Croatia moves to rid sport of violence
Reuters - Friday 10 October 2008, 12:02
(Repeats feature first moved at 0002 GMT)
By Igor Ilic
ZAGREB, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Croatian schoolchildren could
soon be taught how to behave like good sports fans in an attempt
to stamp out the hooliganism and racism that have marred the
country's image in recent years.
The initiative, the brainchild of a teacher, has been
devised to coincide with the world handball championships that
Croatia hosts in January but the primary targets are soccer
fans, known for violent behaviour, racist abuse and clashing
with police at home and abroad.
"We have seen enough disorder at sports events. We want to
make those events a place for joy and family gathering, not a
field for vulgar manners and destruction," said Bosko Lozica
from the Zagreb city authorities.
The Croatian FA was fined 30,000 Swiss francs ($26,620) for
racist behaviour by local fans during a World Cup qualifier
against England in Zagreb last month.
Over the last three years, the Croatian FA has had to pay
out more than 200,000 francs for misbehaviour by fans at home
and abroad, including fights on Malta and in Hungary and
insulting chants during the Euro 2008 quarter-final against
Turkey.
A group of Dinamo Zagreb fans, the Bad Blue Boys, clashed
violently with Czech police in Prague during a UEFA Cup tie
against Sparta last week. Some 300 hundred were arrested in the
scuffles and eight policemen were injured.
Top local soccer games between Dinamo and their main rivals,
Hajduk Split, are considered 'high risk', attracting a heavy
police presence.
The new project, dubbed "The Fans' Etiquette", would go to
the sports ministry for approval soon, Lozica said.
TEACHER'S HANDBOOK
The idea came from Zagreb schoolteacher Bozica Uroic who
wrote a handbook on the rules of civilised behaviour at sports
events, from leaving home, to attending a game and returning
safely.
"My father was a passionate Dinamo fan for decades but in
the early 1990s he once came home saying he would never go to
the stadium again because of vandalism," Uroic told Reuters.
"After all these years of problems I felt an urge to do
something to help young people who perhaps don't know how to
behave."
Her idea was to hold presentations in primary and secondary
schools, she said -- first in the capital Zagreb, then elsewhere
in Croatia -- to show pupils why violence was bad and how they
should behave to make a game an enjoyable event for everyone.
"I think they should hear what sport is really about, what
happened in the past when violence prevailed, like the famous
Heysel tragedy, and how they should look after themselves,
others and public property when attending the games," she said.
Thirty-nine people were killed and hundreds injured when a
wall collapsed in the Heysel stadium in Brussels after fans
charged before the 1985 European Cup final between Juventus and
Liverpool. The tragedy prompted Europe to take a tougher stance
on soccer hooliganism.
Uroic said that presentations, reinforced by visits from
popular soccer players or other athletes, could also be held at
soccer fans' groups.
"Many fans don't even realise that, for example, it is not
acceptable to boo when a national anthem of another country is
performed, or that any destruction of property would ultimately
bring costs to their own families...not to mention if someone
gets hurt or something worse," Uroic said.
VIDEO CLIPS
The Croatian FA welcomed the initiative and said it was
ready to help by involving players and broadcasting its own
video clips.
"We have been dealing with this problem for some time and we
want to help educate young people by promoting tolerance and joy
of sport," said Zorislav Srebric, the FA's secretary-general.
The leader of an association of Dinamo Zagreb fans, Denis
Seler, said he was not familiar with the project but believed it
could be helpful.
"It seems to me that incidents at the stadiums have been
reduced in recent years. There were cases of throwing flares on
the pitch in recent games, which we don't support, but it was a
reaction to a string of meagre performances and, consequently,
the overall atmosphere around the club," he said.
Drazen Lalic, a leading local sociologist, said prevention
was the key, rather than the repression to which authorities
mostly resorted in the past.
"However, I'm not convinced that going to schools alone will
be enough. It would be crucial to go directly to places where
soccer fans gather...talk to them in their premises, bars, join
them during journeys. There are maybe 1,000 problematic fans in
the country but so far there has been no prevention," he said.
In a separate attempt to tame violence in stadiums, Deputy
Prime Minister Djurdja Adlesic visited London this month to talk
to British officials about how they tackled similar problems.
(Additional reporting by David Spaic Kovacic and Zlata Zsolnay;
Editing by Clare Fallon)
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