First, our becoming-standard and too-often-used disclaimer for negative stories about fans at Euro 2016: not all Croatians. But, some Croatians. Croatia were playing really well and up 2-1 against the Czech Republic Friday when a group of Croatian fans thought it would be cool to bombard the field with flares.
It was not cool.
One Uefa match official appeared to be struck by an exploding flarepic.twitter.com/VmQk2GuCHLhttps://t.co/RbJzHwwk0l
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) June 17, 2016
F***'s sake, you guys. Almost immediately after the incident the Czech Republic won a penalty and the game ended in a 2-2 draw despite Croatia looking the better side throughout.
The Croatian fan violence goes deeper than just being hooligans at Euro 2016. These are hooligans with an agenda.
ESPNFC's Gabriel Marcotti lent some clarity to the situation.
"My understanding is this leads into a bigger issue," Marcotti said.
He goes on:
"It's because there is a portion of Croatia fans who want Croatia eliminated. They want the Croatian FA further embarassed. They have major issues with Zdravko Mamic and Davor Suker, the former Arsenal striker who now sits on UEFA's executive committee. They simply don't want these people in power and this is their way of embarrassing them. It's happened before, and they say they're going to continue doing it."
The Croatian fan behavior marred a legitimately exciting game of soccer, which is kind of the point as far as those fans are concerned. However, they are going about making their point in a profoundly stupid way. Let's assume the fans have a case and the powers that be are ruining Croatian football. The players aren't ruining Croatian football. The stewart who had the flare blow up in his face isn't ruining Croatian football. The Czech Republic isn't ruining Croatian football.
Maybe they should shoot their flares at Zdravko Mamic and Davor Suker, is what I'm saying.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
