The stands of the Marrakech stadium are invaded by a red tide. That evening, the Winners, supporters of the Wydad Athletic Club, came in their thousands to defend the color of the Casablanca football team, during an African Champions League match played in December against Simba SC, a club Tanzanian. True to their reputation, the Moroccan fans impose their tempo in a supercharged atmosphere, waving smoke bombs and flags, singing together to the rhythm of the percussion without ever lowering the decibels.
Named the best supporters in the world in 2022 by the specialist network Ultras World, the Winners are known for their showmanship, just as much as their rival brothers, the supporters of Raja (Green Boys and Ultras Eagles), the other team from the metropolis Moroccan. The Casablanca derby fascinates, less for the performances on the field than for these kings of the stands who compete in creativity. “The show is them,” summarizes a journalist and city supporter on condition of anonymity. They are stronger than the players: the match can be mediocre, they never disappoint. It is to the ultras that our national championship owes its letters of nobility. »
The latter are distinguished by their spectacular tifos, these visual animations deployed in the stands to honor the club or send a message to the opponent. Dragon Ball, Game of Thrones… the ultras from Wydad multiply references to pop culture, while those from Raja sometimes surprise with their literary-inspired paintings. Some caused a sensation, like their “room 101” – the torture chamber in George Orwell’s novel 1984 – or their portrait of Alex, the ultra-violent hero of A Clockwork Orange.
“The team is our joy, our oxygen”
On the musical side, the two groups also stand out for their original songs included in the repertoire of the country’s most popular hits. “La Voce Della Magana [Raja ultras music group] releases a song and, two weeks later, it is sung by heart in stadiums, but also schools, universities, factories! », Testifies Mohamed Jamali, founder and former leader of the Ultras Eagles.
This shows the fervor aroused by the two Casablanca clubs and reflected in the numerous frescoes on the walls of the white city. In the old medina, stronghold of Wydad, the streets are stained with red. Like all its inhabitants, Ayman Bourakba, 21, presents himself as a “wydadi”. “This club is everything in my life,” confides the young fisherman who never misses a match and helps make the tifos. Behind his fruit stall, Achraf, 30, also has no words strong enough to express his excessive passion. “The Winners, we’re a family,” he said. We do everything for the team, because it is our joy, our oxygen. » The club, founded in 1937, is today going through some turbulence, while its president Saïd Naciri was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday December 22, accused of drug trafficking.
Four kilometers away, the popular district of Derb Sultan, predominantly green, is the cradle of Raja created in 1949 by a group of trade unionists and independence activists. “Here, everyone is rajaoui,” reports Oussama Badr, 28, on the terrace of a café. The sense of sacrifice, the passion, the atmosphere… they are the best supporters, always 100%! », defends this young unemployed man who also confides: “A Raja match is the only thing that makes me happy. »
The rivalry comes to a head when the two teams meet at home. In the stands of the Mohammed-V stadium (currently closed for work), a fiery derby is then played between the northern curva (bend), the gathering place of the Winners, and the southern curva, that of the Raja ultras.
Voice of social protest
Their reputation is, however, tarnished by recurring clashes in or outside the stadiums. In 2016, they were banned from any activity following the death of two supporters in Casablanca. But without them, the stadiums were empty. Two years later, the authorities lifted the ban, while maintaining close surveillance. “Moroccan ultras are not hooligans,” underlines sociologist Abderrahim Bourkia, author of the book Ultras in the City (2018). But they do not form a homogeneous group either. While some express themselves through songs, others release their frustrations through violence. »
These groups rather claim to have an ultra-Mediterranean culture, as it appeared in Italy before reaching the Maghreb. First Tunisia, then Morocco in 2005, the year of birth of the Green Boys and the Winners. The movement then spread to all cities in the kingdom. “The spectacular aspect is the very essence of this ultra culture, built on performance, one-upmanship, the rage to appear, in an organized and festive way,” analyzes Karima Ziamari, sociolinguist at the University of Meknes, who interested in the speeches of Moroccan ultras.
Beyond sporting issues, they are also seen as spokespersons for social protest. For good reason, “their songs have always expressed hostility towards certain symbols of power, starting with the police or club leaders, and the poetics of injustice and humiliation are central,” continues Ms. Ziamara. In Casablanca, the Winners claim to be spokespersons for the Umma (the Nation), while the Rajaouis define themselves as “the voice of the people”, “always on the side of the oppressed, the excluded, the deprived,” reports Mohamed Jamali. This is our mentality, at the origin of the founding of the club and transmitted through the generations. »
In 2011, during the February 20 Movement, Raja supporters chanted: “Southern turn hates the government. (…) They fill their wallets with the money of the poor. » “This is the first time that an entire song contested the government,” underlines Abderrahim Bourkia. Subsequently, the political field was increasingly used as a field of competition between rival groups. » In 2012, Liberta, from Winners, called for “clashing the government”.
Monarchists
In 2018, the day after the Hirak du Rif – a heavily repressed protest movement which shook northern Morocco in 2016-2017 –, F’bladi delmouni (“oppressed in my country”), whose lyrics relate the despair of a disillusioned youth, left its mark. The song, performed by the Eagles and translated into 11 languages, enjoyed viral success and attracted media attention. “The ultras then appeared as pressure groups, standard bearers of social concerns, even if they always have been,” continues Mr. Bourkia. Without ever being revolutionary or criticizing the royal institution: “They are monarchists. “Our King is Mohammed VI, the others are all thieves,” they say. »
In recent weeks, Moroccan stadiums have also been sounding boards for the strong popular mobilization of support for Gaza which has crossed the country since the start of the Israeli offensive. If the famous Rajaoui Falestini has been sung in stadiums since 2019, “each ultra group has composed a song for Palestine since October,” notes Karima Ziamari. Like Land of Resistance, Winners’ last title.
The ultras, however, have few political activists strictly speaking, and “political speeches above all reflect the culture of conscious leaders followed by the mass of supporters who have pledged allegiance to the group”, tempers sports journalist Hamza Hachlaf. Moroccan ultra supporterism must above all be perceived as a “social experience of belonging to a group” which goes beyond, according to him, the passion for football: “Some claim to be members of an ultra group more than supporters of such a club. » For young people lacking prospects or marginalized, this 12th player in the stands fills a void. “The group offers them a place, an identity, sometimes a meaning to existence. »
