And I'm losing my favourite game, you're losing your mind again.
The football scene in Croatia, and for that matter all across the Balkans, has for a long time been a remaining bastion of tasteless nationalist sentiment, the border post where one 
can cross over from patriotism and passion to offensiveness and blind stupidity. Every now and again you will hear racist slurs shouted at black players and it was only last year that Croatian fans, apparently from Rijeka's ultras Armada group, made a human swastika in a match against Italy as a somewhat heavy handed response to Italians waving the old Yugoslav flag as provocation. These inappropriate actions can, if we are to be very lenient, be excused as the behavior of ignorant people intoxicated on testosterone and cheap beer.
It is a greater problem though when tasteless and provocative symbols are sanctioned by an actual club as opposed to an autonomous supporters' group. This has been the case this season with the Dalmatian club NK Imotski that plays in the Croatian second division. The teams shirts this season are emblazoned with what at a first glance appears to be a large 'U' symbol, identical
to that used by the fascist Ustasa regime of the Second World War that worked in tandem with the Nazis and Italian fascists to commit crimes against Serbs, Jews, Romani and everyone else who opposed their reign of terror between 1941 and 1945. It turns out that the logo, on closer inspection, reads "g U j" and is the name of a local building company from the nearby town of Slivno. Evidently, this is not merely a coincidence and the design has been intended to match the infamous insignia of the Ustasa. This alone is shocking enough, but worse still is that when the point was raised with the club's president, Nediljko Tolo, his response was that "as long as the sponsor finances our club, we will carry those symbols on our dresses".
One need only look to last year when Manchester United turned down Mansion's lucrative offer of sponsorship because it deemed the promotion of a company associated with gambling to be inappropriate, despite the fact that Mansion then signed with Tottenham Hotspur instead, to see that maybe football clubs can show a conscience sometimes. Furthermore, this is not an issue as contentious as whether gambling is immoral since we live in a world where cigarette advertising at sporting events is largely forbidden so the promotion of a genocidal regime should surely fall beyond the boundaries of acceptability. Is this not the point at which the Croatian Football Association, the HNL, should intervene, since whilst they are blessed with incredibly talented players who will hopefully go on to emulate the golden generation of 1998, it is poor publicity that loses them friends and leads to the embarrassment of not even receiving a single vote of support when the decision as to who should host the Euro 2012 tournament was made.
Another example of a high ranking official at a Croatian club acting in an entirely inappropriate is Zdravko Mamic, Vice President of Dinamo Zagreb. The true heart of the club, the Bad Blue Boys supporters group, have been expressing their discontent towards him and the way in which he undermines and embarrasses the otherwise respectable club for some time now. Sadly though, Mamic, despite his often obscene behavior, wields a lot of power in Croatian football, in spite of the fact that he actually received a lifetime ban from the sport fifteen years ago after assaulting the then president of the HNL. Mamic's greatest moment of shame came last season though when
he chose to celebrate Dinamo's victory over Lithuanian team by posing for a photo while performing a Nazi salute. Needless to say, this act managed to break beyond the boundaries of the domestic press and for a few sweet months we were blessed with Mamic being forced to hide away in the shadows. Mamic again made the news stories as he went to Azerbaijan with the Dinamo team earlier this season and was unable to keep his hands to himself when a local belly-dancer came to entertain the team at dinner time. Mamic's roving hands were caught on a mobile-phone camera and the piece ended up on YouTube, along with plenty of fan videos that don't speak especially kindly of him and one of him performing a striptease, leading to his most recent sound-bite of a long string of obscenities ending with "I'm going to stick YouTube on my dick". Mamic is a man who feeds from his own bravado, but when you then take into account his destabilizing recent comments concerning the future of the successful and popular coach Branko Ivankovic, you must ask how much longer can Dinamo put up with the Mamic time-bomb?
