On Tuesday Aug 08, the first leg of the confrontation between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb for the Champions League was supposed to be held. However, it was postponed for the most unthinkable of reasons! Between 150 and 200 Croatian fanatics crossed the entire Balkan Peninsula to murder a fan of their opponents! And they succeeded! There is a full industry based on the ideology of sports for non-violence. Starting with the athletes, the managers, the teams, the best online bookmakers, the punters, etc… Yet, none of it seemed to matter at 23:00 of Aug 07.
Everything was planned to detail
At that time, over 100 (according to witnesses and the police report) members of the notorious Bad Blue Boys attacked the local fans using sticks, makeshift weapons and Molotov cocktails. Because of a quite late intervention by the Athenian S.W.A.T teams, 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris lost his life in this senseless assault! Another 8 people (5 Croats and 3 Greeks – including a 17-year-old) have been hospitalized at various degrees of injury.
As the police revealed the following day, the itinerary of the extremist fans was planned well in advance. It even included monitoring evasion techniques, by way of using multiple vehicles following different routes, to avoid any attempt for interception by the authorities, and to make sure that even if some of them did get stopped, some others would make it.
The Greek Police did nothing!
The next day it also came to light, that the authorities of Montenegro sent a warning message to their Hellenic counterparts, about the passage through their borders of «dangerous fans». In fact, it is well-known that the Bad Blue Boys have a very bad reputation of being exceptionally brutal in their tactics against opposing fans. Counting the fact that while the Greek Police did indeed follow the busses that carried the Croats and lost them, it makes for gross negligence and dereliction of duty from their part. No wonder that 7 police captains and other officers, were relieved of their duties after the rioting.
It was only after it all was over, that they arrested 82 Bad Blue Boys’ members, and another 23 suspects of other nationalities that even included a German citizen. Quite indicative of the intentions of the Dinamo Zagreb fans, is the fact that the main suspect for the murder, made his way back to the borders immediately. This time he tried to cross the line with Albania at Kakavia. He was identified, detained and then placed in custody.
It gets a lot worse!
A lawyer named Davorin Karačić immediately took over the defense of the suspects, clearly showing how detailed was the planning. One of the first things he did was to publish a post revealing how he will handle the charges. He called the AEK fans the worst scum in existence that got what they wanted after attacking his brothers of BBB. In all, he plans to blame the other side for the murder. Keeping up with the insults, the former BBB leader Denis Šeler called the AEK fans «Turkish refugees» that are good as meat for goulash!
Next week on Aug 16 the relevant match in Zagreb will be held. There have been no announcements on any punishment for Dinamo, for what their fans did. The postponed match will be held on Aug 19. Everyone is worried on how the Croatian authorities will handle this one. It might be best, if no spectators were allowed to enter the venue. From either side.
How did it get so visceral?
No one can answer this question. 200 people went on a very long journey, under a complete plan of action, to get into trouble with the fans of an opposing team. For a «sporting» event. It’s not an explanation that anyone is buying. A number of people attribute the hatred to the fact that the Greeks are considered as brothers to the Serbians, blood enemies of the Croats. Others prefer to attach the motives to religious rivalry between Catholics and Orthodox.
It doesn’t matter what the motive was. What matters is that a person died. What matters is that more rioting is expected for incomprehensible reasons! What matters is that the prevalent public opinion says that the entire event should be cancelled and both teams thrown out of the competition! What matters is that the authorities that were supposed to serve and protect, did not do their job.
However, it also matters a lot that the rest of us do not yield to the fear that such actions intend to provoke. Life is going on. Other sporting events are been held. Fans support their teams all over the world. And bettors should still register for an account at the best betting platform. If not, the Bad Blue Boys succeeded in what they wanted to do. And that cannot be allowed.
