Fradi fans enraged after team is demoted to second division

Enraged fans of demoted football club Ferencváros went on a rampage outside the stadium yesterday afternoon following the Football Association's (MLSZ) decision to throw the team out of the top flight. The club, generally known as "Fradi" or FTC, has long been Hungary's most popular and successful football club.

Some in the angry crowd of 600-1,000 spilled out onto nearby Üllői út and blocked traffic before police intervened. A mob damaged subway cars in the nearby metro station, halting underground traffic along the blue line.

Team captain Péter Lipcsei blamed the club management for the crisis and urged them to resign. Both he and team manager Imre Gellei have vowed to stay with FTC. Training was cancelled and the players were sent home for a long weekend.

Fans also blamed the management, as well as the government, the MLSZ licensing commission, television stations RTL Klub and TV2, the "red media" and Jews, claiming that they had conspired against Fradi.

FTC will have to declare before noon today whether it will accept demotion to the second division. The club was relegated for its failure to meet financial requirements, having run up a debt of Ft 500 million. Vasas, relegated last year, will take FTC's place in the first division.

The club's lawyers vowed to appeal to the courts and to UEFA for a review of what they believe was an unlawful decision.

MLSZ president István Kisteleki said FTC can renew itself only if its management is capable of suppressing their personal ambitions.

FTC, founded in 1899, is the only club to have been in the Hungarian first division since it was founded, a total of 103 seasons. It has won 28 championships, the first during the reign of Habsburg ruler Franz Joseph in 1903, and the last two years ago.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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