Partizan allowed to play second leg
By: Ian Rose | July 31st, 2007The saga of Partizan Belgrade continues. A week after ejecting Partizan from the UEFA Cup due to fan violence, UEFA has taken a look at their rebuttal and decided to allow the second leg to be played, while they continue to review the situation. Partizan won the first leg, away at NK Zrinjski of Bosnia, 6-1, and will almost certainly win the tie if they are allowed back in.
One has to think that this last-minute reprieve is really a test. If Partizan fans can stay behaved at home, they won’t necessarily go through, but UEFA might give them a shot. If there are any incidents to speak of, UEFA will have its decision made for it, and Zrinjski will go through.
Partizan Belgrade fans have a rare second chance tonight to act like adults and support their side, instead of sinking it with their own idiotic behavior. I’m not sure that I believe UEFA should change its decision - the tougher on fan violence the better, as far as I’m concerned - but right now, I and a lot of other European football fans have a terrible image of Partizan and a violence-free game on Thursday could at least begin to repair that image.
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Tags: Europe, Fan violence, First Qualifying Round, Partizan Belgrade, Tournament News, UEFA Cup, UEFA rulings, Zrinjski MostarSubscribe
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Comments
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Sorry, but Partizan fans have already failed the test. Their history of poor behavior speaks for itself. This just makes UEFA look weak and not serious about cracking down on crowd violence.
Posted from
United States
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I can’t disagree with you, Bob - I’m just hoping they can salvage something from this round and have a clean match. In the end, I still hope they are ejected, but I hope Thursday’s match goes better than I expect it to.
Posted from
United States -
I just hope they lose 6-0.
Posted from
Canada
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