What the leaders say is law. You must respect the decisions taken by the persons who are the heart of the group. *You show respect for the games and dress and act in a worthy and respectful way. You don't wear materials from other supporter groups or clubs than Ultra Boys and Hammarby (expect the groups and clubs we have friendship with). The committee has the right to kick members out of the group, if they don't follow our criterion.