Andy Mitten is taking the alternative route around France for Euro 2016. While most journalists will be packing press boxes, Andy will follow the fans and the buzz to bring you an alternative take on the tournament. Here is Day 8 from Saint-Etienne.
SAINt-Etienne // The heavily armoured CRS riot squad began to move in front of the heaving mass of thousands of red and white check-shirted Croatia fans, forming a solid, black, human wall.
There were 10 minutes to play when the police, wearing helmets and face visors and clutching body shields and truncheons faced the stands their backs to the pitch. They did not do the same for the Czech Republic fans at the opposite end. It seemed odd.
This writer has been attending a game each day since Euro 2016 started and had not witnessed similar.
It was if the police knew something was going to happen. And, with 86 minutes on the clock, it did. Lighted flares were thrown from near the front of the Croatia section onto the pitch. They continued for a minute or two, 15 flares in total.
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The mood changed in an instant. Croatia had been leading 2-0 and were dominant as the minutes ticked down. Luka Modric was substituted, his work done. Croatia had played well, their second goal a deft finish from Ivan Rakitic. Before that, fans around me in the Croatia section had argued in jest whether they should be singing for Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic or Real Madrid's Modric.
The Czechs got one back after 75 minutes, but Croatia were still in control. That control disappeared after the game was halted on 86 minutes.
As stewards tried to extinguish the fireworks into buckets of sand and water – with one exploding and knocking a steward off his feet – several Croatia players walked towards the bulk of their 12,000 fans and pleaded with them to stop.
Ivan Perisic spoke to police. Rakitic put his arms in the air as if to ask ‘Why?’. Vedran Corluka, wearing protective headgear after an earlier challenge, did likewise as smoke from the flares wound around the players’ feet.
Rather than stop, fans began fighting among themselves and a no man’s land of 300 light green seats became visible in the packed end.
“Rival ultras from Zagreb and Split,” a Croat next to me opined. “This is not what we want.”
The Croatian fans around me shook their heads and tried to explain what was going on.
“We knew this was going to happen. It is a protest against our football federation,” another fan in a resigned tone said. “These people want our national team to fail because then they think there will be change at the federation.”
As they spoke, Croatian fans continued to fight among themselves. It was a minority – it always is – but it hurt the majority, it hurt their team and their country. Frightened fans made for an exit, crushed as they tried to escape.
On the fringe of no man’s land, ultras in black kicked and punched each other, surging back and forward. They were not steroid-fed fighting machines like the Russians, but younger, skinnier men in their 20s who share a thirst for violence.
The rest of the ground in the football city of Saint-Etienne watched. Some fans left our section adjacent to the trouble in disgust, others cheered when play was resumed, yet the trouble affected the Croatian players. The Czechs attacked and were awarded a penalty, which they scored to equalise.
The Croatian hooligans had contributed directly to their team not winning.
It may surprise that the fans were able to get the fireworks into the stadium.
Security was tight. This writer was checked first by the police close to the tram stop nearest the ground. Then there was a ticket check with an ultra violet pen, followed by a body search and a second ticket check with a barcode reader. Every fan was subjected to these procedures, as is the case at every game. The precautions meant that crowds built up behind as kick-off approached.
The body search is more thorough than the searches at any Premier League game, said to have the best security. There were also police dogs sniffing for "explosives" and "fireworks" according to signs close to the dogs. Short of a full body scan using an airport style X-ray machine, it is very difficult to prevent fans concealing small items like fireworks within their bodies.
The Croatian trouble was predicted. There have been reports of widespread corruption within the Croatian Football Federation. A number of hard-line fans have behaved badly because they want to shame their federation and sabotage the hopes of their talented team.
Their next two World Cup qualifiers will already be played behind closed doors because of racist chanting in matches against Israel and Hungary in March. A 10-metre swastika sign, formed after a chemical was sprayed onto the pitch in Split, was noticed during a behind closed doors Euro qualifier against Italy a year ago.
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The perpetrators knew the outrage it would cause.
One target of the protest is Zdravko Mamic, the 56-year-old executive director of the Croatian national team between 2013-16. He remains an advisor, with critics accusing the man who worked his way up through the ranks to chairman level in 2003 at Dinamo Zagreb of being in cahoots with the Bad Blue Boys hooligan group.
Mamic was arrested in November over transfer irregularities and has been accused of bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion in the Croatian media. He has also advised some of the best players, allegedly taking a cut of their earnings and stands accused of using the national team as a shop window for his players.
Renowned for his hostility to journalists, there are allegations of him threatening them with violence.
But this latest demonstration means the issue has gone far beyond the internal politics of Croatian football.
“We have to say sorry to Uefa, sorry to the Czech Republic and to everyone around the world who loves football,” Rakitic said.
“Most supporters support this team and are real supporters. But 10 individuals can make all these problems. It is clear that the Croatian FA and [Croatian FA president] Davor Suker are fighting against this. I hope Uefa can understand this.”
Croatia manager Ante Cacic, who is not popular among fans, also condemned the violence, calling the perpetrators “sports terrorists”.
“They are not really Croatia supporters,” Cacic said. “These people are scary and I call them hooligans.”
Croatian football is not for the faint hearted. Regularly there is trouble in the derby between Dinamo Zagreb and Hadjuk Split. On a 1999 visit to Zagreb to see Manchester United, this writer was approached by a man on the train to the stadium.
“I can see that you are English,” a stranger said. “Please, it is not safe for you here. Let me escort you to the stadium.”
That is exactly what he did because, like the vast majority of Croatian fans, he was a decent person who loved the sport.
Sadly, a minority of his compatriots do not.
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