Torcida Split

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Torcida Split is a football supporters group, founded on October 28, 1950, who follow Croatian club Hajduk Split. They are named after the Torcida groups in Brazil. They have members not only in Croatia but also in other European countries.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Controversy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

They were given the name Torcida when the Brazilian torcida groups had made an impression on the Hajduk supporters during the 1950 FIFA World Cup.^{[citation needed]} During the 1989 Yugoslav Federal League season, the Torcida burned the Yugoslav flag and came into conflict with visiting fans at a match against FK Partizan.^[1]

Their main rivals are Bad Blue Boys, who support NK Dinamo Zagreb.^{[citation needed]} In February 2006, Hajduk Split were fined €2,650 and ordered to play one match behind closed doors for the racist behaviour of their fans toward black players of Dinamo Zagreb. ^[2] In August 2007, Hajduk Split were fined €18,300 by UEFA following disturbances during the clubs UEFA Cup home match against FK Budućnost Podgorica of Montenegro on 19 July.^[3] Budućnost were fined €6,000. Fans had fought each other before and after the match and sixty people were arrested when Budućnost fans were seen throwing rocks at buses carrying Hajduk supporters to the match.^[4]

[edit] Controversy

Picture on the t-shirts

In November 2007, Hajduk Split fans were embroiled in controversy when it took an appeal by a group of celebrities to persuade hooligan fans to abandon wearing black t-shirts declaring membership of "Hajduk jugend", and an eagle atop the clubs logo. The words Hajduk jugend alluded to the Hitler Youth (German: Hitler-Jugend''). ^[5]

The t-shirts were being sold on Torcida's homepage and on 5 November Croatian police stated that they would investigate the selling and wearing of the t-shirts to see if the law had been broken. The Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper reported that Hajduk fans were "walking proudly in Split wearing T-shirts reading 'Hajduk Jugend,' a direct allusion to the 'Hitler Jugend'". The Croatian Football Federation stated that they had no knowledge of the case.^[6]

The secretary of Torcida, Stipe Lekić, wearing the controversial t-shirt, said to reporters that "Torcida has always been leaning to the right", and rejected the accusations that the t-shirts have connections with Nazism. He pointed out that he was wearing the t-shirts because he liked the symbols.^[7] The fans also threatened to "chop off the legs" of Tvrtko Jakovina, a Croatian philosophy professor who had criticized the hooligans' flirtation with Nazi ideas.^[5]