What’s wrong with Football in Croatia & Why Hajduk rejected to play derby match vs Dinamo !

One fan has sent what is really an incredible story and article, saying that the media won’t write the truth, so we could not say No !

 Image: Facebook

What’s wrong with football in Croatia many asked after watching the Croats, led by La Liga stars Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic against Italy at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) last week. Italy scored an early opener, but the Croats came back quickly as the Wolfsburg striker Ivan Perisic sent one behind Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. The match ended 1-1.

That sums up the match in which Croatia were a much better team on the pitch and probably could have score d one more to take all three points from the San Siro in their Euro 2016 campaign. But the match was so much more than that as the Croatian fans 15-minutes before the end, decided to throw flares onto the pitch and the match was suspended for 5-minutes.

So why would they do it?  Their team is playing well, the goal is in the “air”, again, you might ask yourself, why would they do it ? Well, the problem is very complex. It’s not directly related to the terms as “hooligans” as many media habe suggested. The most hypocritical ones were from Italy. During the game when the first flares were fired up, the Italian commentator said during the live broadcast : ” No, these are not our fans “. This probably says a lot, but let’s go a little
further and check some of the headlines related to Italy fans.

– Ahead of the match Roma-CSKA two fans stabbed .
– Three Catania fans were stabbed with knives near the Olympic stadium in Rome.
– Two fans stabbed ahead of Derby match between AS Roma and S.S. Lazio
– Bayern Munich fans stabbed in Naples
– Three Borussia fans stabbed in Rome
– Liverpool fans stabbed in Naples!
– Fan fights and shootings delayed the start of the Italian Cup final.

So are the Italian media right one to put all Croatia fans into one basket with the label – Hooligan, for throwing flares? Hypocritical isn’t it ?

The issue here is much more complex. So what’s wrong with football in Croatia? When was the last time you’ve heard that one team rejected to play? One of our writers who travels around the Europe to watch derby games, attended a big derby match which was on schedule for Saturday (22.11.2014) , but the match was postponed and in the end canceled. The reason why, is that HNK Hajduk Split refused to come out from the locker-room. Why? We’ll get back to it. First, let’s at least to try to explain what’s really going on behind the “curtains”.

For the nine years in a row GNK Dinamo lifted the MAXtv prva liga (First Croatian league) title. A few years ago (2011.) Dinamo Zagreb vice-president Zdravko Mamic said: ” I promise that HNK Hajduk Split won’t win the title for the next ten years “.
This could look like a simple “rivals threat” but the reason why the most of the stadiums in Croatia are empty is related to Dinamo Zagreb vice-president, not to the rival clubs only. If the problem is only in one direction GNK Dinamo Zagreb – HNK Hajduk Split, what’s all this have to do with other clubs, fans, stadiums and the whole league, or national team?

Two days after the game between Italy and Croatia, the Croatian national TV had a special program inside program TV called “Otvoreno” (Openly). The title pretty much covers all : ” What is rotten in the Croatian football? “.

The Focus of the show was on the fans and the reason why they threw flares on the pitch and what a majority of the football fans in Croatia want .

Dea Redžić, writer for Index.hr in this show has turned the focus to one of the biggest problems which the fans see. Most of the problems started when the club NK Lokomotiva “qualified” for the first league competition.

Now to shorten the story with this club, this is Football club without stadium, without fans, sponsors. So how does it exist. Since Mamic’s era in the GNK Dinamo, Lokomotiva have never beaten the GNK Dinamo. In the last mutual encounter NK Lokomotiva had a 3-1 lead ten minutes before the end and lost the game 3-4. Many people then bragged with their winning tickets exactly on Ht / Ft!

It wasn’t the first time they had a lead at the half time and lost the game. Last season NK Lokomotiva were the club with the most “cases” (6) when they had a lead/lose at the half time and lost/win at the end.

Now why do people in Croatia relate NK Lokomotiva with GNK Dinamo Zagreb and their vice-president Zdravko Mamic? According to the fans we’ve spoken with (our writer) and with what we read in the Croatia newspapers and forums, many claim that these two clubs have the same owner and that is Zdravko Mamic.

