Mafia in football

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Since money became important thing in the world of football, many people with suspicious intentions saw their opportunity to benefit from it.

Money and power, thats all they care about.

I wanted to open this topic so that we can discuss about mafia in football not only in Croatia, but in whole world.

I'll write here from time to time about people from Croatian Football Federation, who became so powerful that even our government (which is also corrupted) doesn't want to interfere.

Here's an article in which someone tried to explain why croatian fans did all of that on San Siro during the qualification match against Italy.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/nov/17/croatia-fans-terrorism-italy-planned-cry-attention

p.s. I know my english is not perfect, grammar nazi's are welcomed.

[We Hate Scouse 10,286]

Acts of Terrorism Good old Guardian...

[cosmicway 1,323]

Actually grammar nazis are good guys who speak to us like bad guys.
If you are Croatian the real bad guys would like you to speak bad English.

Seriously the football mafia was always a part of life.
I started following football on day to day basis in 1959 and I can recall hundreds of stories.

Before that I was too small.

But some people relate to me horror mafia stories from 1957, 1955 and even from 1949.

Those days we did not even have football pools. In UK they had football betting for the four nations cup, the European champions cup semis and final and the F.A. cup final.
So what went on then was over championship / relegation and not money.

There are the following situations:

a - The non gambling related affairs
b - Punters who try to cheat the bookies
c - Bookies who try to cheat the punters

Sometimes the guilty are caught. The police gets to know something is afoot and they are trapped the moment money changes hands.
But after the event how ?

I 'm afraid only the situation is somehow being dealt with nowadays, with the bookies monitoring their clients, who are now internet clients by and large and not anonymous street shop clients.

Unhappily when the betting is through the tote system, the operators don't even care and they actually welcome this activity.
At the same time most governments care only to tax the honest punters until the pips squeak rather then clean up the house.

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Here's a great text by one popular croatian blog writer Ivan Rilov

Its about Croatian football federation and events that happened on San Siro

during qualification game Italy v Croatia, and about reaction from CFF

There`s a hilarious scene in probably the best tv series ever "Only fools
and horses" when Del Boy tells Rodney, who is just going on a date: Oi,
Rodney, just make sure you don't do anything that might cause embarrassment
to our family. Rodney turns and looks in disbelief as Del and Albert stand
there holding the dolls and says: Del, I don't think I could do anything
that would cause embarrassment to our family.


Last Sunday night, Niko Kovač and Davor Šuker sounded exactly like that. I
next few days many more Dereks and Rodneys sounded like Kovač and Šuker
trying to defend Croatian Football Federation honor. Even Tomislav
Paškvalin woke and announced plans for some meetings and conversations. I
am laughing, albeit with abundant tinge of bitterness while I am writing
this. So, 10-20 torches on the lawn of San Siro irrevocably shamed our
country and inflicted her incalculable consequences on every field, not
just the football. While my intention is not even close to justify any
unlawful behavior, particularly violence that I deeply, sincerely despise,
this how things are presented to the Croatian public is truly the straw
that broke the camel`s back . I am using this phrase just to repeat that
dully echoes Croatian media space these few days .


When a man stands aside and analyze the actors of this swamp called
Croatian football, it is very easy to get an impression of some parallel
reality. How else to explain that the pyrotechnics on the grass on stadium
cause more redness on the face of the average Croat than, say, the
president of the Croatian Football Federation caught stealing. Or hanging
out with suspicious characters and openly flirting with fascism through
photography, or when the real boss of Croatian football, measures the
height of the corn with a smile on his face. Or when the former Secretary
steals pencils and blocks at the London airport. Or when heads of Croatian
football referees were caught in the act and sentenced, and all of their
proteges who shared the "Christmas bonus" still share a "justice" on
domestic lawns.


Check this out:
*Furthermore, under Article 38 has been deleted provision that a member of
the Assembly's mandate may be terminated prior to the deadline if it is
convicted of a criminal offense.* *And in Article 41 of the repealed
provision that a member of the Executive Board of HNS (Croatian Football
Federation) can not be a person who is convicted of any of the offenses or
has passed two years after being pardoned or statute of limitations for
some of the offenses.*


This legally opened the way for criminals in Croatian football. Even for
washing toilets at a rest stop along the highway you need a certificate of
good conduct, but for HNS board – NO!


