Torcida
Torcida Split is numerically the largest and oldest fan club of the traditional Croatian soccer club HNK Hajduk Split . The Torcida was founded on October 28, 1950 and is considered the oldest fan organization in Europe .
The Ultra group , with its currently around 8,000 members, has a strong influence on the decisions of the club's management. The vocal supporters are best known for their fan choreographies, in which Bengali torches are regularly used. In the streets of the greater Split area, but also in numerous other Croatian towns, the Torcida is represented with several large-scale graffiti.
history
founding
After the end of the Second World War, sport, especially football, had a high priority in the former Yugoslavia . Building on old city clubs, new clubs were founded ( Dinamo Zagreb , Partizan Belgrade , Red Star Belgrade ) which quickly became successful and fought exciting championship duels with old clubs such as Hajduk Split , which were often only decided on the last match day.
This situation also existed at the penultimate game in October 1950 before the game between Hajduk Split and Red Star Belgrade, the decisive game for the Yugoslav championship, which was played in Split. The enthusiasm led a group of Hajduk Split fans who were studying in Zagreb at the time to decide to form an organized fan base. At that time, the students orientated themselves on the Brazilian Torcida, which attracted attention at the 1950 World Cup with its spirited support. Torcida was founded on October 28, 1950 by a core of 113 students and other young people, mainly from Dalmatia .
In cooperation with a youth association from the University of Zagreb, the group organized several thousand students and other Hajduk Split fans from Zagreb for the big derby in Split. This mobilization, as well as minor incidents, such as nightly horn concerts in front of the hotel of the Red Star Belgrade players, led several Belgrade media outlets to condemn the behavior of the Torcida. Among other things, it was said that "the indecent behavior of the Torcida must be stopped in good time before hatred occurs between the clubs". The Hajduk Split leadership, on the other hand, welcomed the efforts of the fans.
At the game itself, 20,000 fans were present in the hopelessly overcrowded stadium and the Torcida provided loud support. Although Red Star Belgrade reached a draw and even took a 1-0 lead, Hajduk Split won the game 2-1 with a goal in the 87th minute and thus the championship.
However, Red Star Belgrade did not accept the defeat and turned to the then powerful communist politician Milovan Đilas in the Belgrade government, who then ordered an investigation into the game. The then praesidium of Hajduk Split, Ante Jurjević Baja and Jure Bilić, received a written warning from the party and the team captain Frane Matosić, who had sent the Belgrade goalkeeper Stankovic to the ground during the game, was expelled from the Communist Party. One of the founding members Vjenceslav Žuvela was sentenced to three years in prison for wearing a symbol with the letters “T” and “h” - the court interpreted the letters as “Torcida Hrvatska” (Torcida Croatia).
The political condemnation of the "Torcida" made the formal establishment of the organization impossible. In the years that followed, smaller groups often spontaneously concentrated in certain areas of the stadium. In the mid-1960s, pyrotechnics were used more often and were often thrown onto the field. Rioting was rare during this time. National / political encouragement was avoided as this was severely punished by the police and courts.
1970s
At the beginning of the 1970s, small groups of passionate Hajduk Split fans regularly gathered in the eastern part of the stadium in Split and from there decided to cheer. Initially, little emphasis was placed on iconography during the cheering, which changed due to the mainly young fans. In the 1970s, these were initially oriented towards the southern fan culture and created many club flags and banners for the groups in the block. Eventually, the influence of northern fan culture, mainly English, led to the development of battle cries - as did violent clashes. The level of organization of the fan group increased in the second half of the 1970s. Away from the games too, fans began to meet, mainly in the old town of Split to talk about past and upcoming games, recruit new members or create new choreographies.
At that time there was a big change in international football in terms of hooligan violence , which also affected the Torcida . Organized, violent clashes and attacks on other fan groups were more common, mainly on the streets and in the stations after the game. Fights in the stadium were rare, for example in the game against Red Star Belgrade in 1974. Several hundred soldiers of the Yugoslav army were involved in the mass brawl in the stadium , in which many were injured. Worse could only be prevented when an army major drew a weapon to separate the groups.
