Croatian FA to Hold Emergency Meeting to Decide Hajduk Split’s Fate

The Croatian FA will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday after the famous Dinamo Zagreb – Hajduk Split derby was abandoned for the first time in history without a ball being kicked…

Hajduk Split refused to take the field on Saturday after their fans (Torcida) boycotted the stadium when one of their members was refused entry at the gate. Dinamo Zagreb say that they received a ‘blacklist’ of 92 people banned from attending football matches from police before the match. When one of those on the list was refused a ticket at the gate, the rest of the travelling Split fans refused to enter the stadium, leading the players to join in the boycott.

Hajduk Split say that some of the names on the list were those who had not been banned by a court of law making it illegitimate. The boycott, which follows on from the fan trouble in Milan last week at the EURO 2016 qualifier, goes much deeper than football and is the result of ongoing dissatisfaction with the how the Croatian FA is run, and in particular because of the influence of one man – Dinamo and CCF administrator Zdravko Mamić.

Hajduk Split have already lost Saturday’s derby, which by league rules was awarded to Dinamo Zagreb 3-0, but further sanctions will definitely follow after tomorrow’s meeting.

“After the incident at the San Siro (Italy), it is clear that the institutes are starting to do their job and it is now time that the government joined in the problem with hooligans. It was the first time that the Split-Dalmatia police sent a list of names who are banned from stadiums, which included names that had not been banned by a court of law. Because of these 15,40,90 banned fans, the fans would not allow the rest of the fans in, or let the team play,” said Croatian FA Executive President Damir Vrbanović.

Hajduk Split players arrived back in Split on Saturday evening to around 8,000 waiting fans at their Poljud stadium.