The greatest story is the boss - Zdravko Mamić - raw transition profiteer. Do you remember
that this guy, nowadays vice president of the football federation, although
in reality an absolute master, threatened colleagues like Dubravko Sušec
that he will disappear with the day, Kristijan Toplak will be crushed and
killed or Borut Šips that he will beat the hell out of him?

Using awful vocabulary, he also insulted colleagues Eibl and Blažičko,
professor Šiber and lots of others. On national basis he insulted former
Dinamo and Algeria manager Vahid Halilhodžić and former deputy minister
Željko Jovanović. He physically attacked delegates after Auxerre – Dinamo
match, journalist Toplak, secret services boss Mandekić and Miljenko
Mesić, head
of the City Planning Department, and on several occasions police officers
on duty. He was in a conflict of interest in Dinamo as former football
agent, and later through his son. His players are signing usurious
contracts. He also signed illegal contracts with players, contrary to the
regulations of FIFA. Under his protection, two teams of same club play in
the same division. He doesn`t allow anyone to see financial reports of
Dinamo or Croatian Football Federation.


This is only a brief summary of the black substance, the reality of
Croatian football last 10-15 years. There is a lot more material, only we
would need much more space. What do you say, can 10 torches on the lawn
outweigh the scales against such a shame?


It is particularly interesting to look at the reaction of football
institutions and the state. Specifically, one would expect that the
perpetrators of these acts, the above-mentioned are fined by law or by
their own Federation. And?


Two situations may best reflect the woe of responsible governing body, the
one should expect a response in order to achieve justice. One of them is
Mamić`s physical confrontation in Poljud lodge with Ivo Bego in front of
five police chiefs. The second is the decision of the Agency for Protection
of Competition on the complaint of a cartel Dinamo and Lokomotiva are
creating, in which the agency says that is not considered to be a cartel
because the cartel should be a minimum of two subjects, and they consider
Dinamo and Lokomotiva as one subject, therefore they are not responsible
for that situation.


About the actions and reactions of the HNS (CFF) is not worth spending the
keyboard.


It is intriguing how Croatian Football Federation now calls upon the
government to combat hooliganism through the prism of the past joint
actions - those with vouchers. It will be interesting to see if the state
again let Mamić to pull their the noses and mock them, dragging moves on
his own, as, after all, accustomed. After all is it really possible that
HNS asks state assistance solely in the form of a police force, but when
the same state asks for financial reports, work reports or seek merely
implementing their own laws immediately hide behind a fringe of UEFA and
FIFA, seeking independence and autonomy?


When, therefore, taken into account the behavior and actions by leaders of
Croatian football, and the absence of adequate response from relevant
government and football authorities, it is expected that many start to
believe that only way out of it is violence and law breaking, especially as
they`ve seen those who they are fighting against unpunished so many times.
Therefore, what happened in Milan was not unexpected. In fact, it would be
unexpected that something like this didn`t happen.


And so, Mr. Kovač, I sincerely hope that you are right and that we Croats
are not such people. He has to prove that we are not going to allow
obscure figures from proved demimonde usurp what is ours and not theirs -
Croatian football. I was comforted to know that there are still those who
do not give up and defy. Those guys who have their club stolen by boss and
are pushed from their club with illegal lists. The only sad thing is that
all of you who are in the top echelon of Croatian football led to a part of
mentioned sees no other way to fight, except that which we witnessed few
nights ago.


And that, gentlemen, can be dangerous, very dangerous.

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Tomorrow will be big protest in Croatia against HNS (CFF- Croatian Football Federation)

Last weekend Hajduk Split fans (Torcida) weren't allowed to enter the stadium in a game against Dinamo Zagreb

and because of that players of Hajduk refused to play. They were told that only 92 fans from the ''black list'' wont

be able to enter, but when fans came all the way from Split to Zagreb (400 km) they suddenly changed their decision

and more than 2500 fans were retained by the police in front of the stadium. They've decided to finally put a stop on that

and do something to remove all those idiots who are gaining money for themselves in the name of Croatian Football.

It wont be easy because that kind of mafia wont go down without a fight. But I hope that 300k Torcida members will stimulate

our government to some reaction and solve situation in Croatian football.

[cosmicway 1,323]

There is a way to tackle these things.

Unfortunately the modern European states are more interested in robbing the common people through various tax schemes.
Anything else is of inferior interest to them.

