Violence erupts between Serbs and Bosnians after Djokovic's win

[Fucky McFuckerson]

I will be the first to admit that I do not know much about the whole Bos/Serb fued, but spilling into tennis is something i never imagined. Apparently, this is NOT the first year with this kind of nationalistic violence.

Violence erupted at the Australian Open today when dozens fought after the big-screen viewing of the third-round match between the Serbian defending champion Novak Djokovic and Amer Delic, who plays for the United States but was born in Bosnia.

Djokovic lost a set for the first time in the tournament and had to fend off two more set points in the fourth before beating Delic 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6, but moments after the pair had embraced at the net and waved to all parts of the Rod Laver Arena, water bottles and plastic chairs were hurled between the Bosnian and Serbian fans who had been watching the match in a garden adjacent to the arena.

Two men were arrested and another 30 were ejected after they began trading punches and kicks. One Bosnian woman was knocked out after being hit on the head by a chair. The fighting flared for a second time, outside the Melbourne Park grounds.

The two were charged with riotous behaviour and discharging a missile while another was fined on the spot for riotous behaviour. "The matter was dealt with very quickly and effectively by the police and we expect no more problems," said Chris Duthie, an inspector with Victoria police. "We have a very effective police presence here. You can't stop everything happening but we will make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen."

The Australian Open has been marred by violent clashes since 150 Croatians and Serbians first began brawling at the event two years ago. Two people were also evicted on Wednesday after scuffling at a bar following the match between Croatia's Marin Cilic and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Delic and Djokovic said they were disappointed with the trouble after their good-spirited match. "I'm really sad to hear about that," Delic said of the scuffles. "There's absolutely no place for that here. This is a tennis match. Novak and I are friends. We're both competitors, obviously. In the end it was a fair match, and there was no reason for such things."

Djokovic plays the 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot who defeated Mardy Fish in straight sets last night.

In a separate incident, police said a man was charged with indecent exposure after running naked from the waist down on to Court Three during Serena and Venus Williams's 6–3, 6–3 win over Ayumi Morita and Martina Müller in a second-round doubles match.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jan/23/australian-open-violence-djokovic

I know we see this in futbol/soccor around the world all the time, but for an american living in the US his whole life, it is still very werid to me. I mean, yes, I have seen fights outside of football games with extremely drunk and retarded fans, but we are talking about fans of teams that are fighting for their country's pride. Any thoughts on this story or the ideaology of sports being a front for nationalistic violence?

 

[BigLurch]

this isnt uncommon, theres multiple stories of referees being murdered over a soccer game. im from bosnia and ive definitely heard stranger things