The incident took place just weeks after Croatia's first multi-party elections in almost fifty years in which the parties favouring Croatian independence had won the majority of votes.

[1] Tension between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade was always high as they consistently placed at the top of the Yugoslav First League and often won the national championships.

Croatia and Slovenia, under new leadership, were the leading forces behind a drive to reorganize Yugoslavia into a confederation, but were opposed by Serbia under Slobodan Milošević and the still powerful communist system at state-level.

The Delije were led by Željko Ražnatović (also known as "Arkan"), a Serbian nationalist, wanted for various robberies and murders in Europe, who would soon be leading the Serb Volunteer Guard to commit crimes against humanity during the Yugoslav Wars.

[2] Both Dinamo and Red Star had violent undertones[3] and essentially functioned as paramilitary organizations, rather than mere football fan clubs.

[4] Revolted by what they saw, the Bad Blue Boys at the north and east stands attempted to storm the pitch, but were quickly pushed back by the police wielding batons and tear gas.

Here I was, a public figure prepared to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, for one ideal, one cause - the Croatian cause.The riot marked the beginning of the end for the Yugoslav First League.

[8] In Croatian media, unsubstantiated theories have been presented to demonstrate that the violence was planned by Yugoslav secret services and Serb police chiefs.