
Romanian football, always in a crisis of performance, but never scandals, has successfully marked the beginning of a new soap opera. The scene? Miercurea Ciuc. The main character? A team recently promoted to Liga 1, which seems to have done its homework not only tactically, but also symbolically and identitarianly. T-shirts with Greater Hungary are fashionable regardless of the sporting discipline. The mix of politics and sports has always been explosive, and at Miercurea Ciuc, it seems that one cannot exist without the other, and for the opposing galleries, eager for patriotic exhibitions, this is the perfect pretext. So it didn't take long until instead of filter passes we see subliminal messages, alongside goals - flags waved with meaning. The match with Dinamo? A show in which football was, as usual, the decorative figure.
There is a nostalgic air in the stands. It's as if we were back in the 90s, at a hockey match between SC Miercurea Ciuc and Steaua, with the same shouts, the same accusations, the same confusion between nationalism and common sense. Someone, somewhere, forgot to stop the tape, and now we're playing it on loop.
Racism? It's just a "vocal accident". Xenophobia? A "cultural" manifestation. Separatism? A "form of expression". Hooliganism? Passion, sir! All in the name of love - of country, of people, of the glee, of anything, except sports.
Meanwhile, the authorities sit with popcorn in their arms, maybe with 3D glasses, watching the show they have been serenely tolerating for years. Commentators talk about "diversity", galleries about "challenges", and supporters about "identity". Nobody plays football anymore, everyone plays something else.
Hope? It's out of the squad, seriously injured by reality and probably won't even make the bench this season. Common sense is nowhere to be seen. Not in the stands, not in official statements, not in the attitude of those who should separate passion from fanaticism. Instead of a fresh start for a small team that has reached the top, we have a dangerous deja-vu. History is not only repeating itself, but it is doing so without anyone having learned anything from the past.
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