International Football thread

[yuppie]

I think the Serbian FA will have to face some punishment. I mean a person in the stadium did manage to run onto the field and hit a player with a plastic stool. Was there provocation, yes, but that response can not be accepted.

I dont think there should be a points ban, maybe a suspended sentence, put Serbia on notice maybe? or one of UEFA's incredible fines, you know the £50,000 type.

I agree with the above proposal that these games should now be moved to a neutral venue. But who would want to host such a game, specially as there will be a high chance of another incident.

[sussexpob]

I think the Serbian FA will have to face some punishment. I mean a person in the stadium did manage to run onto the field and hit a player with a plastic stool. Was there provocation, yes, but that response can not be accepted.

I dont think there should be a points ban, maybe a suspended sentence, put Serbia on notice maybe? or one of UEFA's incredible fines, you know the £50,000 type.

I agree with the above proposal that these games should now be moved to a neutral venue. But who would want to host such a game, specially as there will be a high chance of another incident.

By the sounds of it though, both boards tried to stop the sale of tickets by background checking who they were being sold to, and when the governments couldn't agree on what information could be obtained cross-border, they happily let UEFA ban away fans. The police presence at the ground was suppose to be on red alert levels, and heavy in number.

Can the FA stop someone with a drone? Are they responsible for a failure of the police to contain the crowd? Are they responsible for the actual crowd?

Not sure punishing the FA or the team is right when its a minority of idiots, especially when they seemingly foreseen problems and took steps to eradicate them.

[yuppie]

Its always a minority of idiots.

I dont think they should be punished for the drone, nothing they can do about that. But the pitch invasion, and players getting hit. Something needs to be done there. Also some flares thrown onto the pitch before that incident. A few things for UEFA to look at.

As for the game, not sure what happens now?

[SaintPowelly]

My question is why these sides were drawn together ?? Gibraltar were kept apart from someone ( may of been England ) due to political conflict, so why weren't they ?

[sussexpob]

My question is why these sides were drawn together ?? Gibraltar were kept apart from someone ( may of been England ) due to political conflict, so why weren't they ?

It would be Spain if anything, they closed the boards of Gibraltar over some territory dispute last year.

Would have made sense in all fairness.

[yuppie]

Not the best picture for Serbian FA

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 94930.html

[sussexpob]

Not the best picture for Serbian FA

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 94930.html

The picture of Lorik Cana pounding the same bloke on the floor will not be a good picture for the Albania FA either.

Serbia does have a problem with crowd trouble per se, one who watched the England U-21 brawl a while back will know that, and more than a few Hitler salutes from the crowd last night if pictures I have seen are real. I blame the police myself, they should interject

[yuppie]

Not the best picture for Serbian FA

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 94930.html

The picture of Lorik Cana pounding the same bloke on the floor will not be a good picture for the Albania FA either.

Serbia does have a problem with crowd trouble per se, one who watched the England U-21 brawl a while back will know that, and more than a few Hitler salutes from the crowd last night if pictures I have seen are real. I blame the police myself, they should interject

Its certainly not pretty. But what can be done? I would think a stance needs to be taken at some stage.

[Aidan11]

All down to the brother of the Albanian Prime Minister according to this.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/orfi- ... -v-serbia/

[SaintPowelly]

My question is why these sides were drawn together ?? Gibraltar were kept apart from someone ( may of been England ) due to political conflict, so why weren't they ?

It would be Spain if anything, they closed the boards of Gibraltar over some territory dispute last year.

Would have made sense in all fairness.

Your right, my first thought was Spain aswell

Gibraltar had been due to face Spain in the Euro 2016 football tournament qualifiers – but has been moved to a new group for political reasons.

The blind draw in Nice, France, briefly saw the British overseas territory paired up with the current European and world champions in Group C.

But European football's governing body UEFA had already announced in December that Gibraltar and Spain would be kept apart amid continuing political tensions over the territory's sovereignty.

Gibraltar was switched to Group D, where they will face Scotland and the Republic of Ireland among others.

I just hope Dusan Tadic didn't get involved last night.

[sussexpob]

Its certainly not pretty. But what can be done? I would think a stance needs to be taken at some stage.

I tried to write an article about it previously in 2011, but you need a book to adequately cover the Balkans Nationalism and football.

In short, its damn complex. Football is embedded in the political culture too strongly to disassociate either away from each other. Tito was always successful at capping nationalistic tendencies in the former components of Yugoslavia, but when he died in 1980, individual nationalism started to sweep the region. One of the main banners of nationalism has always been football clubs. Red Star Belgrade weren't a footballing side, they were an independence movement for Serbia! Velez Mostar were a movement for Bosniaks! Dynamo Zagreb for Croatians.

The feelings of nationalism obviously became strong before the war in the Balkans, and because the footballing sides were a high profile venue, politicians used footballing fan groups as puppets in promoting pro-nationalist agenda for them. In some extreme cases, when war broke out, ultra groups formed the basis of civil militias that fought in the country, so pro-Serbian nationalists at clubs like Red Star have a paramilitary background.

Far from this link being broken with peace, the Daytona Agreement enshrined a political map that still encased different ethnicities in the same country, so you still get the reverberation of nationalistic tendencies that is channelled through the football clubs. The Mostar/Sarajevo derbies are a violent clash between Bosnia's Bosniak/Croat and Serpska population, ethnicities who use their respective footballing sides as a tool for nationalistic sentiment. These Ultra groups are then encouraged from friendly political factions in their respective governments to fight non-nationalist or right wing policies of the government, and then be protected by said political factions in power.

Footballing ultras, for instance, have campaigned violently against gay-rights, religious freedoms, legislation aimed at creating ethnical representative governments..... you name it, if it doesn't suit the right wing elements of active politicians, they rally the troops and smash some skulls. There is no shortage of volunteers, simply because the economic and political scene in all these countries is a bit disasterous, and thousands of young people born into a war a generation ago are growing up with no opportunities.... in a way, they seek refuge in the violence of football, the empowerment that it gives them.

Its a massive problem for Serbia. These fans grew up in an era where they were told they ethnically dominated their other Yugoslavia brothers, that they were superior, and they fought for a Serbia that was independent for a century before this, before fighting for a Serbia that reflected this ethnical dominance. Its this cultural idea that they are superior to other Ethnicities that leads to the sad racism we see in the stands directed towards ethnic players. In order to tackle it you have to tackle the corruption in the political elite that allows it, and three points here or there doesn't even begin to solve it.

Its easy to say " a stance needs to be taken", but the stance has been taken.... its simply the expression of the "anti-stance" that we see in football.

[Aidan11]

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 win over Albania in the drone incident but have had the 3 points deducted for their part in the violent scenes.

[yuppie]

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 win over Albania in the drone incident but have had the 3 points deducted for their part in the violent scenes.

So FIfa dont want a replay then

[Aidan11]

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 win over Albania in the drone incident but have had the 3 points deducted for their part in the violent scenes.

So FIfa dont want a replay then

There's still the return leg to play.

[SaintPowelly]

What happens in the return leg ?

Presumably its moved to a neutral country, probably England and possibly behind closed doors.