Yesterday’s football match between the two most popular Croatian football teams had an unusual introduction.
On Saturday, Croatia’s greatest football clash between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split took place. Although Hajduk’s fan were undoubtedly delighted with the final score which brought a convincing win for Hajduk, while arriving to Zagreb prior to the game they staged an interesting protest against the Croatian Football Federation, reports Dalmatinski Portal on April 23, 2017.
They created long lines at the toll paying plaza in Lučko, at the entrance to Zagreb. The line was more than a kilometre long. The way they created the line was quite creative: they decided to pay the motorway toll only with small coins.
The reason for this non-violent protest was to draw attention to the situation in Croatian football. Damir Gruić, a spokesman for Hajduk’s fans Torcida, explained the reasons in more detail.
“Torcida has once again pointed out the problems and irregularities in Croatian football. The passivity of those who can solve this problem means that they support the Croatian Football Federation as it is and the people who are currently leading Croatian football. This is a situation which Torcida and Hajduk fans cannot accept. We have had enough empty promises by local and all other politicians which we can hear before each and every election. We are no longer interested in that and that is not enough for us any more”, said Gruić.
It is unclear whether this was just a one-off impromptu protest before a major match, or whether such protest actions might continue. But, the spokesman certainly sounded like we might see similar actions in the future as well.
“We will continue with a series of activities until we see concrete changes. We have local elections ahead of us, as well as the tourist season and a series of major events. And we have plenty of ideas,” said Gruić.
Fans of Hajduk (any many other Croatian football clubs) are dissatisfied with what they perceive as a privileged position of Dinamo Zagreb, which have been the Croatian champion for the last decade.
