Violence produces crowd bans in Bosnia, Serbia

By Zoran Milosavljevic

updated 10:57 a.m. ET April 6, 2012

BELGRADE - Bosnian club Borac Banjaluka and Serbia's Radnicki Kragujevac have both been banned from staging home matches while Partizan Belgrade and Vojvodina Novi Sad are awaiting their punishments following a week of violence in the former Yugoslavia.

The Bosnian Football Federation has ordered Borac to play six home games behind closed doors after crowd trouble forced their cup match with visiting Zeljeznicar Sarajevo to be abandoned on Wednesday. The match has also been awarded to Zeljeznicar.

Borac fans hit a linesman with a missile in the second half when the visitors were leading 1-0 and the referee stopped the match, making it the second successive fixture between these two teams to be abandoned.

Last September's league match at the same venue was halted after Borac fans invaded the pitch and hurled rocks and flares at Zeljeznicar supporters.

Radnicki Kragujevac of Serbia will play one home match behind closed doors after their fans shouted abusive nationalist slogans against Red Star Belgrade's Croatian manager Robert Prosinecki on Wednesday.

The home fans also produced an offensive banner against former Croatia midfielder Prosinecki, who won the 1991 European Cup with Red Star. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.

Partizan are still to receive a verdict after their fans shouted ethnically motivated insults against visiting fans during a 4-1 win over Vojvodina Novi Sad, whose supporters in turn attempted a pitch invasion.

Having announced the punitive measures, the Serbian Football Association issued a statement saying it was committed to pursuing a policy of zero tolerance for any kind of nationalism, racism and chauvinism.

Serbian champions and cup holders Partizan are at home to Red Star in a potentially explosive second leg of their cup semi-final on Wednesday, having lost the reverse fixture 2-0 last month.

The Belgrade derby has a history of serious crowd trouble although the last few matches between Serbia's bitter rivals were incident-free.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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