Euro 2012 Qualifying 8/9 + 12 October

[Dagger5]

This act was not spontanious, it was carefully planned beforehand. The Serb FA and police all know who the thugs are and yet they still did nothing to stop them attending the match. The tattoed man above is a well known criminal to the authorities.

The Italian police have shown again they don't know how to deal with riots at football matches. Its time Berlusconi got off his ass and dealt with it (and no I am not deflecting the blame onto them).

 

[Godzke]

I think this may've been a friendly as opposed to a EUROQ but an interesting clash of personalities.

[youtube]cvjmg-j-Hk4[/youtube]

 

[EnglishWarrior]

Thank God for the prem league.

Save me from the utter tedium that is the England football team.

If I ever have to watch Gareth Barry playing another backwards or square pass again it will be too bloody soon

 

[Jessica Watson]

Thank God for the prem league.

Save me from the utter tedium that is the England football team.

If I ever have to watch Gareth Barry playing another backwards or square pass again it will be too bloody soon

Welcome to the world that is the LFC midfield.

 

[Dagger5]

A good article about the Serbian thugs:

For the second time in three days Serbian thugs have laid waste to a European city in riots that have combined wanton and random violence with organisational talent and political backing. Yesterday in Genoa, the Scottish referee Craig Thomson had first to delay the kick-off for the Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia by 45 minutes because of fans' rioting, and then call the game off after seven minutes. Earlier the angry young men from Belgrade went on the rampage in the Mediterranean port and Uefa have opened a "full and thorough" investigation into the incidents.

"Serbia is a land of sporting heroes, not of vandals and hooligans," Snezana Markovic-Samardzic, the sports minister, said. From Monica Seles to Novak Djokovic, there have been ample heroes. But the hooligans have been a fixture of Serbian life for decades, often used and abused by ruthless politicians, warlords and organised crime.

On Sunday many of the same hooligans turned the streets of Belgrade into a battlefield, ostensibly protesting against a Gay Pride march through the city, but running rings around the heavy police presence. The street violence was orchestrated politically by ultra-nationalist and neo‑fascist leaders. The rioters attacked the offices of the party of the president, Boris Tadic, and the offices of other political enemies, state television company and relatively liberal media outlets. They were egged on by extreme-right politicians who blamed the violence on the government for allowing a gay parade.

Extreme, aggressive nationalism was also on display in the stands at Genoa. Serbian fans burned Albanian flags and shouted slogans such as "kill a Shiptar" (a pejorative term for an Albanian). The message was one of recalcitrant and violent nationalism – that Serbia is keeping the breakaway Albanian province of Kosovo which declared independence two years ago.

Government officials see the two outbreaks of rioting as linked and distinctly political. "After these two incidents, I can say that these hooligans are a part of organised groups with financial support," Slobodan Homen, a justice ministry official, said. "Opposition parties are not directly involved but are exploiting the situation."

Football riots are common in former Yugoslavia, recently in Bosnia and Croatia and particularly in Belgrade where the big rivalry between Red Star and Partizan routinely results in tribal warring. High unemployment, no future prospects, 20 years of war, state collapse, Nato bombing and criminalisation all mean that bad behaviour from Belgrade youth is hardly surprising. But the hooligan problem has always also been a political toy.

The delije – or hardmen – that are the Red Star supporters have played several roles over the past 20 years: from brutal foot soldiers for militia leaders in the ethnic cleansing campaigns in Bosnia and Croatia; to revolutionary masses in the throng that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic as president in 2000; to street fighters in the neo-fascist campaign against the government, against the rest of Europe, against the US.

An early signal of the nationalist turmoil tearing old Yugoslavia apart came in 1990, when the Red Star hardmen fought Dinamo Zagreb's hooligans at the Maksimir in the Croatian capital. The wars started a year later.

