After a short break, Tanja Radmilo is back with her column, From Croatia with Madness on June 20, 2016.
Well, by now the Croatian fans and their behaviour in St.Etienne is the the talk of Euro. Even if Europe has not heard about our shaky government, level of corruption, inability of Croatian politicians to run the country, everybody wonders what kind of football supporters cause trouble as their team is winning. And, more or less, the public agrees that it is a shame.
Even the Croatian President promptly reacted and addressed her Kingdom of (Cro)Morons on her Facebook page blaming Orjuna (short for Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists) for the hooliganism at the French stadium but also for the swastika marked at the football pitch exactly one year ago. Orjuna was ideologically a far right organization, but it was dissolved in 1929, which somebody obviously forgot to tell the President about. Also, what is interesting about Orjuna is that it was founded in Split and mostly consisted of Dalmatians. Some might say that it could be an attempt at linking hooliganism in France with Dalmatian football supporters (read Torcida) who have been outraged with the situation at the Croatian Football Federation for quite a while now.
Maybe the President only worries about who will organise her birthday party next year because her buddy, birthday planner and the first vice-president of Croatian Football Federation, is the man who is currently awaiting trial together with the executive director of CFF, Damir Vrbanović, for corruption, abuse of power, bribery and tax evasion and the man who represents the problem for the majority of football lovers. Shame on you Ms.President for keeping such a low company.
Also, Lady President decided to call for emergency meeting of now dismissed Government because of the incident in France. Croatia has been falling apart since the elections in November of last year. Civil society organizations’ work is brought to a standstill, there has been a cutback in financing of all the organizations, foreign journalists write about the fascist Minister of Culture, at the same time the Government is held hostage by the interests and ambitions of Karamarko, the first Deputy Prime Minister, who was at the centre of the conflict of interest affair because of his wife’s connection with MOL, Croatian Parliament voted dismissal to the Prime Minister, nothing can be passed in the Parliament because overpaid MPs do not come to work… and nothing makes the President convene the Government meeting, but a few flares do. Kolinda, shame on you!
And yes, shame on all of you who are willing to travel thousands of kilometers to drop a few flares just to send a message and remain untouched by your grandmothers digging through the garbage containers, by priests offending your girlfriends and Croatian politicians underestimating your intelligence.