Serbia also has plenty of problems concerning nationalist thugs both supporting and owning teams, for example one need only look at the influence Arkan held at Red Star Belgrade during the early 1990s and then his ownership of FK Obilic where supporters still carry banners of him on the anniversary of his death. As Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade both look to forge reputations as strong teams once again, given that the glory days for both teams has long passed, it seems that the greatest lesson which must be understood is that football is not a phenomenon constricted just to the pitch. In the less cosmopolitan town of Imotski, deep in Dalmatia's relatively poor hinterland, where club sources say that NK Imotski's notorious kit is very popular with fans, we can only hope that the town will claw itself out of the 1990s soon and join the rest of us in the new millennium.
can cross over from patriotism and passion to offensiveness and blind stupidity. Every now and again you will hear racist slurs shouted at black players and it was only last year that Croatian fans, apparently from Rijeka's ultras Armada group, made a human swastika in a match against Italy as a somewhat heavy handed response to Italians waving the old Yugoslav flag as provocation. These inappropriate actions can, if we are to be very lenient, be excused as the behavior of ignorant people intoxicated on testosterone and cheap beer.It is a greater problem though when tasteless and provocative symbols are sanctioned by an actual club as opposed to an autonomous supporters' group. This has been the case this season with the Dalmatian club NK Imotski that plays in the Croatian second division. The teams shirts this season are emblazoned with what at a first glance appears to be a large 'U' symbol, identical
to that used by the fascist Ustasa regime of the Second World War that worked in tandem with the Nazis and Italian fascists to commit crimes against Serbs, Jews, Romani and everyone else who opposed their reign of terror between 1941 and 1945. It turns out that the logo, on closer inspection, reads "g U j" and is the name of a local building company from the nearby town of Slivno. Evidently, this is not merely a coincidence and the design has been intended to match the infamous insignia of the Ustasa. This alone is shocking enough, but worse still is that when the point was raised with the club's president, Nediljko Tolo, his response was that "as long as the sponsor finances our club, we will carry those symbols on our dresses".
One need only look to last year when Manchester United turned down Mansion's lucrative offer of sponsorship because it deemed the promotion of a company associated with gambling to be inappropriate, despite the fact that Mansion then signed with Tottenham Hotspur instead, to see that maybe football clubs can show a conscience sometimes. Furthermore, this is not an issue as contentious as whether gambling is immoral since we live in a world where cigarette advertising at sporting events is largely forbidden so the promotion of a genocidal regime should surely fall beyond the boundaries of acceptability. Is this not the point at which the Croatian Football Association, the HNL, should intervene, since whilst they are blessed with incredibly talented players who will hopefully go on to emulate the golden generation of 1998, it is poor publicity that loses them friends and leads to the embarrassment of not even receiving a single vote of support when the decision as to who should host the Euro 2012 tournament was made.Another example of a high ranking official at a Croatian club acting in an entirely inappropriate is Zdravko Mamic, Vice President of Dinamo Zagreb. The true heart of the club, the Bad Blue Boys supporters group, have been expressing their discontent towards him and the way in which he undermines and embarrasses the otherwise respectable club for some time now. Sadly though, Mamic, despite his often obscene behavior, wields a lot of power in Croatian football, in spite of the fact that he actually received a lifetime ban from the sport fifteen years ago after assaulting the then president of the HNL. Mamic's greatest moment of shame came last season though when
he chose to celebrate Dinamo's victory over Lithuanian team by posing for a photo while performing a Nazi salute. Needless to say, this act managed to break beyond the boundaries of the domestic press and for a few sweet months we were blessed with Mamic being forced to hide away in the shadows. Mamic again made the news stories as he went to Azerbaijan with the Dinamo team earlier this season and was unable to keep his hands to himself when a local belly-dancer came to entertain the team at dinner time. Mamic's roving hands were caught on a mobile-phone camera and the piece ended up on YouTube, along with plenty of fan videos that don't speak especially kindly of him and one of him performing a striptease, leading to his most recent sound-bite of a long string of obscenities ending with "I'm going to stick YouTube on my dick". Mamic is a man who feeds from his own bravado, but when you then take into account his destabilizing recent comments concerning the future of the successful and popular coach Branko Ivankovic, you must ask how much longer can Dinamo put up with the Mamic time-bomb?
Serbia also has plenty of problems concerning nationalist thugs both supporting and owning teams, for example one need only look at the influence Arkan held at Red Star Belgrade during the early 1990s and then his ownership of FK Obilic where supporters still carry banners of him on the anniversary of his death. As Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade both look to forge reputations as strong teams once again, given that the glory days for both teams has long passed, it seems that the greatest lesson which must be understood is that football is not a phenomenon constricted just to the pitch. In the less cosmopolitan town of Imotski, deep in Dalmatia's relatively poor hinterland, where club sources say that NK Imotski's notorious kit is very popular with fans, we can only hope that the town will claw itself out of the 1990s soon and join the rest of us in the new millennium.
