The ban does not apply to matches organized by the Hungarian Football Association.Continue reading
The referee first interrupted, then finally stopped the soccer match between Romanian clubs Sepsi OSK and FCU 1948 Craiova on Sunday in the 26th minute after the visiting team’s fans chanted anti-Hungarian slogans.
Referee Andrei Chivulete first sent the teams to the dressing rooms and loudly asked the away fans to stop the anti-Hungarian chants. After a ten-minute forced break, the teams returned to the pitch, but the game continued for only a few seconds as Craiova fans continued their anti-Hungarian chants and the referee then stopped the game.
This is the first time in Romania that a match has been stopped because of racist, xenophobic chants.
At most games of the Hungarian-owned Sepsi, away fans regularly shout anti-Hungarian slogans, something the management of the Szeklerland club has repeatedly spoken out against, complaining that Romanian soccer authorities do not crack down on the phenomenon severely enough.
Inglorious traces of Romanian Ultras on a house wall in Saint George (a vulgar anti-Hungarian insult). Photo: Sántha Imre Géza Facebook
The manager of the southern Romanian team, who is from Oradea (Nagyvárad) and, by his own admission, speaks Hungarian, claims that the fans of the Szekler club insulted the guests in Hungarian. The general director of Sepsi OSK denies this, pointing out that the usual shouts of “Romania”, that is meant as a provocation to ethnic Hungarians, were not returned with “Ria-ria-Hungaria” as usual, but with applause. In addition, Attila Hadnagy complained about no being warned about the presence of ultras from the Romanian club, who appeared in the majority Hungarian-nationality Sfântu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy) repeatedly causing chauvinistic provocations. The management was first informed about the arrival of the rioters by the gendarmerie, Hadnagy said.
A close observer of Romanian-Hungarian coexistence in Transylvania, political influencer Tudor Duică, congratulated the match director for his civil courage. In his emphatically folksy manner, he wrote in a posting:
“If we had a few Hungarian houses on the street, I swear we would not chant ‘Out, out with the Hungarians from the country.’ First, out of our cowardice, and second, because that is not how neighbors treat each other, loosely along the lines of, ‘Neighbor, can you lend me a few hundred until my next paycheck?'”
The committed advocate of Transylvanian autonomy alludes to the fact that anti-Hungarian sentiments are strongest where there are no Hungarians, as in southern Romania precisely.
The fate of the three points awarded in such cases to the club that became the subject of the inadmissible remarks will be decided by the Romanian Football Federation’s disciplinary commission. The Romanian sports press expects Sepsi OSK to win the green table match.
Meanwhile, FCU 1948 Craiova’s backer Cristian Mititelu also distanced himself from the supporters’ association of the club he finances.
Via Ungarn Heute, Featured Photo: Pixabay