My method is simple:

1) All the persons who participate in football / other betting should do with their own name - no more street shops where anonymous bets can be placed.
2) People who are under the orders of the various sports authorities, associations, federations should not be allowed to participate in sports gambling where it concerns the sport they are connected with, or pass information under the table
(that includes players, managers, owners etc).
3) Apply strict risk management rules to betting companies.The betting company should have no interest in changing the outcome of a sports event.

4) No more soft penalties to those who are found guilty of serious violations.

As I have already indicated mafia was present even in primordial times when we had no sports gambling.

So my method does not eliminate it by 100% but goes a considerable way towards it.

[dUMB 189]

There is a way to tackle these things.

Unfortunately the modern European states are more interested in robbing the common people through various tax schemes.

Anything else is of inferior interest to them.

My method is simple:

1) All the persons who participate in football / other betting should do with their own name - no more street shops where anonymous bets can be placed.

2) People who are under the orders of the various sports authorities, associations, federations should not be allowed to participate in sports gambling where it concerns the sport they are connected with, or pass information under the table

(that includes players, managers, owners etc).

3) Apply strict risk management rules to betting companies.The betting company should have no interest in changing the outcome of a sports event.

4) No more soft penalties to those who are found guilty of serious violations.

As I have already indicated mafia was present even in primordial times when we had no sports gambling.

So my method does not eliminate it by 100% but goes a considerable way towards it.

Yes, I agree with you, but in Croatian football problem is not about betting.

Problem is that one man (Zdravko Mamić) is vice-president of HNS (Croatian Football Federation)

and he's the owner of two clubs (Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva) that are participating in the

1.HNL (1. Croatian League) which is against all laws. President of HNS is Davor Šuker who gets money

and he doesn't care about anything, he's just Mamić's puppet. Zdravko's brother Zoran Mamić is

coach in Dinamo Zagreb and he's also football manager. There is no young player in Croatia

who can play for Dinamo Zagreb or get near Croatian team or young teams (U19 or U21)

if they haven't signed a contract with them. They usually ask them 25 to 50% of money from their next transfer

or theirs receivings in their exorbitant contracts. Eduardo da Silva, Luka Modrić, Vedran Čorluka, Alen Halilović

are just some of the names who had that contracts. They put them then in the national team to boost their prices

and real talents dont get their chances. It's going on like that for almost 15 years and government is doing nothing.

[dUMB 189]

Few pictures from protest against HNS (Croatian Football Federation) in Split today.

There was about 30 000 people.

''The fish smells from the head''

choreography HNS mafia

Support from USA (Memphis)

from Belgium

from Holland

from Ireland ''When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty!''

from Germany

from Zurich

and from Pacific

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This flyers were all over Berlin yesterday. Croatian fans are trying to draw attention and show that football has become so corrupt that in some leagues there's no point in playing football at all anymore. Croatian league is a shithole for 10 years now because one man, Zdravko Mamić (Davor Šuker is his pupet in UEFA) who is in charge of everything, and our league became his money machine. A bigger article about him is few posts up.

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http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33120517

It seems that the action against Croatian football federation continues...

I'm not trying to approve the nazi simbol, but its obvious that Croatian fans started taking desperate measures because our National team became like a private club for selling their own players (Zdravko Mamić's brother is football manager of all players from Dinamo Zagreb, and usually they are the ones called into national team) and for earning money to specific individuals who are on top of Croatian football federation. Fans know that only thing that hurts them is to take their money and they are doing that with this actions. After every game there's a fine from UEFA, and the goal is to disqualify Croatian national team from Euro 2016, cos that would cost a lot and Croatian football federation would lost large amount of money.

I know that a lot of you are not interested in reading this, but I have to say it.

Croatian fans are not nazi nor fascist. That symbol is used only because its the quickest way to fight our corrupt Football federation and our government which doesn't have any interest in solving that problem. Its not something that I approve, but fans figured that it hurts them most when they lose money, and they are desperate enough to say: The end justifies the means.

Thank you for reading, and trying to understand the bigger picture behind all of this nazi hooliganism.

[dUMB 189]

Some very good news from Croatia

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/arrest-warrant-issued-for-dinamo-club-chiefs-in-croatiaž

http://www.marca.com/en/2015/07/03/en/football/real_madrid/1435940453.html

I really hope this is the end of mafia tyranny in Croatian football