The Emotional Game Of Soccer (Part Three)

The beautiful game has been proven over the years to bridge gaps, bring people together and give hope where politically there may not be. Over the next few days I am going to be taking single games which changed the world, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst and sometimes only for 90 minutes, but all powerful nonetheless.



The last time I spoke about the 1954 World Cup in which a West German side beat favorites Hungary in the Final of the first competition after the war the Germans were involved in. That game took place after a war and worked towards German acceptance back on the worlds stage and in part healing emotions still raw on both sides left from the conflict.

Today I look at the game that started a war, and it was in quite recent history and took place in Zagreb on Sunday 13th May 1990. Weeks before the game Croatia had voted in Croatian Independence advocates, Yugoslavia was a country on it’s knees and so by the time the game took place relations between Zagreb and Belgrade was a tense one.

Even before the game started there were clashes between the clubs hooligan gangs. Red Star had their ‘Delije’ and Dinamo had their ‘Bad Blue Boys’. The Delije initially taunted the home side with provocative chants, tearing up seats and throwing them at home fans along with charging at them. A pitch invasion was attempted but Police restrained them with batons and tear gas. From there the situation built up and quickly got out of control. The ’Boys’ took the field to reach the ‘Delije’ and this time the police were outnumbered. The violence and running battles would continue for over an hour until finally the police, now with backup of extra officers, water cannons and armored vans managed to quell the violence.

Now remember there was a game going on amidst this, at least initially. Some of the home team stayed on the pitch but the Red Star players retreated, wisely, to their locker room. A police Officer got kicked by the Dinamo Captain, Boban who was attacking a supporter. Afterwards Boban was proclaimed a National hero. The Yugoslav FA though suspended him for 6 months and as a result he missed the 1990 World Cup held in Italy.

A year later the Croatian War of Independence broke out but not before Red Star won the European Cup. If you go to the Maksimir stadium now you will see a statue of a group of soldiers. A plaque reads: ‘To the fans of the club, who started the war with Serbia at this ground on May 13th 1990’.

www.facebook.com/bobbard