By Alan Duffy
On this day (13th May) in 1990, a football game between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb proved to be a seminal moment in the horrific break-up of Yugoslavia.
This clash of two fierce rivals came not long after Croatia, courtesy of their first proper elections in nearly 50 years, had voted for independence from Yugoslavia, a country on the verge of collapse.
With ethnic tensions running high, this game was always a potential flash-point, with the Croat Zagreb side facing their Serbian rivals.
Led by infamous Serb warlord ‘Arkan’, 3000 Red Star fans had made the trip to Zagreb and not surprisingly, there was major trouble before the game. Then, during the game, trouble in the terraces spilled out onto the pitch.
The total anarchy on the pitch culminated in Zagreb player Zvonimir Boban’s kicking out at a policeman who had attacked a Zagreb fan, an act which made the future AC Milan star a Croat national hero and played a large part in solidifying the Croatian nationalism.
After the incident, he said: “Here I was, a public face prepared to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, all because of one ideal, one cause; the Croatian cause.”
The Yugoslav league would continue, in reduced form, for just another year as the country tragically descending into civil war.
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