The hard core of the Torcida "Nesvrstane" ( Eng . The indomitable) insisted on a new identity and set themselves apart from the rest by wearing the letter "N" on the sleeve of their denim jacket. The words "patria nostra" (Eng. Our homeland) stood on a Croatian flag . The boys organized themselves especially in 1978 and 1979 and met in a separate room in the city center. An old Croatian flag hung on the wall. From here, all strings were pulled and away games and the associated riots at the end of the 1970s were coordinated. One of these riots took place on June 19, 1979 in Sarajevo and resulted in several injuries.
1980s
In the 1980s, the differences between the individual fan groups and the rivalries came to the fore. The hard core of the "indomitable" officially takes on the old and new name "Torcida" and wants to honor the founders of 1950 and to continue the tradition of Torcida. In the early 1980s, the city was littered with slogans such as "Merry Christmas to all Croats" and "Death to Communism". The government at the time described these slogans as chauvinist, clerical and anti-subversive slogans and the police intervened. From the mid-1980s onwards, a banner with the inscription "TORCIDA" appeared in the stadium at home games, and further banners from places in the vicinity of Split were added ("TORCIDA SEGET" etc.), which underlined the growing popularity. At the same time, the torcida graffiti in the city became more numerous and can still be seen almost everywhere in Split.
The Brazilian model has now changed more to the English fan scene, the northern European fan culture shaped the image in the former Yugoslavia and violence came to the fore at the football games. The number of violent fans increased many times over. An example of this is the game between Hajduk Split and Olympique Marseille in the Cup Winners' Cup , which took place on November 5, 1987. The second leg in Split was stopped early in the first half because Torcida had thrown a tear gas bomb on the field. Panic spread in the stands and luckily the stadium wasn't sold out. The game was rated 3-0 for Olympique Marseille. Split received a heavy fine and was banned internationally for two years. The incident in the semifinals of the 1983/84 UEFA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur is rather curious , when fans stormed onto the pitch before the game and killed Tottenham's heraldic animal, a rooster.
In October 1989, the Torcida demonstrated their rejection of the Yugoslav idea: At the last home game of the season, the national flag of Yugoslavia was burned in the stadium and there were fights with the fans of Partizan Belgrade. The game was canceled when the score was 0: 2.
Early 1990s
In the last season 1990/1991, shortly before the official proclamation of Croatia's independence, Hajduk Split won the last Yugoslav Cup final in Belgrade against the eventual European Cup winner Red Star Belgrade with a goal by Alen Bokšić 1-0. The return of the trophy, actually the property of the Yugoslav Football Association, has been refused to this day.
In 1991 and with the beginning of the Croatian War , many members of the Torcida, as well as members of other Croatian associations, went to the front voluntarily. In honor of all fallen Hajduk fans who lost their lives in the war, there is a memorial in the Poljud Stadium below the Sjever fan block (north curve) entrance "M".
From 2000
In November 2007 it was reported that numerous members of Torcida Split were wearing black T-shirts with the words "Hajduk jugend" (alluding to Hitler Youth ) in Fraktur and an eagle with the Hajduk logo (similar to a Nazi party symbol). The t-shirts were also sold on the Torcida website. When asked by reporters, Stipe Lekić, a member of Torcida Split, said that "Torcida Split has always tended to the right".
swell
- Torcida website. Retrieved February 2, 2013 (Croatian).
Web links
- Whiteboys fansite. Accessed February 2, 2013 (German, English, Croatian).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karin Guggeis: Soccer: One game - many worlds . Arnoldsche, 2006, ISBN 3-89790-242-7 .
- ^ Norbert Mappes-Niediek: Croatia: The land behind the Adriatic backdrop (= Federal Agency for Political Education . Volume 791 ). Christoph Links Verlag, Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-89331-970-1 , p. 101 .
- ^ Gabriel Kuhn: Soccer Vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics . PM Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-60486-053-5 , pp. 160 .
- ^ Slobodna Dalmacija : Torcida - najstarija navijačka skupina. Retrieved February 2, 2013 .
- ↑ Jutarnji list: Torcida blati Split nacističkim orlom. November 2, 2007, accessed February 12, 2012 (Croatian).