How a football match sparked the Croatian War of Independence

In 1990 all planets aligned to make the Dinamo Zagreb - Red Star Belgrade derby the most important match in the history of Yugoslavia 

The 1980's were a harsh decade for the Eastern Bloc: Baltic republics were pushing for independence, the Caucasus descended into violence, the USSR started to fall apart, the Berlin Wall finally fell, the Romanian revolution happened and Yugoslavia, despite not being aligned with the Soviet Union, saw increasing ethnic tensions and rising movements that pushed for a more federal approach or independence of its members altogether.

In this tense environment the League of Communists of Croatia, in an emergency meeting, decided that the next elections would be free and multi-party: the first of their kind since 1938 in the country. A two-round system of voting was defined: a candidate needed to receive 50% of the votes from at least 33.3% of the constituency to win election, and if no candidate reached the required amount of votes, a second round of voting would take place two weeks later, with all candidates who received at least 7% of votes allowed to take part.

As expected, the campaign leading to the election was a controversial affair. Mainstream Croatian media painted the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Franjo Tuđman as right-wing nationalists, often as extremists, while the League of Communists - Party of Democratic Reform (SKH-SDP) was portrayed as moderate, as it avoided talking about Croatian national interests in fear of losing Croatian-Serb voters. Rallies were a big part of the build-up towards the voting: in Petrova Gora tens of thousands of Serbs attended and listened to speeches about the threat posed by the HDZ, and SKH-SDP condemned the rally, fearing it would lead to increased Croatian nationalism. In Benkovac, a couple weeks later, thousands HDZ supporters and hundreds of Serbs attended: the former to listen to Tuđman's speech, the latter to boo speakers. The rally went downhill when a Serbian man approached the podium with a gas pistol, but he was stopped before he could do any harm. A massive brawl started between the two sets of people, and police intervention was needed.

The first round on April 22nd-23rd 1990 saw Tuđman's HDZ win 43.9% of the votes, and SKH-SDP win 25.3%. The Coalition of People's Accord (KNS) was the only other party that managed to get to the second round of voting, with 9.4% of the votes. The second round was held on May 6th-7th, but the results were almost the same. With Croats being the majority, HDZ won the elections.

Franjo Tuđman, HDZ leader and first president of Croatia. From inavukic.com

At this time of turmoil, Yugoslavia held the 44th season of the First Federal League, in which the best clubs from the federation competed for the title and a spot in the European Cup. While the first weekend of May saw a victory for the Croatians in the polls, the pitch had a different outcome: Dinamo Zagreb lost in Ljubljana against Olimpija 3-0, and Red Star's win away at Velež Mostar meant that the Belgrade side had a 7 point lead going into the last two matchdays, enough to secure their 17th league title. With the championship already decided, the Serbian club traveled to Zagreb to play Dinamo at their Stadion Maksimir for a match that was only worth bragging rights, but that also carried a great importance given the political situation in Croatia, with the growing nationalism and will to be independent from the rest of Yugoslavia.

Around 20,000 spectators attended the match, with around 3,000 of them being Delije, Red Star's supporters. Fights between the two sets of fans began early, long before kick-off, and then carried on inside the stadium. Dinamo fans, nicknamed Bad Blue Boys, reportedly began throwing stones towards the away section of the stadium where the Delije were located, who then started tearing up advertising boards in an attempt to make contact with the home crowd while chanting Serbian nationalist slogans. The Croatian fans stormed the pitch, with the police trying to push them back using batons and tear gas, but as the situation worsened more and more fans got onto the pitch and the crowd could not be held back anymore. It took more than an hour to bring the riot under control, using armored vans and water cannons, but at that point the stadium had already - and literally - been set on fire.

[Due to the violence shown in the footage, viewer discretion is advised]

 

When the riot began, Red Star players left the pitch to find safety in the locker rooms, not knowing what could happen to them if they got in the middle of the fight, while several Dinamo players remained on the pitch. As the police was trying to disperse the rioters, policemen were not exactly giving Dinamo fans white glove treatment, and Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban, at the sight of mistreatment towards his own fans, took action and kicked police officer Rekic Ahmetovic. This event sparked the Bad Blue Boys even more, who then protected their captain acting as human shield. Boban's kick would later become a symbol of Croat nationalists, marking the beginning of Croatian resistance against Serbia.

Zvonimir Boban's famous kick. From croatiansports.com

 

Boban's actions earned him a six months suspension from the Yugoslav FA, which meant he would miss the 1990 World Cup, and criminal charges were filed against the Dinamo captain. However, Ahmetovic, the police officer on the other side of the kick, publicly forgave Boban years later. The riot is believed to have sparked the Croatian War of Independence, although the narrative was pushed through documentaries and newspapers and many discredit this theory. Sure thing is that Boban's kick would become a Croatian national symbol, and that both the Delije and the Bad Blue Boys attendend the match knowing that a brawl would break out and prepared themselves for that.

This event marked the beginning of the end for the Yugoslav First League. The 1990-91 season finished in similar fashion, with Red Star already crowned champions traveling to Dinamo Zagreb in a meaningless match in terms of league standings, but this time there was no riot, just your average match fixing allegations. Red Star started well and went up 0-2, before Dinamo came back to win 3-2, but several years later Red Star midfielder Robert Prosinecki claimed that his side let the rivals win, and head coach Ljupko Petrovic added context, claiming that Red Star were forced into losing, with Croatian president Franjo Tuđman at the stadium and an atmosphere so hostile that no result other than a Dinamo win would have been acceptable. According to Petrovic, Dinamo scored their first goal on a penalty won by a very obvious dive, and when the manager protested the referee told him "between the lines" that the result had already been decided due to political reasons.

After the season ended, Croatia and Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia and formed their own football associations, effectively leaving the Yugoslav pyramid. Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star have never played against each other again, and those chaotic matches were the last of this historic rivalry.