Balkan blackness in European color

The organizers tried their best to minimize the effects of the unstable political situation in Europe and the world, especially due to Russia's aggression against Ukraine and Israel's aggression against Palestine. The fans of the vast majority of national teams do not abuse the championship for political messages, nor do they spread national intolerance, but, unfortunately, there are fans from the Balkans to blacken the picture. The figures clearly show that since the beginning of the European Championship, the football associations of Croatia, Albania and Serbia have paid the most fines due to fan frenzy, and those associations, as well as the associations of Kosovo and North Macedonia, whose national teams do not participate in the championship, have also complained to each other the most.

photo: ap

The Croatian national team performed first and it was recorded, among other things, how a large group in "checkered" jerseys sings the Ustasha version of the old march. Jelačić's army marched., which was sung in Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century in King Peter's guard marched. "They ran out, they ran out, the friars from Zagreb. Step by step, young Ustasha under the banner. The battle is fighting, it is fighting, the Ustasha flag is flying...", echoed around the stadium in Berlin. At the stadium itself, those groups, logically, continued to rampage and in the end UEFA fined the Croatian Football Association (HNS) 87.875 euros for throwing plastic cups and other objects and lighting torches. Three hours later, Albanian fans took the stage, who, in addition to cheering on their national team in the duel with Italy, also lit torches and threw objects into the field and, of course, chanted and pointed out inappropriate messages. That is why the FS of Albania received a total fine of 37.375 euros.

Then, the next day, the Serbian national team performed for the first time and already during the day incidents were recorded in Gelsenkirchen: in the fan zone, a group of Serbian fans tried to set fire to the Albanian flag, and it was recorded how a group of Serbian fans shot it into the camera of the German RTL during a live broadcast. sang "Who says that, who lies, Serbia is small, not small, not small, three times wars", with the addition "and again, God willing", then chanted Kosovo, Russia and Ratko Mladić.

However, everything was overshadowed by a fight in front of a restaurant, which was not particularly massive or bloody, but the son of the President of Serbia tried to participate in it, which eight days later - at the last of several hundred extraordinary addresses to the nation - he finally confirmed Aleksandar Vučić himself. Cell phone footage showed several burly guys trying to stop one from getting involved in a street fight, and the latter was snatched away and torn to shreds. Although the video is not the clearest, Danilo Vučić and some members of the special military unit Cobra were recognized. In the end, everything was confirmed by the President of Serbia and, of course, he justified the actions of his elder son.

And in the stands during the match between Serbia and England, a well-known and rather scarce nationalist repertoire was heard, which my colleague Nemanja Rujević wrote about last week (from "Serbia - Kosovo" to "Who doesn't jump, that's Shiptar"), with various variants Serbian flags were also numerous flags of Russia. UEFA also reacted this time and fined FSS with a total of 14.500 euros for inserting objects and provocative messages.

photo: ap

Disciplinary measures by UEFA were also caused by the reports that the associations submitted against each other, because each sees the problem in the other, never in themselves. First, after the matches of the first round, the FSS reported the FS of Albania because of the flags of Greater Albania and anti-Serbian messages, and then the FS of Kosovo reported the FSS because of the flags with Kosovo and anti-Albanian messages. Everything culminated a few days later at the match between Croatia and Albania, when groups of fans chanted together "Kill, kill the Serb", and one Albanian player directly joined in the spreading of hatred. The FSS submitted reports and even threatened to leave the competition if the penalties were not appropriate, and the FS of North Macedonia reacted. UEFA then imposed a total fine of 47.500 euros on the Albanian federation, of which 25 for "conveying provocative messages inappropriate for a sports event", while it fined national team member Mirlind Daku with two games of suspension for chanting against Serbs and Macedonians. For now, HNS has been fined 28 euros for throwing objects into the field and lighting torches, and UEFA has opened an investigation into accusations of racism and discrimination.

The public of Serbia was rightly disturbed by the morbid message from the stands in the stadium in Hamburg, but the atmosphere was further polluted by the regime's media inciting all Croats and Albanians and continuing the long-standing mantra about "innocent people", "unprovoked reaction" and the like. Similarly, the president of the HNS turned a blind eye to the bravado of his compatriots, declaring after the FSS report that he did not hear chants against Serbs, nor did he see offensive banners, and that the HNS "always condemned any call to hatred and discrimination".

The connection between the state, on the one hand, and the hooligans and criminals who hide behind fan groups has long been enthroned in Serbia, and after the progressives came to power, this connection eventually took on an almost official form. In Croatia, too, populist politicians cultivate close ties with controversial figures in and around the stands, and they constantly please the dominant extreme fan groups, especially when the national football team performs, so it is not surprising that many in the stands accept Ustasha and anti-Serb chants and songs. It is the same on this side, especially since the head of the state is a man who boasted of hooligan outbursts from his youth and for a full decade from a position of absolute power has kept under control the most important leaders of the fans of the two biggest clubs, and who, as it turned out the other day, justifies the riotous his son's behavior on the streets of Gelsenkirchen.

And the players, unfortunately, contribute to the cultivation of hooliganism and chauvinism in the stands by elevating them in many ways and taking over their aesthetics. That is why we experienced some celebrating with the songs of the pro-Ustasha singer Marko Perković Thompson, and others with the hits of Baja Mali Knindža. It is quite expected in societies that cultivate nationalism, they only mention their own victims, but keep silent about their own crimes and, above all, glorify war criminals.

That's why it's no wonder that more and more voices are being heard to tighten the penalties for national teams whose fans spread hatred and cause serious incidents, even to the point of exclusion from the championship. Also, judging by the first prison sentence in Spain for racist messages in a football stadium, the intention is to tighten the policy towards individuals who cause unpleasant scenes. Namely, in May of last year, three Valencia fans called the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, a Real Madrid player, a monkey and imitated that animal, and after they were identified and taken into custody, they were sentenced to eight months in prison each.