There are many leagues and clubs which are “friendly” and loan players between each other, but to have a team which is more than 80% based on the players on a loan from the team in the same league is not something that we see anywhere else.
In some leagues , like Italy, clubs do have what’s called the co-ownership on the player, but this situation does not apply here.

The NK Lokomotiva president sits on Dinamo Zagreb’s board and drives Dinamo Zagreb’s official car. The email address before was joined with the GNK Dinamo’s email account.

Dea Redžić said: “36 players from Dinamo to Lokomotiva and vice versa was rotated. Players on a free transfer would sign for Lokomotiva from Dinamo, then GNK Dinamo for the same players would pay to re-sign them again. Marcelo Brozović, currently plays for GNK Dinamo and Croatia, was paid 14 million, which was huge money for the club without fans and sponsors”, said Redžić.

” NK Lokomotiva is the case which the law institutions should investigate. It seems that no one is responsible!

We had spoken with many fans about these problems in Croatia, and this were are questions :

We had spoken with many fans about these problems in Croatia, and this were are questions :

1. What according to you is the biggest problem with Croatian Football?
2. Why are your stadiums empty?
3. What happened in Italy and what do you think about that incident?
4. What would you change if you could?

– What according to you is the biggest problem in Croatian Football?

N.B. : Zdravko Mamic !
– Can you tell us why?

N.B. : He holds the whole club, the league, everything is corrupted in our league. For the national team mostly players from Dinamo are playing just to raise their price and to sell them. Imagine this, we sold Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka to Tottenham, Eduardo da Silva to Arsenal, Mario Mandzukic, Tin Jedvaj to AS Roma, Alen Halilovic to Barcelona and many others. Look, we earned huge money. But no one knows where this money ended. We buy many bad players and get rid of them soon. Something doesn’t “smell” good.

The reason for the empty stadiums is the same. We all think that our league exists only for one man, so he could earn money.
As for the incident in Italy, the media are the media, they write sensational titles to sell the newspaper. Most of them are on his payment!

– Do you support those incidents? To throw a flare to suspend the game?

N.B. : No, i don’t support it , but i do understand it.

What i would change is what 90% of us want, to get rid of Mamic from our club and to clean our league.
– Do you think that this should solve all your issues

N.B. : Yes.

As we said, the derby game was canceled . We spoke with some of Hajduk Split fans, called Torcida (The oldest firm in Europe) .

Can you tell us why the match was suspended?

I.K. : A lot of our fans were not allowed to enter the stadium !

– Why?

I.K. : There are on the “black list “.

– What / whose blacklist?

I.K. : His !

– Sorry but who is he?

I.K. : Zdravko Mamic!

– Can you explain more to us?

I.K. : This is his league, he controls everything, the league, the national team, the referee’s. What is too much is too much. Every man is free to move where he wants. So if our fans were not on police records, if they were, they would not be able to come here, how can they be on the black list? We, as the whole group decided to protest against the reign of one man, to stand against him and we refused to enter, while the club decided to stand by our side. Isn’t the point of football to play for the fans?

Our club was suspended for 3 games of playing without fans. It’s not fair. When other fans make problems, nothing, when ours do, we always get banned with something. Most of this is with money. Our club is always guilty for everything, even when other supporters make the problems. It’s just no fair. The reason is simple. He wants to weaken us as we are the only club that he can’t buy in this league.

Italy? Huh? I believe that the idea was to hurt Mamic. Do you know that Croatia under 17 team is built on the players all from Dinamo Zagreb ?

– No, We didn’t know.

I.K. : Do you know that he has two clubs in the same league and the other club is not allowed to beat Dinamo? That he is laundering money with the players . Are you familiar with that? He is winning the titles thanks to Lokomotiva. Before the season starts his club already have 9-12 + points because of Lokomotiva and when some other clubs are close despite that, some “weird” referee mistakes occurs and that club lose the points.

– We did hear something.

I.K. : Do you know who is Andrej Kramaric ?

