Serbia v Albania

Collie D

castletownman wrote: »

I see another camera angle has emerged where it shows one fan entering the field of play wielding an umbrella. I thought that was only an legitimate form of attack in a over-heated junior B football match

This post deserved a lot more thanks

Jelle1880

Augmerson wrote: »

Remove kebab.

Albania is of worst kebab.

Augmerson

LuckyLloyd

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

UEFA would have asked both FAs pre the draw whether there was a problem with such a fixture, so both must have given the go-ahead for it.
Over the years UEFA have had no problem doing these splits, Russia & Georgia and Turkey & Greece are others that I remember from certain times as being segregated in draws.

Its a bit unfair to aftertime it as other potentially combustible games in the region have gone ahead with minimal problems, like Bosnia v Serbia or Croatia v Serbia, Greece v Macedonia etc.

So UEFA have to wait for the FAs to ask not to play each other? Do they not have an obligation to pre-empt such issues and proactively split teams up?

ArmaniJeanss

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

So UEFA have to wait for the FAs to ask not to play each other? Do they not have an obligation to pre-empt such issues and proactively split teams up?

Obviously I don't know their exact procedures - I'd guess they have a list of possible conflict games and they do some background checks to see if a fixture is ok. Presumably the likes of the FAI get a call to find out how IRL/NI relations are etc. Russia and Georgia were split in the last two draws but could have been drawn with each other this time - I assume such a move only happens after careful consultation with both parties pre draw. Perhaps the Serbian and Albanian FAs thought such a fixture wouldn't be a problem.

Ultimately I think its aftertiming to say it was 'obvious' that the game would be trouble. There have been plenty of fixtures (examples of which I gave) which would have been flagged by many as potential trouble but which passed peacefully. Its on of the great things of sport when two rival countries can contest their differences on the football pitch rather than the battlefield - like who doesn't love a Poland v Germany or Ecuador v Peru game?

In general I think UEFA should always be looking to minimize the amount of such segregration anyway.

Brussels Sprout

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

There have been plenty of fixtures (examples of which I gave) which would have been flagged by many as potential trouble but which passed peacefully. Its on of the great things of sport when two rival countries can contest their differences on the football pitch rather than the battlefield - like who doesn't love a Poland v Germany or Ecuador v Peru game?

It's incredible to think that we were in a group with both Serbia (or Yugoslavia as they were then known which included Montenegro) and Croatia in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. So they were playing each other in 1999 just 4 years after a bloody war between the two countries.

laoch na mona

uefa should actually enforce its no racism policy and punish Serbia, there is no legitimate argument against Albanian flags when Albania were one off the teams playing

josip

laoch na mona wrote: »

uefa should actually enforce its no racism policy and punish Serbia, there is no legitimate argument against Albanian flags when Albania were one off the teams playing

It wasn't the Albanian flag, it was a flag showing an ethnically based Greater Albania, including not only Kosovo, but also parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Macedonia.

laoch na mona

josip wrote: »

It wasn't the Albanian flag, it was a flag showing an ethnically based Greater Albania, including not only Kosovo, but also parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Macedonia.

English fans use (and are entitled to) an imperial flag so why not the Albanians?

There is also the issues of racist attacks on Albania players by Serbian fans which happened before the flag was flown.

ignoring the issues before the flag, a flag is not a reason to start a riot and attack players

josip

laoch na mona wrote: »

English fans use (and are entitled to) an imperial flag so why not the Albanians?

There is also the issues of racist attacks on Albania players by Serbian fans which happened before the flag was flown.

ignoring the issues before the flag, a flag is not a reason to start a riot and attack players

If you've ever been to football matches in Serbia you'd know that Serbian football fans do not need what we would call a "reason" to attack players.
They have even been known to attack their own players.

That being said, I thought the Partizan fans were very good natured 3 years ago when Rovers beat them.
I'm more apprehensive about going to Emirates next month as an undercover Man U supporter than I was that night about supporting Rovers.

Action needs to be taken against both sides and I'm sure Uefa will come up with something proportionate.
But anybody who thinks that a Serbia v Albania fixture can be played in the same spirit as Ireland v England for example, doesn't fully appreciate the realities of the region.

losthorizon

Met a few Red Star fans in Belgrade who took me to the match against Cork City a few years ago. It was an experience. Riot police were out from midday. They were gentlemen though.