11 thoughts:
Unfortunately, soccer ceased to be a gentleman's game. In a way all sports did.
I remember one aphorism from an old man. He said: "What a stupid game, 60 000 are watching and loosing nerves while 22 are having fun." There is a piece of truth in it.
When all is observed only through profit and cheap politics there is no room for virtue and fair play. Recent cases like those of Marion Jones, Davidenko, Armstrong, Gatlin, Landis have shown that sports are in greater danger then we are aware.
I do not know how to explain swastika they have formed in Livorno or notorious gUj sign, but i find comfort in one of Einsteins
sentences which says: Only thing bigger then space is human stupidity.
What they find to like about Nazism, Fascism and other -isms will remain a mystery for all normal football fans who just want to support their team and give an applause to the opponent team if they deserve so.
There is a way to show dignity and pride even in defeat, and that is to pay respect to a better team.
And i do not even want to try to explain behavior of Zdravko Mamić.
He is persona non grata among Dinamo fans. And he is an impersonation of imbecility.
Although, such behavior is not specific for the Balkans only. I have read an interesting interview with Micah Richards before football match between England and Russia.
English journalists asked him is he afraid of racism on Luzniki stadium. And he replied: ""No, i have get used to it in England, and not only on stadium yet in regular life also"".
Not to mention Heysel stadium catastrophe etc..
So, i would end, stupidity and incomprehension are regretfully widely spread among human population or among football fans at least.
Maybe it is time to play some badminton instead. :)
Pozdrav!
And some people thought it was bad enough when Hrvatski dragovoljac played in black!
Goran,
I think what might seperate the problems facing football in Croatia, the Balkans and Eastern Europe is that the crime for which it is guilty is something which does not fit at all nicely with the image that these countries are trying promote of being liberal, Europeanised democracies. So, maybe I can understand that this racist behaviour exists in countries like Russia, Moldova and Belarus but am disappointed to see that it still raises its head in Croatia every now and then. And yes, most of us who g to watch Dinamo or other teams in Croatia are perfectly decent supporters, but maybe the punishments handed out to those who do offend is by no means harsh enough.
Yes, Mamic is always good for a laugh, but he's the sort of person you want at another club, not the one you support!
Take care,
Ed.
Catherine,
Yes, their excuse was that they wore black in mourning for those who died in the war, but I think that was a rather superficial explanation and we all know the real reason. As for Imotski... they just didn't bother with the fake answer.
Take care,
Ed.
In recent development, the court has ordered Mamic to undergo psychiatric evaluation. No need to cross fingers, there's a straight jacket with his name on it ready in Vrapce.
As for NK Imotski, I'm not entirely with you. ManU can afford to turn down money in favor of better press. NK Imotski can't afford to turn off their probably only source of income. Besides, that emblem should have been chopped way before it became a football problem. And bear in mind, Imotski is more part of Herzegovina than Croatia, so it's not surprising.
The svastika? Where there's football, there's skinheads, nothing new about it.
Oh, and ti's actually HNS that's in charge of of football in Croatia, but no chance of them intervening. Their only concerned with the national team, although HNL is also their responsibility. But what can you expect from an organisation still runned by the same guy Tudman appointed?
Goran please dont use the word soccer when its known in the whole world (except Croatia :) ) as football!
Ed I think that one also has to look at the average football supporter in the Balkans and their equivalent say in the UK. In the Balkans its far more of a rites of passage - boys go through a phase of going to every match with their gang then once they hit about 25, then stop going to football matches altogether. Maybe if they have a son they will take him to see some games in a seated area years later.
Its not so dissimilar in the UK but there is much more diversity in ages groups. For example Balkan clubs wouldnt be able to survive without their young, male supporters, whereas clubs in the UK would be able to due to the fact you have older / female fans that still go regularly. In the UK you also have more males who go to watch matches on their own, as well as couples.
That means in these parts there is an element of realpolitik in the policies of football clubs pandering to nationalism / racism which is a feature of immature young men who attend football matches everywhere.
In Serbia I have witnessed this before in the statements of senior members of football (and basketball) clubs that can never quite condemn the actions of their supporters - always justifying them in the context of police brutality etc. I find this pathetic.