– Yes, of course! Why?

I.K. : Well, he was playing for Dinamo. Actually, he wasn’t allowed to play, because he didn’t have a signed contract with Mamic. Not the club, managers, with Mamic and his son who acts as manager. His brother currently is the coach of Dinamo. So whose club is it. It’s a family business. And as for Kramaric, now he plays for Nk Rijeka and the national team. That means he is really good and player like he couldn’t play at Dinamo? In the meantime Mamic is buying many bad strikers. Weird, isn’t it?

Well, now you know, what was behind the incident in Italy. People are frustrated!

– So what would you change if you could?

I.K. : I would change the whole HNS and move Mamic out of our football.

We had spoken with many other fans, some didn’t want so share their thoughts, some of them were “short”, but all the answers point to the same issue and the reason why HNK Hajduk Split rejected to play. Corruption in the football!

But who is Mamic? He was charged for many threats to journalists , but maybe these videos will explain better

Insults and threats to journalist

Making problems and provocations in Split ( Doesnt get a ban like a normal fan would get)

Few years back in “fight” with Igor Štimac over the control in HNS. A Few years later Mamic appoints Štimac as the national team coach

The Croatian sociologist Benjamin Perasović in the show “Otvoreno” recalled the case from a few years back when the former HNK Hajduk Split president Hrvoje Maleš exposed the referee’s corruption in the Croatian first league.

Maleš was supposed to pay for the “fair”, yes fair, referee’s decisions to Hajduk Split as the club from Split was often “damaged” by the “man in black” . When the first problems occurred among the fans, the GNK Dinamo Zagreb vice-president Zdravko Mamic “introduced” the voucher system for the fans which only “fired up” them even more.

They started to work together and they have started buying tickets to each other. It was said that the voucher system was the police’s idea, but later on Mamic told the Press that these vouchers are done. One of the HNK Hajduk board members, Ljubo Pavasović Visković then asked, who is Mamic and how can he decide for the whole league about this vouchers and to call them off suddenly ? Isn’t that the police’s job? Decision?

The Black List is the biggest issue and the issue which was pointed out as the key one that the derby game between GNK Dinamo and Hajduk Split was called off. First reports suggest that on the black list for this match were 99 people, of which 37 with the ban. That means that under no law, 63 people were not allowed to attend the game, or as the law states to move freely. No records, and yet they were on the black list. That was a deal breaker.

The law in Croatia regarding the fans and hooligans is not the best one, but it’s a simple one. Each stadium has it own cameras and the police records everything. If you for an example throw a flare, you’ll get a ban for a minimum of two years. This means that you can’t attend the matches anymore and if your club plays you must report to the police before the game, during the game and after the game. This means you’re not allowed to leave your house, unless you are in the police station.

So what is the Black list? It’s the list which the GNK Dinamo Zagreb vice-president Zdravko Mamic has and on that list are the names of the people who can’t enter the stadiums. A lot of GNK Dinamo Zagreb fans, called Bad Blues Boys who are against the reign of Mamic and want his resignation are on the black list ( Coincidence ? Think Again! ).

GNK Dinamo for many years is playing basically on the empty stadium, even in the Champions league or Europa league in which they hold the record for the lowest visits ever.

Watch the video of the title celebration which Dinamo has won in 2012. The same was other years as well. Empty stadium to celebrate the title !?

Now watch the one from 2006.

Do you see what’s the difference? It should be easy.
Before the match between Italy and Croatia, HNS (Croatian Football Federation) had sent the “black list” of the people who were not allowed to enter the stadium. A day after the match HNS stated that despite the list, the fans (not supporters of Hajduk) were allowed to enter by the Italians.

The “switch” is turned to them and HNS showed here double measures, one for the Hajduk Split fans, one for all others. So again, why did the fans throw flares ? To bring attention on corruption in their football and to hurt the one which made it.
Even some news reporters were on the same blacklist and they were forbidden to enter the stadium of the GNK Dinamo because they wrote against Mamic. Freedom, you say?