Also met a few Red star fans in Novi Sad in the North.

Its an unusual country Serbia. Very forward looking and backward looking.

Interesting and perplexing. Just there for a few days yet unusual things happened to us.

josip

losthorizon wrote: »

Met a few Red Star fans in Belgrade who took me to the match against Cork City a few years ago. It was an experience. Riot police were out from midday. They were gentlemen though.

Also met a few Red star fans in Novi Sad in the North.

Its an unusual country Serbia. Very forward looking and backward looking.

Interesting and perplexing. Just there for a few days yet unusual things happened to us.

I was at the Turner's cross leg of the tie.
Brought a car load of Serbs down from Dublin.
Red Star didn't organise a plane for their support so it was only the Serbs in Ireland who went to the match.
The poor Gardai were very on edge expecting notorious Red Star fascist hooligans.
We went through 2 full pat-down searches to get into our corner of the pitch.
Red Star supporters still managed to get at least one flare into the section.
I know of at least one diehard Partizan supporter who went down as well to support, at least morally, Red Star. I suspect there were others as well.
Not a great game if I remember. Murray did hit the bar with a header before was it an OG? that got the win for Red Star?

losthorizon

josip wrote: »

I was at the Turner's cross leg of the tie.
Brought a car load of Serbs down from Dublin.
Red Star didn't organise a plane for their support so it was only the Serbs in Ireland who went to the match.
The poor Gardai were very on edge expecting notorious Red Star fascist hooligans.
We went through 2 full pat-down searches to get into our corner of the pitch.
Red Star supporters still managed to get at least one flare into the section.
I know of at least one diehard Partizan supporter who went down as well to support, at least morally, Red Star. I suspect there were others as well.
Not a great game if I remember. Murray did hit the bar with a header before was it an OG? that got the win for Red Star?

Arrived into Belgrade well after midnight after an eventful journey. We got totally lost looking for our Hotel. Finally I saw someone with tattoos all over his body, really long hair, huge muscles and a a skull symbol on his head.

My wife said you could ask him as there was no one else around. I said "I'm not asking him" .

She pushed me towards him. I gulped and asked him about directions to our hotel. He said to me Are you from Ireland, are you a Cork City fan? I said I was. Thats good he said I am a Partizan fan I hope Cork City win. I will walk you to your hotel.

He did walk us to our hotel (which said no shooting of guns in the room).

Amazingly the train ride back to Hungary was more eventful.

Harry Palmr

UEFA punishment decided according to Guardian.

Serbia awarded the win 3-0 but deducted the points, will have to play behind closed doors for two games. Both sides deducted €100,000

The_Kew_Tour

What a pathetic punishment.

MR NINE

Apparently albania were deemed to have forfeited the match. On what grounds?

Dozen Wicked Words

MR NINE wrote: »

Apparently albania were deemed to have forfeited the match. On what grounds?

They refused to restart the game after the Ref tried to bring them back on the pitch.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

It's not like they had much of a choice.

TaosHum

I don't mind the punishment. Only thing I'd change is Serbia should have to play closed doors for the rest of the campaign (including playoffs if they make it).

keeponhurling

it seems to be the same punishment for both.

Serbia were the home team, so they got off lightly

josip

The feeling over here is mainly one of Serbia being victimised once again and that Uefa has some sort of agenda against Serbia.

It's an easy perspective to understand when you see the media coverage of the event on the TV here. For example, when reporting the Uefa punishment, the state broadcaster RTS, shows Mitrovic calmly pulling down the flag and the rope attached to the drone. And then the Albanian players sprinting over to take the flag from him. I hadn't seen this footage of the incident on earlier reports in the UK/Ireland. It does look quite aggressive from the Albanians.

And the crowd footage that is shown then is of normal people, looking shocked and aghast. But what they fail to mention/show is that the crowd are shocked at the rioting, none of which was shown when reporting on the Uefa punishment.

So with that kind of biased media coverage, it's understandable why Serbian supporters mistakenly feel hard done by.