ruled until 2003 and again from 2011 to 2016.
Even in opposition, however, the nationalist HDZ had a strong influence through its clientelist network. It has around 200,000 members – roughly twice as many as the UK Conservative Party despite Croatia’s much smaller population – and uses its influence to promote a mixture of ‘patriotic’ and right-wing nationalist policies, as well as in allocating jobs and business. The period since the HDZ’s return to power in 2016 has been characterised as a ‘slow conservative revolution’ and protracted political crisis in which certain groups, including war veterans and football fans, have been particularly vociferous and influential. Organised fandom The organised fan scene in Croatia consists of multiple groups, drawing on primarily urban subcultures in the vein of the Italian ‘ultra’ and British hooligan traditions. There is a significant crossover with the local punk and skinhead scenes, all of which are predominantly male. These range across the political spectrum, from anti-racist skinheads on the left, through the ‘apolitical’ and ambiguous ‘grey zone’ to overt far right and even Nazi groups. In Zagreb, the more right-wing scenes dominate. In other cities, such as Pula, the left is on the front foot, particularly in the punk and hardcore scene, which has close links to the youth anti‑fascist movement.
Because of their reach and influence, political parties and state authorities have a strong interest in these movements, yet also seek to distance themselves because of their unpredictable nature. Fan interventions can be viewed as a kind of creative political activity, drawing on DIY culture traditions crossing over from anarchist and punk networks, and ranging from homemade banners and flags to fanzines, songs, chants and terrace choreography. Fans in the large mainstream groups often shift between spontaneity and hierarchical organisation in their struggles with the state authorities, police, the Croatian Football Federation, and sometimes with their respective clubs and city authorities.
This terrain of struggle forms the common ground shaping everyday social interaction in organised fan groups more so than the symbolic concerns mentioned above, and several of these struggles – against police repression and the Croatian Football Federation, in particular – cut across political left-right distinctions. The main Zagreb-based group, GNK Dinamo’s Bad Blue Boys, is committed to a Croatian nationalist platform, while smaller groups such as the leftist, anti-fascist followers of NK Zagreb, the White Angels – in which I participated for several years – work alongside refugees and LGBTQ fans to promote their ideas on the terraces, counteracting the racism, homophobia and right-wing nationalism present in the fan scene and society more widely.
In addition to terrace choreographies and raising banners with political and football-related messages, the White Angels have also organised punk concerts, social events, football training sessions and friendly tournaments with refugees, and have now set up a community club called NK Zagreb 041. They maintain close links with the German left-wing fan scene, regularly hosting visiting fans from clubs such as SV Babelsberg 03 and St Pauli.
Except for explicitly left‑wing groups such as the White Angels, there is no requirement that everyone should share the same views on particular issues. Membership of the mainstream fan associations cuts across standard political lines and anything resembling a ‘party line’ is practically impossible to enforce. Structural sexism and homophobia is frequently present, however, bound up in the identification with male ultras and the impact of the recent wars and patriarchal shift that accompanied them. A degree of sexism and transphobia was even present among some members of the White Angels. Crony capitalists Some fans followed Croatia’s World Cup success sceptically, wary of the possible legitimacy it could bring to the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), which is viewed by many fans as corrupt and promoting a ‘crony capitalist’ version of modern football. The HNS is widely regarded as dominated by ‘war profiteers’, who became rich through black market activities or suspect dealings during the 1990s, and who now have close links to certain members of the political elite, primarily among the nationalist HDZ. They are viewed as corrupt, clientelist and engaged in non-transparent business practices, protected by laws that are applied selectively to discredit or punish political opponents. Football fans have direct experience of this sort of thing in the form of blacklists, unwarranted arrests and attacks on their human rights.
Luka Modrić, Croatia’s captain and winner of the World Cup ‘golden ball’ award as the tournament’s best player, was in court shortly before the competition, accused of false testimony in the defence of the former GNK Dinamo Zagreb president Zdravko Mamić. Modrić faces possible jail time over his role in Mamić’s alleged siphoning of funds resulting from the sale and transfer of top players to leading European clubs, while Mamić fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the day of his sentencing.
The actions of the Croatian Football Federation have alienated large portions of the fan base, contributing to a significant decline
74 RED PEPPER Autumn 2018