Dear Botevists,
There are a number of memorable moments in the history of our beloved football club that we can be proud of and that we owe it to the next generation of yellow and black hearts to pass on. The official website of Botev launched its new section “From History”, where you will have the opportunity to learn more about the deeds of our ancestors who contributed to the development of the yellow and black idea, making it an integral part of the life of our millennial city.
We wish you pleasant reading!
Sketches from the life of sp. cl. “Chr. Botev”
The spirit of Botev hovers over the club members
“After the all-European war, when an unjust and intolerable treaty of Neuilly was imposed on the Bulgarian people, our economic life was hampered, many of our countrymen, under the heavy atmosphere of public and private life, fell in spirit, began to feel the beginnings of social decay, often fomented by popular enemies.
At this time the young members of the c. k. “Chr. Botev” kept their cheerful national spirit, drawing boundless inspiration from their patron. The idea of wearing the national tricolour on the lapels of their coats was born in their environment, so that they could know each other externally by their inner feelings. They knew the letter that Hristo Botev addressed to his wife when he left with his troops for Bulgaria and which in its final words read: ‘If I die, know that after my country I loved you most, so look after Ivanka and remember Hristo who loves you’. This letter was like their pledge of duty to country and family.
Botev Day was celebrated every year by the club with due solemnity. After the war, the club members had gathered to consider ways of getting club life back on track, because the war had affected its proper development.
One day his board of trustees was considering how to celebrate the upcoming Botev Day and club holiday in a more solemn and appropriate way. Among the other program it was decided to make in medium format the steamer “Radetsky”, with which Hristo Botev crossed the Danube and with painted cardboard figures to express the handover of the steamer from its captain to Hristo Botev and the Chetta and to lead with the so made steamer to hold this year’s club manifestation.
Decided with inspiration, executed and conducted with enthusiasm!
The very next day the club members, some of whom were students from the carpentry school, and those who could paint, were put to work and within two days the idea was a thing.
At the club celebration, the young members shouldered the steamer and in slender ranks, cheerful, joyful, with the song “Silent white Danube is waving” … marched through the city.
The manifestation thus held greatly moved the watching citizenry, who thronged to watch its inspired performers and how the steamer seemed to float over the heads of the slender and motley sporting ranks.
Here was a bright ray of national feeling that took place in the city from the club after the war, in the despondency of society, and which reminded us that freedom demands struggle.”
Georgi Khitrilov – lawyer
Former chairman of the magazine. “Botev” and the Plovdiv Sports District
* Georgi Khitrilov’s memoirs were published as part of the “Botev List” published by the club in 1942, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the founding of Botev.
