Thursday 15 May 2014

There's still hope; Brazil 2014 - A Croatian Perspective

Ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil I wanted to get a fresh perspective of one country that is going into Brazil with much optimism; Croatia. To find out about what Croatian feelings are towards the World Cup, clubs at home and the fan culture I spoke to Croat, Nika Llovar.

How far do you think Croatia can go in the 2014 World Cup?
"I really believe we can get out of the group. I don't think we can beat Brazil but Mexico and Cameroon are possibilities for wins. Spain, Netherlands and Chile are all favourites to get out of Group B so we could face any one of them as long as we finish second in Group A. Chile is maybe our best chance but you never know and Spain are very good. If we get past round two I will be very pleased indeed".

Can Croatia replicate France '98 and get third?
"Haha I don't think so, not much chance! There are far too many teams in the tournament that can do better than us, but I have my fingers crossed nevertheless".

Will the time difference make it difficult for you to watch the World Cup?
"Maybe. We are one hour ahead of British Summer Time and the last game is 23:00 BST so for Croatia it will be midnight. It will be the school term in Croatia still so most kids won't be allowed to stay up for those games. However Croatia's group games are all kicking off at or before 21:00 in our country so most of us will be able to watch at least the group stage and not stay up too late for school the next day."

Croatia hasn't had much success in recent years with both international football and club football, so why do Croatians still go into this World Cup with such positivity?
"They never forget their team, and the national team is the only one, they don't care if they are bad or good they are always heroes. We have many good players, maybe even world class. Like Luka Modric, Mario Mandzukic, Dejan Lovren, Darijo Srna, Nikica Jelavic and Nico Kranjcar. These players are very good with their clubs and have the opportunity in Brazil to show the world that Croatia is a great football nation.

Club football in Croatia hasn't really made any impact on the rest of Europe, in terms of the Champions League or Europa League. What is support like for the major clubs in Croatia?
"Croatia is torn between two big clubs, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb, and they are not friends. Like Manchester United and Liverpool here in England except in Croatia they are opposite sides of the country and not neighbour cities. People are usually very loyal and don't change their mind on their favourite club based on success. When there are matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid or other big European clubs its not necessarily that people support the Croatian club, especially not if they are their big rivals!"

There's been a lot said in recent years, especially in the lead up to Euro 2012, about ultras making stadiums dangerous places to be in south east Europe. People have said that fans that are of an ethnic minority shouldn't go to away games of their team in these countries, how bad is it really?
"Some fans can be very dangerous, particularly the ultras, but that's why they have their own separate part of the stands to the away team. Things could, and have got messy with racism and violence.

"There have been cases where ultras have ripped up stadium chairs and thrown them on the pitch which is very scary. Uefa is trying to stop this by banning and fining clubs for this behaviour but most ultras don't care and will carry on regardless, this is very bad. It doesn't help the reputation of Croatia fans and means fans from central, north and south Europe don't want to travel here with their team for European away matches.

"Also some teams don't want to face Croatian opposition because they don't know what the fans will do. In 2008 I think Dinamo Zagreb went to Tottenham Hotspur's ground and lit a flare in the away stand, which was very dangerous and bad of them. The thrill of the game can turn into violence so on all the games there are policeman".

Wednesday 14 May 2014

A Brief Guide to Croatian Football


Flag of Croatia
As far as popular football heritage goes, Croatia isn't the first nation that springs to mind. The south east European nation has only competed on the world stage as an independent country since 1998, because up until 1991 they were still a part of the former Yugoslavia.

The flag in brief
The colours on the flag of Croatia, called the Trobojnica (Tricolour), represents the three Croatian Kingdoms; the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Slavonia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The red-white-blue tricolour has been used as the Croatian flag since 1848, and the pan-Slavic colours are widely associated with romantic nationalism.

While the Banovina of Croatia existed within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it had a similar flag without the modern crown above the chequy. During the Independent State of Croatia, the flag was like the modern, but without the crown and there was a letter "U" at the top left of the flag.

While Croatia was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia its tricolour was the same, but it had a five-pointed red star with a yellow border in place of the coat of arms.

As part of Yugoslavia
SFR Yugoslavia badge
Yugoslavia was a country of seven merged states (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) from it's creation in 1918 after World War I until it's dissolution in 1991. From 1991-1995 Croatia declared the Croatian War of Independence (part of the Yugoslav Wars) and, due to a United Nations sanction, weren't allowed to play international football matches. This sanction was lifted in 1994 but was too late for them to qualify for USA '94. Croatia made their debut in international competition at Euro '96 and the World Cup at France '98.

