Hungarian football players line up, applauding their Romanian opponents, and Romanian fans cheering on the Hungarian national team? Until now, something like this seemed completely surreal, it was considered a scene suitable for science fiction, so be it, but it happens.
He has insulted Hungarians on several occasions in the stands in Romania or abroad. Unfortunately, there were many examples of this this year as well. Whether it was a Romanian league match, when Sepsi OSK was billed as "Hungarian" because of its owner, or a national team match, when the Hungarians were usually caught in the crossfire of chauvinist fans.
There is a wide range of expressions of hatred towards us, from grumbling about our "expulsion" from Romania, to our "mission" to Asia, to the selective insults of Hungary.
Surely not only those interested in the sport remember that in January of this year the referee interrupted the championship match between Sepsi OSK and FC U Craiova 1948 due to the anti-Hungarian chants of the visiting fans, and then, seeing the hatred that did not want to stop, blew the whistle in the 26th minute. The clash of the 23rd round of the Super League. There was no such thing before at a Romanian sports event - that is, not to insult the Hungarians, but to cancel a match because of it. (In the end, the appeal committee of the Romanian Football Association (FRF) replayed the match in a rather inexplicable way - which the disciplinary committee previously awarded 3-0 to Sepsiszentgyörgyi - and fined both teams... As compensation, we could record that the "rematch" was won by the Triszék won by 4).
But the Hungarians were scolded by the Romanian fans at the away (!) match of Romania against Andorra, at the match against Belarus, and even at the rugby match against Poland, which shows that for some people, the sport, the location, the opponent do not matter, the main thing is that the Hungarians could be sent to a warmer climate in public. (Mean: To Mongolia or their mother).
There is a whole range of literature - Hungarian social scientists in Romania have also extensively studied - how cheering and cheering for the favorite team coexists in the mentality of certain fan groups with insulting and wishing the opponent to hell. And actually how demonizing the opponent becomes more important than anything else. A very fresh experience: after the match of the age-group team of Cluj-Napoca U, which is famous for its anti-Hungarian, riotous if necessary, the parents, and then the children, following their example, celebrate their victory amid "Muie CFR" (Sz.psz, CFR) cheers. And yet the meeting was not even played against the hated city rival... Well, not to point the finger at others, it is equally incomprehensible how some Ferencváros fans are able to hate, for example, the Újpest team and its supporters, or vice versa.
The Hungarian Football Association launched a campaign ten years ago for this reason, Hate is not a field! with the slogan, together with the football clubs, for the suppression of hateful, racist and scandalous manifestations in the stands, and for sportsmanlike and passionate support. And after revealing so many negative examples, let's not leave the events with a positive message unsaid either, after all, they provide the purpose of this article. We also followed how the Romanian national team won the gold medal and the Hungarian national team won the bronze medal at the recent mini-football world championship held in the United Arab Emirates. In one of the semi-finals, the Romanians, who later won the tournament, beat the Hungarians 3-0, so the game had a heightened emotional charge for the fans of both nations.
Compared to that, the stands were not loud with "scheduled" insults, nor did the players of the two national teams treat each other as enemies. According to the statement given to the Székelysport portal by László Klein, the second coach of the Romanian mini-football national team, who is Hungarian and of Székelykeresztúr origin, the rivalry did not bring out the animal in the parties, but the gestures to be bottled.
The two national teams were staying in the same hotel during the tournament, and after the final in which Romania won, the hotel staff and the Hungarians stood in line to applaud the gold medalists, congratulating them on the world championship title, and then the two teams celebrated together.
And that's not all. When the Hungarian players who finished on the third step of the podium received the bronze medal, a
the Romanian audience, present in larger numbers in the stadium, started chanting "Ria, Ria Hungária".
I admit, I couldn't believe my eyes upon first reading. Hungarian football players line up, applauding their Romanian opponents, and Romanian fans cheering on the Hungarian national team?
Until now, something like this seemed completely surreal, it was considered a scene suitable for science fiction, so be it, but it happens. In addition to the great performance and the medals won, the two teams and the fans are also to be commended for this sportsmanship!
This is how you should approach sports, cheering, and your opponent.
Of course, we should not be naive, we cannot lull ourselves into the illusion that after this the anti-Hungarian chants in the stands will stop and we will no longer witness new xenophobic manifestations. However, the behavior shown at the mini-football club showed that it can be like this, and that it is only natural. That hate really isn't a career.
Featured image: László Klein from Székelykeresztúr led the Romanian national team to success as second coach • Photo: Facebook/Federația Română de Minifotbal
