Azeris celebrate as Neftci beat Armenia’s FC Pyunik in Moscow
Arminfo, Yerevan
20 Jan 05
Moscow, 20 January: Yerevan’s FC Pyunik has lost 2:0 to Baku’s FC
Neftci in the quarter-final of the 13th Commonwealth Cup and has been
knocked out of the championship.
The match turned out to be edgy – the pitch and the stands were filled
with real passion. It became obvious before the match that the
Azerbaijanis had already won a small victory. Not only were there many
of them in the Dinamo arena, but they had also prepared carefully
before entering the stadium. They brought in flags and drums, some
painted their faces and wore team baseball caps.
There was terrible noise an hour before the match. Unlike the
Azerbaijanis, the Armenian diaspora, which occupied the opposite
stands, was quiet. (The fans had farsightedly been divided into two
opposite stands.) A couple of flags, a placard (which was illegible),
a few half-hearted chants of “Pyunik!, Pyunik!” But there was no
drive. The police were at first confused. One of the policemen was
totally perplexed by the national flags [of Azerbaijan and Armenia],
not allowing Armenians to their side of the arena and sending them to
the Azeri side. And only after he was shown a passport and told that
the orange colour is only on the Armenian flag, did he try to remember
this and not make any further political mistakes.
In the meantime, spectators were being checked in the foyer. Plastic
bottles (a large pile of them amassed near the entrance), vacuum
flasks, pliers, scissors and chains were not allowed in.
Now, lets get back to the pitch. When Neftci came out to warm up, the
noise grew deafening again. Each of the players had to greet his
acquaintances. Otherwise, it would have been an awful shame. One of
the representatives of the team phoned Baku and allowed those who had
not come to Russia to hear the noise in the stadium. Armenians gazed
at this gloomily. And even when their team appeared on the pitch, they
did not display any special emotions. But everybody was drumming on
the stands.
And another interesting point. As has already been mentioned, the fans
of the teams were sitting in opposite stands. When teams enter the
field, usually they greet all the spectators. But this was not the
case this time. The players of Pyunik waved to their own fans and the
Neftci players did the same.
A serious conflict almost flared up in the stands a few minutes into
the match. The national flags of the countries participating in the
championship were hanging at the balcony where the Armenians were. And
they [Armenians] wilfully hung their national banner over an Azeri
flag. The Azeris were quick to ask for restoration of justice. They
first asked the police for help, who did not immediately realize what
the conflict was about and so chose not to intervene at first. But
some of them did understand and went over. There was the sense of
something ominous in the stands. The fans shouted at one another,
using offensive words in Russian. The Azerbaijanis demanded that the
Armenian banner, for which they had shed blood [as received], be taken
away. But the Armenians refused to do so. A police officer attempted
to calm down the quarrel. He ordered that the banner be removed and
advised the Azerbaijanis to leave the stand. Although the sides were
eager to fight, they restrained themselves. There was no conflict
after the match either. Neftci won the match 2:0. The Armenian
diaspora left the stands long before the match ended. They were upset,
but without anger.
After the match, the Neftci players celebrated the victory as if they
had won the World Championship. In Baku, people congratulated Neftci
as though they had won the Champions’ League. The Armenian players
first attempted to fight with them [Azeri players] on the pitch and
then with the referees. (There were minor clashes during the match as
well.) The coach of the Armenian team, Vardan Minasyan, dissuaded them
from brawling and he even resorted to force to get the players off the
field.
[Passage omitted: unimportant details]