So now, we hope, when you do understand this situation in Croatian football at least a little, since this is only a small scratch of it, let’s turn the focus to one of the biggest football websites on world, Goal.com.

As one of the biggest they should care whom they hire to write for them. Their opinions should be objective. Soon after the news that the big derby game was suspended, one of their writers for the Croatia international version of the site had wrote what can be called a disgraceful article.

Imagine that a fan of Barcelona is also a writer on such site and he spits on the Real Madrid fans, club, Madrid and their people in general, their mentality. That’s exactly what was published on Goal.com.

The writer that lives in Zagreb “spits” on Split ( town in Croatia) , HNK Hajduk, their fans, and all this at one of the biggest football websites in the world. Shame !

So what did he write? His title begins with: Shame on the Split’s way!  What Split and their people in general have with all of this? Nothing! So why to call all of them?

” Hajduk Split have made another major scandal. Their players didn’t run out from the locker-room as they decided to express solidarity with their fans, who due to the ban could not be at the stadium …

It’s sad, pathetic, disgracefully! The Leaders of Hajduk Split already have been fighting with everyone, mostly themselves and very often with the HNS representatives.

But today they went a step further and they threw a new stain on the club of great history and rich tradition.
It is quite clear, the leaders of Hajduk are completely lost. They are those that with an emergency procedure should be punished with a lifetime ban from further work in the Croatian football …

– Hajduk Split obviously are having big problems. It is hard to believe that the representatives of the Split club defend the fans whose names are on the “black list”.

A collection of cheap points is something which Mr. Brbić (HNK Hajduk President) has been doing for a few years now and probably already today he shall proudly walk trough Split.

And be a huge “face” among the fans of Hajduk. However, hereby is throwing a great stain, especially at the club with such history and great traditions. ”

If the same author mentions the Black List & hooligans, how does he know who is on the black list, and that those people are indeed hooligans? Does he have the list, did he see it? If yes, it’s illegal? Who gave him the right to call out people and to decide instead of the proper institutions, to use those words, to suggest a ban for the Hajduk Split’s board, punishment, to put all the people from Split in one basket?

To call them “not smart”: ” He (Mr.Brbic) shall proudly walk trough Split  and be a huge “face” among the fans of Hajduk” . Who is he and how is he involved with all this, what gives him the right to do this, or even more importantly on who’s payment?

Shame, Goal.com , Shame on you !

In the meantime the people of Split and the fans attended Poljud ( Hajduk Split’s stadium) to give their support to their players.

The same day people all over Croatia are leaving candles in front of the HNS departments, as the sign that their “reign” is over. You have our support ! Football should be clean and football should be played for the people !

If still, you don’t understand, what HNK Hajduk Split wants and for what they are fighting for, let’s sum up things :

1. To Stop the centralization in the country
Did you know that the HNS avoids Split when in comes to the national team. Years have passed since the national team have played an official match in Split, although Split has the most beautiful stadium in Croatia, called Poljud. More games were played in London than in Split.

2. The same “rules” for all the clubs and fans
Here the problem is not only related to the famous Black Lists.
– When other supporters make problems, their club receives what can be called an absurd “punishment” with the money fine, which anyone of us can make in a month.
– When the HNK Hajduk Split supporters, Torcida, make any problem or incident, even the smallest one, their club, HNK Hajduk Split receives huge fines, and the ban of playing at the empty stadium.
– When other clubs want to postpone the match for any reason, they can, when Hajduk wants to do the same, they are not allowed.

3. Democracy
– The Croatian Football Federation, is not what can be called ruled by democracy. From the very start the same was not selected on “democratic” way, and many believe that the real owner and the one who makes all decisions is the GNK Dinamo Zagreb’s vice-president.
– Interesting fact is that the same person, Zdravko Mamic travels with the national team in the company of the HNS president Davor Šuker, which makes people to ask themselves what about other clubs and their presidents.

4. Fair referee’s
– HNK Hajduk Split in the last year’s is by far the most damaged club by the referee’s.

5. To clean up their league and the football federation of corruption