It was described as being like a ‘scene from the Gaza strip’ inside the Arena Națională in Bucharest.
UEFA and FIFA do so well to keep apart the likes of Armenia and Azerbaijan or Serbia and Albania come draw time but these two nations – so closely tied by geography and history – were not kept apart during qualifying stages for Euro 2016.
The occasion was Románia–Magyarország; a rivalry that encompasses ethnic tensions, past perceptions of empire and modern national identities
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifying
Arena Națională, Bucharest
Saturday 11th October 2014
Neither Romania or Hungary are a war with each other either diplomatically or in terms of armed conflict.
While ‘conflict’ may be a daily occurrence on the Kosovo border; in the disparate Georgian states or in Nagorno-Karabakh its doubtful whether a shot has even been fired between these two European neighbors.
That is not to say there are not disagreements. The differences do manifest themselves in much more subtle ways and of course they can come to the fore on a football pitch.
Europe’s borders are continually redrawn, and the post communist order has been established based on the principle of self-determination of individual peoples. In modern day Romania you can see why the Hungarian minority in Romania might feel slightly unhappy.
Inter-connectivity is inescapable across Europe these days where once the iron curtain that Churchill referenced separated east and west.
However, historical issues have impeded the development of relations between Hungary and Romania for many years. Geographical divergences in Transylvania brought about by the end of WWI has seen the status of the Hungarian minority in the new Romanian state forever questioned.
Romania’s authority over Transylvania came about thanks to the Treaty of Trianon (1920) but further back deeper roots sit in the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Kingdom of Romania was one of the main beneficiaries of the Treaty agreement. In effect it meant that a Hungarian minority and Romanians were forced to learn to coexist under the banner of a Greater Romania.
Thanks to the communist era this cohabitation largely worked.
This was partly due to a sense of forced belonging to the Soviet sphere of influence but also the Hungarian minority being seen by the Romanian authorities as comrades under the larger communist construction.
However, a landscape of mistrust between Romanians and Hungarians grew from the 1980’s festering in different ways during the Ceaușescu era. The events of 1989 saw the concept of a right to self determination take root, a sentiment that was always going to come to the fore where long held divergent feelings of nationalism or ethnic differences existed.
Since the year 2000 argument and debate has ensued about the right of the Hungarian minority to an education in the mother tongue; the right to use the Hungarian language in administration and attaining a higher degree of cultural and political autonomy. While Hungarians comprise about 7.5% of the population (1.1 million) the Romanians amount to 79% of the population.
As the largest minority (the numbers have wavered between 1.6 million to 1 million in 2021) it has been quite difficult to be Hungarian in the Romanian national state.
Consecutive Romanian Governments have not been able to find the right forms of legislation to foster Hungarian integration into the winder Romanian community. The lack of political solutions and agreement has led to social segregation mainly in the Transylvania and Banat areas.
The most prominent of these areas is bundled up into an area known as Szekely Land where the Hungarians are the majority.
Today, on the occasion of a Romania vs Hungary football match, these historical and modern day discomforts spill into the theater of international football.
On the Saturday the bulk of Hungary’s fans arrived on football specials from Budapest. In the city the atmosphere was tense and a sense of edginess pervaded as to what was to come.
It was said the 1000’s of ultras from Ferencvaros and Ujpest were banding together to march on Bucharest. As it turned out this was true – and they were extremely well organised.
When they did arrive they made a statement on arrival – charging through the historical heart of the Romanian capital in a military like organised fashion singing and chanting.
Only the non-appearance of Romanian ultras groups in the city kept things generally peaceful.
The majority of the clashes happened with the police, thanks to the pyrotechnics being thrown by the Hungarians at innocent Romanians the local police and security militia were ready for anything.
Tensions inside the national stadium were high and it boiled over on numerous occasions – there was a lot of violence between the private security staff inside the stadium and home fans.
The anthems were booed by fans and there was little respect on display. Operationally things looked very disorganized with the modus operandi seemingly being to keep all Romanian fans as far away from the Hungarians are possible.
With Romania looking like winning thanks to a goal from Rusescu a brilliant late free-kick on 83 minutes from captain Dzsudzsak crept past Ciprian Tatarusanu of Fiorentina earned Hungary a 1-1 draw.
Romania vs Hungary (1-1)
European Championship Qualifying Group F
5:00pm, Saturday 11th October 2014
National Arena
Attendance: 54,000
