Whilst at the Sydney Hrvatska v Perth Glory game .............
At the conclusion of the Hrvatska v Perth Glory match we saw another rather ugly situation that could well have gone horribly wrong. With Kylie and Mrs Tomislav we made our way out of the Parramatta Stadium through the northern exit gates to the outside world. As we did the 30 or so Glory fans which had been singing they're way through the 90 minutes on the terrace made they're way out in fine voice. This group included an extra contingent of 10 or 12 Nigerians there to support Samson Siasia who until then seemed to be having a wonderful time.
As they made they're way through the gates, a group of 30 or so United supporters were waiting for them on the grass strip ouside. They started chanting CRO-AT-ZIA and generally taunting the Glory fans till one one of them went straight for one of the Nigerians and called him a "black so and so". Then it was on. Pushing and shoving, chanting, general mayhem as the rest of the crowd tried to get away and avoid the scene. A tense Mexican standoff ensued with both sides a couple of metres apart waiting for the other to make the first move - screaming, taunting.
Luckily the police were there in a flash with some of the Parramatta security guards and a confrontation was averted. It took quite a while for the scene to tone down as the police tried to keep both groups away from each other and get them moving. The guy who started the mess was nowhere to be seen but it was the same guy who wears a black baseball cap and Croatia strip that is amongst every crowd disturbance at Hrvatska games. One old guy ran up to me and Mrs Tomislav at the end of the altercation and said how utterly disgusted he was with soccer in this country. This was his first game for 5 years and definately his last. He went because he thought Hill had cleaned up the game but now he has no faith and won;t be back.
Enuff said.
Wolfman wrote;
]Cheers All, ]They started ]chanting CRO-AT-ZIA and generally taunting the Glory fans till one one ]of them went straight for one of the Nigerians and called him a "black ]so and so".
From where I was situated the words were "Black, coon, niggerŠ"
Sorry if this offends anyone but I find Sydney Croatia fans far more offensive than reporting the dialogue.
It's probably far down the list of Croatian insults. I'm sure "Serb" is far worse. But that was resrved for Perth-born "Robert [as the ground announcer said] Despotovski".
I asked one old guy standing next to me watching proceedings why the crowd were chanting "Croa-tze-Ah" and he replied: "Because we are a Croatian clubŠ it is OK to support your country but not to fightŠ"
A Parramatta Stadium employee butted in with: "They do this all the time. They call it the Australian National League but it's not. It's full of this European shitŠ"
I then asked the old guy: "But I thought it was a Sydney club?"
He was adamant.
"No. Croatian."
Lucky the Nigerian guys had a couple of brains and added up their odds. Otherwise it could have been real ugly.
The funniest sight was a certain TV host scutttling around the melee before scooting off. But I'm sure it won't make his TV show on Monday night.
Because it's just about football. Isn't it?
Absolutely fucken pathetic.