State Help Sought in Curbing Serbian Sports Violence

Dragan Djilas, President of the Serbian Basketball Federation, KSS, has pledged to curb violence at basketball games and has called on the state to help out.

"I talked with [Deputy Prime Minister] Aleksandar Vucic and I expect the state to help," Djilas said on Monday.

He spoke after clashes between rival fans marred the national basketball cup final in the central town of Kragujevac on Sunday.  

The Radivoj Korac Cup final between Belgrade rivals Red Star and Partizan was tied at 43-43 in the third quarter when vfans invaded the court and hurled smoke bombs, forcing play to halt.

According to Djilas, the season started with tension between the heads of both clubs, Partizan's Dusko Vujosevic and Red Star's Nebojsa Covic, and the tension spread to fans.

"Back then I formally appealed to both sides to stop this, as it would lead to an increase in hate and fatal consequences," Djilas said.

Both clubs, Red Star and Partizan, condemned the latest incident. Red Star blamed the Baskeball Federation as the organiser for not preventing it, while Partizan described the clashes as "sad".

Kragujevac police said on Monday that charges would be filed against all those who took part in the clashes.

Although Serbia has introduced prison terms for those involved in sports violence, and heavy fines for the clubs, violence at sports events is still frequent.

In October, violent scenes in the Serbia-England Euro 2013 qualifying match made world headines.

Fans ran on to the pitch and scuffles broke out after England beat Serbia 1-0 in the Serbian town of Krusevac.

England U21 captain Jordan Henderson said his players were racially abused and attacked by missile-throwing Serbian fans after the game.