Vic: Vandals attack ground before Belgrade team match

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2001
Vic: Vandals attack ground before Belgrade team match

MELBOURNE, Feb 12 AAP - The bitterness of the Balkans spilled over to Victorian soccer
during the recent visit of Serbian-backed Red Star Belgrade, it was revealed today.

Vandals cut down the goal posts at the Olympic Village stadium prior to last week's
game against a Victorian select side and burned a large U for Ustashi into the playing
surface.

The Ustashi are a Croatian-backed, right-wing terrorist organisation.

The ground, which is the home venue for former national league side Heidelberg United
- a Greek-backed club - was also daubed in anti-Serb graffiti.

The club did not want to publicise vandalism until the story emerged today.

Heidelberg secretary John Lioupas said the vandals had spray-painted the whole grandstand
the day before the match and had caused up to $10,000 damage.

"The goal posts were hacksawed in two places there was Croatian graffiti plastered
everywhere, it was Croatian-based," Mr Lioupas said.

The 6,000 fans who attended the match against a Fitzroy City combine would have known
little of the vandalism as it was cleared up before last Monday's match and the goal post
was welded back together.

For the record, Red Star beat the locals 3-1.

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KEYWORD: REDSTAR

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