The Belgrade thugs were led by Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan, the gangland boss and warlord who later used the Red Star fan base to recruit his Tigers militia to carry out atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia. He was assassinated in 2000, having been indicted for crimes against humanity by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The rioting in Belgrade on Sunday was explicitly political. Extremist political leaders were arrested and police say they recovered detailed riot plans from the detainees. Officials also believe the estimated 3,000 that went to Genoa were acting on orders from leaders in Belgrade. "We had reports this was going to happen," Tomislav Karadzic, the head of the Serbian Football Association, said. "These kids are just doing what they're told. Those issuing the orders are in Belgrade."

That football hooliganism in Serbia is as much a political as a social problem is clear from current attempts by prosecutors to have 14 fan organisations banned. They bear names such as Brain Damage, the Ultras, Alcatraz and the Belgrade Boys. They should be outlawed because of "activity aimed at the violent destruction of the constitutional order, violation of human and minority rights, and inciting racial, national and religious hatred", said the prosecutor's office.

Savo Milosevic, the former Aston Villa striker and Serbia's most-capped player, also saw a political agenda behind the Genoa carnage. "It's one of the blackest days in the history of Serbian football. Some people are again using football for certain other aims."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/oct/13/serbia-hooligans-italy-riot

The problems are much more than just football related so there is no quick fix for these problems.

 

[David Votoupal]

A good article about the Serbian thugs:



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/oct/13/serbia-hooligans-italy-riot

The problems are much more than just football related so there is no quick fix for these problems.

Exactly.

It’s one thing to talk about hooliganism and racism in “Eastern Europe” (which is a blanket term for the former Soviet bloc), but you have to analyse the underlying problems that allow hooliganism, racism, extremism, etc to flourish in those countries.

Most of these countries have a history of foreign domination, Communist oppression and ethnic conflict. Combine these with present-day maladies such as social deprivation, and the fact that many of countries are still coming to terms with the legacy of Communism, and that a history of such oppression makes the opposite extreme more attractive, and you are going to get the above. A good example too is the stink kicked up a few years back about the way mental patients were treated in Serbia and Bulgaria. I know that’s quite different from the issue here but you get the point. Sadly, you can’t hold these countries to the same standard as Western Europe, US or Australia. They have an awful lot of problems to deal with resulting from years of oppression and, in the Balkans, war.

Ethnic tensions are still high in the Balkans- for that reason Bosnia and Kosovo are basically propped up by the international community. Just look, too, at the recent tensions between Hungary and its neighbours, or the underlying ethnic tensions that exist in the Baltic states or Caucasus. Or even in Mongolia, where ultra-nationalism has arisen in response to the perceived or real threat of its big neighbours.

 

[DB10]

what a terrible place it must be.

no meaning to offend those of Serbian background, but, yeah. it just sounds like a terrible country to have to be in these days.

 

[David Votoupal]

The problems that caused the Balkans conflicts and the problems it caused have never truly been resolved. Too many people simply not at peace simply when they're trying to make ends meet. But also some valuable historical lessons.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

I think this may've been a friendly as opposed to a EUROQ but an interesting clash of personalities.

No, it was a qualifier....and the Dutch looked pretty good. Comfortably dominated Sweden 4 - 1 (could have easily been 7-8) to continue their 100% record. Dutch are still without Robben, van Persie, Elia and Kuyt went down early. Huntelaar and van der Vaart are back in form following their moves, whilst van nistelrooy is back from the wilderness to provide good back up. Shame the aforementioned players did not make their moves prior to the World Cup.

 

[NERDY]

what a terrible place it must be.

no meaning to offend those of Serbian background, but, yeah. it just sounds like a terrible country to have to be in these days.

That's the thing though, it's actually a really beautiful place, but the people are just so different to what the average Jo would know. I know someone who recently went to Europe for three months, his favorite country? Serbia.

There's also Croatia which is booming with tourism at the moment, in fact all the former Yugoslav countries are booming when it comes to tourism, Croatia more so because it has most of the coast and the well known place of Dubrovnik (where that Australian girl was murdered unfortunately).