TWO DEAD IN NATIONALIST VIOLENCE AT FOOTBALL GAME
- First leg of Artanian Cup tie abandoned amidst ethnic and political rioting
- 2 dead and up to 300 injured
- UAFA likely to ban both clubs indefinitely from continental competition
Dynamo Red Stad fans battle with Imperial Commonwealth police during the first-leg of the Dynamo Red Stad - Royale tie of the Artanian Cup.
WHEN THE DRAW was made, it was a relishing prospect: two legs of a match between F.C. Dynamo Red Stad and F.C. Royale. The two passionately-supported clubs were once locked in the bitterest of rivalries, but centuries of bloodshed has relegated the fixture to the history books. So when the Artanian Cup last-16 draw was made, the hype surrounding the game was understandable. But less than 15 minutes had been played at the Rotstadiam in Red Stad when the referee abandoned the game, as spectators from both sides spilled onto the field to attack one another. 2 fans were killed in the day-long violence that followed.
The match had already been marred by racial chanting from both sides, referring to past conflicts between the mainlanders and the islander peoples, in particular the Narik Wars, a war with casualties on a genocidal scale that the country is even now still struggling to recover from. Imperial and Republican flags were seen among the crowd, up to 90,000 of whom packed onto the terraces on the night. However, it was when missiles were thrown following some particularly unsavoury chanting, that the ground became a battleground.
Red Stad police struggled to contain the viscous fighting, and it was only when army units from the nearby barracks were deployed was the stadium cleared. Fighting continued around the ground and in the streets of Red Stad, as up to 20,000 Royale fans who had travelled for the game, battled it out with their ancient rivals. Two Royale fans were killed when machete-wielding Dynamo supporters attacked them in a side-street. Jan Reete, 21, and Clive Gaaden, 20, had been involved in the fighting, but tried to flee when they were outnumbered. They were chased down and murdered. Their attackers have yet to be caught.
Dynamo Red Stad, last years champions of the Darnussian First Division, are traditionally the team of Darnussia's republican unionist left, in stark contrast to Narikatonite Premier League champions Royale's passionately royalist and Narikatonite fans. Dynamo fans see their team as the beacon of the working-class and the oppressed, and has long been an attraction for left-wingers. Royale meanwhile are fiercely proud of their imperialism and Narikatonite nationalism. Following the Narik Wars and when the country was split in two, the teams could no longer play each other domestically. This was the first time they had been drawn against each other in continental competition.