April 1st Football Joke Sparks Protest in Croatia

busybeeburns · 01-04-2005, 11:04 AM

An April Fool's joke nearly caused a riot in Croatia after thousands of protesters took to the streets after an online news service claimed the country faced being banned from the 2006 World Cup finals unless it handed over fugitive general Ante Gotovina.

Croatian site Index news claimed FIFA would not allow Croatia to take part in the World Cup unless the country handed over Gotovina, who is wanted for war crimes during the civil war that led to the break up of Yugoslavia. The EU has cancelled entry negotiations with Croatia for refusing to hand him over.

FIFA's president Sepp Blatter was quoted as saying: "It is clear that Croats care about football more than about anything else. In contact with EU Council of Ministers, we have decided to ban Croatia from World Cup before the country extradites the fugitive general Ante Gotovina."

Thousands of protestors took to the streets carrying banners in support of Gotovina and attacking FIFA before the web site admitted it had made the whole thing up.

Croatia leads in the World Cup's Group Eight with 13 points from five matches ahead of Sweden, Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland and Malta.

http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=croa...r=&sa=N&tab=wn

jackie · 01-04-2005, 11:08 AM

ahhh behold the power of crazed soccer fans

owenrees_73 · 01-04-2005, 05:17 PM

crazy......is that guy real?

atha · 22-04-2005, 01:31 AM

yes, the guy is real.

01-04-2005, 11:04 AM	#1
busybeeburns mr coldplaying himself Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 46,455 My Mood: Location: test Gender: Country: Seen CP: 20 times Fav. CP album: X&Y Fav. CP song: GPASUYF Fav. CP member: Chat posts: 16 Thanks given: 1,589 Thanked 968 Times in 433 Posts	April 1st Football Joke Sparks Protest in Croatia An April Fool's joke nearly caused a riot in Croatia after thousands of protesters took to the streets after an online news service claimed the country faced being banned from the 2006 World Cup finals unless it handed over fugitive general Ante Gotovina. Croatian site Index news claimed FIFA would not allow Croatia to take part in the World Cup unless the country handed over Gotovina, who is wanted for war crimes during the civil war that led to the break up of Yugoslavia. The EU has cancelled entry negotiations with Croatia for refusing to hand him over. FIFA's president Sepp Blatter was quoted as saying: "It is clear that Croats care about football more than about anything else. In contact with EU Council of Ministers, we have decided to ban Croatia from World Cup before the country extradites the fugitive general Ante Gotovina." Thousands of protestors took to the streets carrying banners in support of Gotovina and attacking FIFA before the web site admitted it had made the whole thing up. Croatia leads in the World Cup's Group Eight with 13 points from five matches ahead of Sweden, Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland and Malta. http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=croa...r=&sa=N&tab=wn __________________ The early bird catches the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese!

01-04-2005, 11:08 AM	#2
jackie Coldplayer Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 950 Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	ahhh behold the power of crazed soccer fans __________________ NEW SONG CLUB MEMBERS: jackie compguy347 Drew http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/Jackiebon/

01-04-2005, 05:17 PM	#3
owenrees_73 The Celestial Empire Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,876 Location: North Bay, ON Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	crazy......is that guy real? __________________ Please support my debut album "The Celestial Empire" by visiting my artist page at http://www.musicfreedom.com/owenrees_73/ "If you like Coldplay, you're obviously very intelligent and good looking and all around brilliant." - Chris Martin MEGA

22-04-2005, 01:31 AM	#4
atha Coldplayer Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 14 Location: here&there Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	yes, the guy is real.