There is also another fact to consider - that club management are held hostage to demands from official fan groups. This may sound slightly fantastic to the mind of somebody who doesnt know the way the system works from the inside but its true. This is also something of a relic from the communist system. The official fan clubs (ordinary non club members are ignored) demand more free tickets for away games, demand cut price transport to attend away game and so on. If their demands are not met they threaten to boycott games etc. If they do so, already sparsely attended games will become embarassing empty and cause a loss in revenue as ordinary fans (who might have been manipulated about the nature of the protest) join the protest.
So you see, unlike in the West, where the clubs are all powerful in the Balkans to coin a football one 'the boot is on the other foot'.
Of course there are some like Mamic who are obviously fit for the asylum. When you have somebody doing nazi salutes and so on it goes far beyond the usual pussy footing around in condemning hooliganism. It encourages racism / intolerance as a normal reaction on and off the football pitch. It is completely unacceptible.
In all fairness, Mamic has explained the salute as his hand being caught in a compromising position while waving. Knowing Mamic, I don't believe he would do something and then just flat out deny it the very next day. And given the history of 24sata who were the first to run the photo as a gossiping and lying tabloid, I'm inclined to take Mamic's word on this matter.
Bg anon I agree with what you say here in Australia with the national league they thought they would get rid of the problem of violence by getting rid of ethnic teams,but we still have problems between Melbourne and Sydney. Racism is a fact of life in all countries and it is up to ordinary people like us to stand up against it and to judge people the way we find them and not on their race colour or religion.As for Mamic and the hitler salute ,that reminds me of our Prime minister John Howard who's picture in the paper looked like a Nazi salute to me but in fact was a wave ,never raised a comment here.You see your region is more sensitive to these things and things as small as this people seem to pick on because of the history of the region.It is in the interpretation of peoples actions that we differ. Take Care Thor.
On this subject, finally the police are investigating Red Star - I am a supporter but they should investigate.
The whole shebang, the managments, the board's connection with hooligans, the dodgy transfers, the money that has vanished over the years etc.
I'd say they should backdate their investigation to about 1990 and find out where tens of millions of euros went when the best players the former Yugoslavia ever produced were sold on.
He is so embarrassing, an adult who behaves like a spoilt teenager. I am not a Dinamo supporter, still I have much sympathies for this club. And I really feel sorry for the fans every time I see and read about Mamic and the new scandals he evokes.
And maybe he is also a proof for this state being still on its way to a normal and tolerant one.. a state and a society indeed in transition, so to say.
Bg Anon STFU U fucking loser. First of all the U on NK Imotski comes from a company logo that company sponsored them they wanted to make income the fact that people bother us over a letter that is no longer a symbol is ridiculous hop off. Modern Football is all about $$$$$$4 these days they make the most bullshit claims against us in order to provide UEFA an income through fines we pay for no reason. Second the swastika was done in retalition to those Guidos putting up communist propaganda at the other end and pictures of Tito up in order to provoke us. I think they should have been fined for provoking our fans not the other way around. We didn't bring in banners or anything of the sort that is offensive but they sure did and we got burned for the human swastika how lovely. We're wrong too yes but theyshould have been fined equally fair is fair if your going to play it one way for one do it for all doing wrong. I'm not advocating that we don't do terrible things but it's really just specific individuals most of the time and because of that the entire country and all of HNS gets burned for it. They should get the specific individuals and make them pay for it. As for saying it's known as football everywhere but Croatia your a dumbass. America is the only country calling it soccer moron. Bg your facts on our fan base is also wrong you arogant English fuck. I'm so glad you were without a Euro in 2008 :))))))))))) about time you learned your country SUCKS!!! FIFA is taking this no to racism thing too far I mean no flares come on! As long as they don't end up on the field they make celebrations after goals so much better. FIFA needs to realize no matter what they do there will always be racism. It's what gives matches fuel to the fire and really gets emotions into it. Germans hate turks did you see how hard core the celebration was after beating them it was the pure fact that they couldn't let themselves lose to them that made the game so tense that when the stadium erupted you felt they put meaning behind it or implied it. Take a look at yourself before you go talking about another's country Fucking Brits are just jealous you live in a Totalitarian society so you want everyone else to do the same.
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