Grayling

In the words of the song by Cream:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21065085-2,00.html

Must be down to immigrants

G

OzTennis

On a serious note, I would mainly put it down to the parents. You can be almost certain that the majority of the Serbs and Croats involved were born in Australia of former Yugoslav or Serbian/Croatian parents but they have been well 'educated' by their parents about the 'evils' of the Balkans (i.e. someone with a different religion or language). Tito could keep the lid on this with communism but as soon as freedom broke out and the country was broken up the hate and distrust could not be contained. The Bosnian war was inevitable with enclaves of Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Albanians, Bosnian Macedonians and so on. The Bosnian Serbs could enlist the help of the powerful Serbian army (supplied by UK and US of course).

Most accounts have 'blamed' the Serbs for the trouble because of their incitement. Shouts of 'kill the Croats' would be unlikely to provoke a response of G'day mate, enjoy the tennis.

I can well remember in the past in Melbourne that each 'side' had their own soccer team and there was guaranteed to be trouble when they played each other. South Melbourne Hellas, Melbourne Hakoah, Brunswick Juventus, George Cross (Malta) etc. Ethnic names have been rightly banned by the national and State federations for this reason.

When I was in Bendigo I was in a soccer team called Golden City which seems appropriate for a former goldmining city. However G C - 'for it's a grand old team we play for' was the club song etc? (Glasgow Celtic for those who dinna ken).

OzTennis

Grayling

I agree....some things run deep in the collective psyche

G

Vash the Stampede

Yes, it is.
Serb/Croat violence in Australia is well documented.

One day, the government will have to start taking it seriously.

moneypenny20

Why do the media call these types of people "fans" they are obviously not. They are just people who know where to go to have a fight with a so called enemy.

BadgeIsBack

Sounds like the sectarianism on this site:

What would happen if during a heated volley, Arkon got up and shouted:

"Hang on! HOW much for these strawberries!!!??"

All the Poms in the crowd would be at it too.
<Wack!> "Not ALL strawberries at all playing courts today are so pricey - ouch"
<punch!>
"Yes they are - it's the 'system' - all Australian produce sold at sporting venues is INHERENTLY overpriced - its the only nation in the G23 to do so etc etc - its a national conspiracy if they had more old churches then they'd have more confidence in their pricing schedules...etc etc '

Everyone else present would be forgiven for thinking Poms were a bunch of loons.

Sue from Manchester

I was at the Rod Laver stadium yesterday and thought security was pretty slack. The ordinary punters had their bags searched but not the hundreds that went in through the gates as corporate guests. I didn't see the fighting but lots of singing and cheering inside the stadium.

OzTennis

What would happen? You know how it goes:

Someone like me would jump up and shout out 'the strawberries are even dearer at Wimbledon where you come from'.

And then Arkon would say 'that's not relevant, I don't want people to migrate to this god forsaken place where you get ripped off all the time, let me just point out the bad things, sorry the reality, here please, if I find anything decent I'll shout it too' (but we still wait).

And then someone else in the crowd would shout 'sit down you whinging Pom, go back to where you came from, we'd rather have the Serbs and Croats, at least they like it here'.

And finally someone else would shout '5-0, 5-0, 5-0'.

And Arkon would respond 'Rule Britannia, Jerusalem, we are the army, the barmy army' etc.

OzTennis