As Yugoslavia, Croatia never saw any real recognisable success apart from three quarter-final appearances, 1954, 1958 and 1990, and one semi-final appearance in the inaugural tournament in 1930. The Yugoslav's didn't have a very good record with qualifying either, missing out on the 1934, 1938, 1966, 1970, 1978 and 1986 finals altogether.

Croatia goes it alone
Croatia's debut on the world stage at France '98 was a very successful one and saw them finish third after losing to hosts France in the semi-finals, 2-1, and then beating the Netherlands, 2-1, in the third place match.

Croatia Football Federation badge

There will be a lot of optimism from Croatians for 2014 in Brazil, despite failing to make an impression on the tournament since France '98 and failing to even qualify for South Africa four years ago. The list of names in the 30-man provisional squad show a lot of promise, with big name players such as Real Madrid's Luka Modric, Bayern Munich's Mario Mandzukic, Hull City's Nikica Jelavic, Wolfburg's Eduardo, Southampton's Dejan Lovren and QPR's Nico Kranjcar all likely starters for the Vatreni.

Darijo Srna
Croatia's current captain is their most capped player, 111, Darijo Srna. Srna plays all down the right wing, either as a right-back, right midfielder or right winger and is renowned for his crossing ability. He plays for Shaktar Donetsk but has had interest from Chelsea FC and Bayern Munich in previous transfer windows, however he has remained loyal to Shaktar with whom he has made 414 appearances and scored 37 goals to date.

With the names I just mentioned you'd be forgiven for thinking that this Croatian team stands very good chance of getting through their group; which includes Brazil, Mexico and Cameroon. A lot of football fans and pundits alike are saying Brazil aren't just the favourites to win the group but also to go all the way, so Croatia will have to try and beat Mexico and Cameroon if they are to find themselves in the quarter-finals, and possibly beyond.


Stadion Poljud

Stadiums
Croatia plays its international home games at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia and also the home of Dinamo Zagreb, and has a capacity of 38,000. Stadion Maksimir competes to host Croatia's home games with Stadion Poljud, which is located in Split, a city at the other end of the country to Zagreb. Stadion Poljud has a capacity of 62,000, expanded from 55,000 in the 1980's. Stadion Poljud is a multi-purpose stadium with a running track on the outside of the pitch, and hosted the 1990 European Athletic Championships as well as the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup. The full name of Stadion Poljud is Poljud Ljepotica which means 'The Poljud Beauty' and it is one of the most modern stadiums in European and world football.

Ultras and Nazism

Ultranationalists in Croatia have links back to the fascist and terrorist movement 'Ustasa' in the mid 1940's. They went around Yugoslavia murdering thousands of Serbians, Jews and Romas. The letter U is commonly associated with Croatian Ultras and can be seen at Croatia sporting events.

Ultras have shouted the slogan "Kill the Serb" during some sporting events and according to some Croatian media, a group of youths chanted this during a concert by Marko Perković Thompson.


Croatian Ultras performing the Nazi salute

 During a friendly match between Croatia and Italy in Livorno in 2006, a small group of Croatian fans stood in a swastika formation in response to Italians fans waving communist flags and displayed a picture of Josip Broz Tito; UEFA penalized the Croatian Football Federation for the incident. In 2007, Croatian football fans formed the letter U in a stadium during a match in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In November 2007, it was reported that members of the Hajduk Split supporters' group, Torcida Split, were wearing black T-shirts featuring the words "Hajduk jugend" (alluding to Hitlerjugend, the Hiter Youth) in Fraktur and an eagle atop Hajduk's logo (resembling a Nazi Party symbol).

Hajduk Split supporters
Hajduk Jugend logo











The T-shirts were also being sold on Torcida's website. Stipe Lekić, the secretary of Torcida said to reporters that "Torcida has always been leaning to the right", but rejecting accusations that the T-shirts have connections with Nazism. He said that he was wearing the T-shirt because he liked the symbols.

Also in November 2007, a swastika appeared on Osijek's Gradski vrt football field, together with the slogan "Play, fags!" That was, reportedly done before the match with Međimurje. NK Osijek's and their Kohorta fan association condemned the acts.
In June 2012, the Croatian and German football federations were fined for singing songs associated with Nazism and wearing Nazi symbols.

Finally
There are some aspects of Croatian football fandom and history that the world wants to forget, and some fans go too far in showing their patriotism towards Croatia, however the culture and tribal support is a subject that can't be underestimated and is in many ways, spectacular.

Croatia as an independent nation has 94 years of international competition to catch up on so maybe this could be their year to shine and deliver some kind of success to the small Mediterranean country, and I think they certainly have players that are capable to do something special.