Firma (supporter group)

Firmaši - Фирмаши
The Firmaši during an UEFA Europa League away match in 2012
Abbreviation	F89
Founded	March 12, 1989
Type	Supporters' group, Ultras group
Team	Vojvodina Novi Sad
Motto	Yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever the Firm!
Headquarters	Novi Sad,  Serbia
Arenas	Karađorđe Stadium, SPENS Sports Center
Stand	North
Coordinates	45°14′48″N 19°50′32″E / 45.24667°N 19.84222°E / 45.24667; 19.84222
Website	firma1989.com

Firma (Serbian Cyrillic: Фирма, English: The Firm) are the organised supporters of the Serbian professional football club Vojvodina Novi Sad. The members of Firma call themselves Firmaši (Serbian Cyrillic: Фирмаши), the plural of the singular form Firmaš, and they generally support all clubs within the Vojvodina Novi Sad Sports Society.

The Firma consist mainly of groups from the neighborhoods and suburbs of Novi Sad. In addition to the numerous groups, the Firma has also subgroups like: Bački Odred, G-3, Divizija, Freaks, Old Town Boys, Over Thirty, Pandora, Rajkersi, Red Firm, Sanatorijum, Sremski Front, UltraNS etc. Vojvodina has also a group of their oldest supporters, called the Stara Garda (Serbian Cyrillic: Стара Гарда).

As one of the oldest football clubs in Serbia, Vojvodina always had considerable number of supporters. On 15 December 1937, the first organized supporters club was established for a better coordination and harmonization among the Vojvodina fans. It was probably the first organized supporter group in the former Yugoslavia. One of the first organized supports was recorded already on May the 3rd 1931, at the away game against Mačva Šabac. Vojvodina had about 150 supporters present, who arrived with 6 busses. In those years, several thousands fans attended Vojvodina matches in Osijek, Borovo and other cities. Trips to away games were organized usually by train, buses and even by steam boats. The supporters club was active until World War II, but during the war the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded and partitioned by the Axis powers, and its northern parts, including Novi Sad, were annexed by Hungary. The local population were suppressed and many Serbian and Jewish civilians were murdered (including women, children and the elderly), have perished in concentration camps or were expelled. But many citizens of all nationalities - mostly Serbs, but also some anti-fascist and pro-Serb local Hungarians, Slovaks and others - joined the resistance and fought together against the occupation, including many Vojvodina fans. Especially bloody was the year 1942, when in a single sweep Hungarian Nazis killed over 4000 local Serbs, Jews and Roma. The most were killed during the Novi Sad massacre. At that time, many Vojvodina players, club officials and fans died. After the war the surviving Vojvodina fans have stayed true to their patriotic principles and attempted to re-establish the club. But instead the new communist rulers decided to merge Vojvodina into a new club called Sloga Novi Sad. This met a lot of resistance among the population and the supporters continued to call the club Vojvodina. After a long resistance by the supporters, the old name was returned.