Grudge match.
Well, tonight was "the big game" here. DINAMO (Zagreb) played HAJDUK (Split) in soccer. I only watched a little of the begining and the last 20 minutes or so. What a brutal game. The most physical soccer game I have ever seen. Now, why do I care? I don't really enjoy soccer much. I've tried to do my duty and develope an appriciation for the sport, and I do like it more now than I did a few years ago, but it really doesn't do that much for me. But, this is about more than sports, or should I say, it is about sport as a means of politics. Split is Croatia's second largest city, and it is a much older city than Zagreb. Zagreb has only been a real cultural center for about 150 years. Split was where Diocletian's palace was established when he divided the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western halves. Split has always seen itself as Zagreb's equal if not actually superior in many ways, but Zagreb has treated Split as a quaint tourist town on the coast for the last 50 years. So, this game was really about more than just which team is better, its about which city is better, and the teams know it, and the fans know it.
The game was played in Zagreb, and the local fans did their best to support the team. about 75 minutes into the game, DINAMO was up 2 to 1. When HAJDUK got the ball down near the DINAMO goal, some fans lit some road flairs and started throwing them onto the field. This accomplished a couple of things; it stopped play while the firemen on the sidelines ran out to pick up the flair and run it off the field to the dunk bucket to put it out (this implies to me that this is something that happens at this game a lot cause you don't just get half a dozen fire men in full gear and a couple of dunk buckets set up on the pitch in a couple of minutes) which disrupted HAJDUK's attack, it also smoked up the field and made it hard to see the goal from more than a few yards away, also making it harder for HAJDUK to score. It also started part of the stadium on fire, but I'm sure was an unintended consequence.
Anyway, final score, 2:2.
The game was played in Zagreb, and the local fans did their best to support the team. about 75 minutes into the game, DINAMO was up 2 to 1. When HAJDUK got the ball down near the DINAMO goal, some fans lit some road flairs and started throwing them onto the field. This accomplished a couple of things; it stopped play while the firemen on the sidelines ran out to pick up the flair and run it off the field to the dunk bucket to put it out (this implies to me that this is something that happens at this game a lot cause you don't just get half a dozen fire men in full gear and a couple of dunk buckets set up on the pitch in a couple of minutes) which disrupted HAJDUK's attack, it also smoked up the field and made it hard to see the goal from more than a few yards away, also making it harder for HAJDUK to score. It also started part of the stadium on fire, but I'm sure was an unintended consequence.
Anyway, final score, 2:2.
posted by The Solitary Traveller at 10:23 PM
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