Author: Klevis Paloka
Nothing is left of the Albanian capital with its fields and the space between the palaces. Today's Tirana is the city where buildings are built in the blink of an eye. For some, this is urbanization and galloping growth, as the capital attracts citizens from the districts like a magnet, rapidly increasing the population. For others, the city that should have been. Nostalgic people do not only associate it with history, originality, but also with sport.
In the fields where the children of that generation used to play in sports centers, there are now palaces. The legend of 17 November (Tirana), Agustin Kola says that his heart hurts when he sees that the field where he took his first steps as a professional footballer has now turned into a palace. " It hurts me a lot when I see that the field where I played my first matches as a footballer has disappeared and has now turned into a palace. I am not against palaces, churches, mosques, but don't ruin the fields ," begins the story, the 62-year-old, who played his first match as a footballer on the field near the Technological School, which no longer exists. Kola got involved with football at the age of 13, and with it the field where he played his first matches.
But apart from him, Kola also lists some great footballers who have come out of this field, but also the concern that he has, that many fields have been destroyed, and that the situation is getting worse and worse.
" We started football in these fields, in the field near the Technological School where I started, great footballers like Arben Minga, Sulejman Mema, Millan Baçi, Andrea Marko, Shkëlqim Muça and many others have emerged. This situation is getting worse and worse, as all the fields that were there before the 90s have turned into palaces, or even the few that remain have been forgotten and are heading towards degradation ," the former Albanian national footballer continues with his story.
According to Kola, children nowadays have nowhere to play.
" Today, children have nowhere to play, because even the small fields or gardens that were once in palaces have now turned into cafes. Before the 90s, all children were involved in various sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, circus, while now their first alternative is cafes. What I don't understand is why school sports fields are not opened in the afternoons, so that children can go, but remain closed. The only solutions today are renting facilities on artificial grass fields, which doesn't help children much ," Kola emphasizes, while closing his speech with a call to Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was also an athlete himself.
The history of the disappearance of fields
Transformed year after year, the sports fields were brought under control in many cases by construction businessmen and in many others in the parking lot until their turn comes. The destruction of the sports fields started immediately after the 90s. From the data made available to you by "Sinjalizo", it appears that 20 sports fields have been erased from the map of the capital, which were returned to the land of buildings, parking lots, in a few cases, flower gardens or have become unusable.
We are talking about large fields, which were used by chain teams of clubs, for the development of their activities, for the championship of high schools, the championship of faculties with students and the championship of enterprises.
According to the inventory made by the Albanian Football Federation, the areas lacking in the capital are:
Areas missing from the capital inventory:
1. The field near hospital no. 5 and the United School (occupied, construction), 2. The field behind the Girls' Medical Dormitory (occupied, construction), 3. The field of Pharmacy No. 10 (occupied, wholesale market), 4. The Black Field at the Train Station (busy, construction), 5. The official field of the "Partizani" club (busy, construction) 6. The Autotractor Factory Field (busy, construction), 7. The two Fields of Ali Demit (busy, calceto flower garden), 8. Field of the Palace of Pioneers (busy, construction and church), 9. "Qemal Stafa" stadium annex (flower garden and parking), 10. Sauk Field of the Police School (destroyed, built with concrete), 11. Annex of the stadium "Selman Stërmasi" (reduced by unusable construction), 12. Field of the "11 Janari" school (under construction), 13. Field December 21 black (busy, construction), 14. Technological school field (busy, construction), 15. Party School field (busy, business and construction), 16. Textile Combine field (busy , school), 17. Field of the center - former Kamza (occupied, construction), 18. Field of the Agricultural Institute (ruined, unusable), 19. Field of the Student City (ruined, unusable), 20. Field of the Republic Guard (out of order, parking), 21. Elbasan Street field (busy, construction and flower gardens).
Last on the list, the Dajti complex
But one of the last complexes that seems to be resisting the wave of constructions is the "Dajti" sports complex. But even this sports destination has been left in oblivion and is heading towards final degradation.
In addition to oblivion, from the data investigated by "Sinjalizo", it also results that this complex will also undergo a transformation. The decision of the Municipality of Tirana, dated December 28, 2021, approved the Detailed Local Plan for the area where the complex is located, emphasizing that the area where the "Dajti" sports complex is located is designed for social and recreational activities and for underground parking and also includes to the subdivision for redevelopment.
" The calculation of the proposed recreational spaces has been calculated in such a way that their surface area, together with the surface area of the roads that contribute, is 30% of the development areas. All development areas will make the appropriate contribution to the realization of these spaces ," the report states.
"Sinjalizo" asked the Municipality of Tirana about the fate of the "Dajti" sports complex, but also about the sports grounds that have already disappeared, but did not receive any response until the moment of publication of this article.
But in addition to this complex, there are also some fields or sports grounds that are disappearing due to degradation. Among them is the annex near the "Selman Stërmasi" stadium, when the great Dinamo of the Zëri-Ballgjini-Përnaska trio used to train.
In oblivion and not used for any sports activity is the field in the premises of the United School.
We used to have…
If before the 90s, there were at least 30 facilities, fields and sports fields in the capital, where the population was about 300 thousand inhabitants. After 30 years, when the population of the capital has grown to over 1 million inhabitants, the opposite has happened with these facilities, sports fields and corners. Currently, there are 6-7 real sports facilities in Tirana.
Today in developed countries there is one football field for every 1800 inhabitants. As far as Albania is concerned, we are at the level of one football field for 80 thousand inhabitants, and in extreme cases one field for 190 thousand inhabitants. England has the best ratio in this regard, 1 per 1800 inhabitants, where 6000 fields and sports fields have been built in its capital, London alone. While the European average is 1 per 6.500 inhabitants, an average that some of the countries in the region currently have, such as Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia.
For the sports analyst Fatmir Mëneri, what happened cannot be undone, but we must look to build new sports grounds, we must not mourn the disappeared grounds.
" Of course, in principle, we all agree that the sports part, the fields, which are the basic food for developing a sports activity, especially football, which requires larger fields than some other sports fields, should not be affected. Of course, we should scream that we are running out of fields, but on the other hand, we should look at where we can build other fields. If I make a comparison, how a forest is preserved in Nordic countries, before you cut down a tree, you have to plant another tree, this should be done in Albania as well, you will destroy a field for your interests, build it in another place. These fields are destroyed, but we should not sit around crying, these fields, because they are destroyed for different interests, but we should demand that new fields be built, that the legislation be regulated so that new sports fields can be built ," Mëneri said for "Sinjalizo".
Politics speaks with "must..."
In a meeting with the Albanian Olympic Committee, mayors and education leaders, for the new national sports program in schools and universities, Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that the areas of open sports fields, community sports fields, in neighborhoods, and even administrative units in rural areas should be increased.
But in fact what is noticed is that so far the opposite of what the prime minister wants has happened, who is also one of the mayors who has given the most permits for the demolition of sports grounds in Tirana.
Yesterday's sporty Tirana is left with almost nothing, while today its place has been taken by a noisy Tirana, full of buildings and more polluted than before.
This is also shown by the monitoring carried out by Green Lungs for air pollution in the city, where the most polluted areas in Tirana are the area near Shallvare, the area between Kavaja Street and the Myslym Shyri area, Durrës Street and the 21 Dhjetori area.
