Slovak Football ⚽ and Me?

Although when I lived in Brno I made several trips to Slovakia I made only one for football games.

Slovan Bratislava were the biggest, and probably still are, football club in Slovakia.

I had the misfortune to be invited by several of my students, from the school I was teaching at, to go with them.

The game was March 1993. I have even found it on the Internet.

Our club was then called BOBY Brno. We picked up coaches, actually Karosa city buses, for the trip down south east and across the border from the Czech Republic. 

The former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic had split into two separate countries only two and a half months earlier on December 31st 1992. I missed it as I went home to England for Christmas!!!😁😁😁

The BOBY owner put on the buses, free if they had won the week before, otherwise we paid.

The pickup was always outside the Janáček National Theatre in the city centre. 

The often ignored rules were no smoking and no alcohol on the bus. Neither rule lasted much longer than the bus turning the first corner after setting off.

Although it was only around 70 miles the Karosa buses were very slow. Most of the way is actually motorway/dalnice.

We arrived around an hour before kickoff. Took our places in the stands. Plenty of beer for sale and some food. 

During the game hooligans from both sides exchanged insults. These seemed to range from political to simply that the opponents were of lower intelligence... Velké Morava and such.

Once Slovan scored all hell let loose. Brno hooligans taunting the "black sheriff" security guards and their dogs. The police kept their distance. They knew better than get involved.

At the end of the game those of us that went for the football and were bystanders got caught up in the mayhem. 

All hell broke loose.

The hooligans from both sides got stuck in at each other.  The "black sheriffs" at times were being attacked by both sides!! Still the police stood by, doing nothing.

The Slovaks had the better tactics as a group of them smashed windows in our Karosa buses. 

The weather in March in the region can be a little chilly after dark. This evening was no exception.

Once we had got back to the buses the police stepped in to clear the path for us to exit the area and head back up the dalnice. I can't remember how many buses we had,  but all of them had some of the side windows smashed in.

All in all an EXPERIENCE!! But not one a casual tourist would want.