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Football east of the Danube is becoming by reputation a cradle for something unsavoury in the European diplomatic stakes. The season, still in its infancy but maturing quickly in its propensity to shock, has brought a cloud over this part of the continent with ethnic tensions across four countries spilling onto the terraces and further contaminating some already poisonous relations. Lech Poznan were hit with a ?5000 fine for racially aggravated chanting during their Europa League match with Zalgiris Vilnius in August whilst Budapest Honved were reprimanded for similar offences in Vojvodina. But whilst both episodes chimed with jingoistic thuggery ? the UEFA disciplinary panel don?t get out of bed for anything less than the most brazen lashes of a chauvinistic tongue? there is a more insidious line that threads them together. In Poland and Hungary this summer racial chanting has been directed inwardly against long-established minority populations, fomenting civil discord and destabilising diplomacy along fragile international fault lines. Football grounds are becoming less recognisable as shared public spaces for celebrating unity and governing bodies are finding themselves embroiled in desperate public relations heists to save face. But in one of the affected countries the relationship between football and the […]
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