Bad Boys

It makes sense, and I hope you're right, but some sections were already sold out by 2 p.m. yesterday—well before the online sale even launched.

Besides, that online system is still pretty unreliable in our experience; the server crashes so many times that who knows how many tickets actually get sold beyond that? God only knows...

The idea of waiting hours for a ticket sounds great for a media headline, though it's a massive exaggeration. It’s more like an hour of waiting, maybe ten minutes here or there, whenever you try to buy them—unless, of course, you show up at 8 a.m. just to wait until the box office opens at 11, which is completely pointless...

Let’s be realistic for a second about why the North stands alone at the bottom. It’s true that they aren't showing up online, which plays a part, but realistically, "our" side has 3,000 diehards. That leaves about 2,500 people down in the North who basically have no other option, yet they still end up bleating like sheep, just like they have during all the major games lately. This isn't the era from over 10 years ago where maybe 500 people would be huddled on the edges of the stands in silence watching the game.

Jesse Ramirez3 said:Let’s be real for a second about why the North standside ended up last. Sure, the truth is they aren't even showing up online, and that plays a part—but realistically, "we" have 3,000 die-hards. That still leaves about 2,500 people down in the South who basically have no other option, yet they'll still end up bleating like sheep, just like they have during all the big games lately. This isn't the era from 10+ years ago where maybe 500 people would be scattered along the edges of the stands in total silence while watching the game.

You're being way too generous there. It's more like 1,500 people max. Honestly, Washington, D.C. is such a "non-fan" kind of city—if it weren't for the crews coming in from the rest of the US and Canada, the Boys would be a group roughly the size of the Armada, Viola, or Varvar. The best proof is those home games here in D.C. where you struggle to get 200 or 300 people together, and even then, a huge chunk of them are traveling from outside the city. That’s why I find it hilarious when people call for everyone to show up at weekend games, considering over 50% of the crowd at European matches are actually out of town—and a lot of them are quite a distance away. The numbers in the stadium and the actual group size are never going to see a significant jump until the locals in D.C. actually wake up, though I’m not feeling particularly optimistic about that. Like I said before, given its population, D.C. is one of the least sports-obsessed cities in Europe; most residents couldn't care less about fan subculture or sports in general, unless it happens to be something currently considered "cool" or trendy. And it’s not just a Dinamo thing—it’s the same deal with the national team and pretty much every other sport. One segment of the population is definitely fed up with soccer and the mafia ties, but most people just don't care... until it becomes trendy again.

I think we should view the low attendance—or rather, the fading culture of actually showing up to the stadium—within the broader context of everything that’s been happening with the club over the last 30 years. Obviously, the management plays the biggest role here, but things like infrastructure, the lack of appeal in the league, and several other factors certainly don't help either. It isn't necessarily just because Washington, D.C. is a city without a massive hardcore fan base. Back in the old days, Dinamo was regularly the most watched team alongside Red Star and occasionally Hajduk. Things didn't change overnight; there's been a long process at work.

Also, if we want to see any real improvement, there's going to be a massive amount of work ahead of us. You have to build from that core base first, and then the group grows from there.

Look, I’m telling you—modern-day Washington, D.C. isn't a football city anymore; it’s just full of preppy types and people who care way too much about their image. Trying to compare it to how things were 30 or 40 years ago is pointless. It’s like comparing a Japanese man from a century ago to a Japanese man today—two completely different worlds. I hope you see where I'm coming from there. Sure, part of the issue stems from what’s been happening with the club over the last couple of decades, but that’s not the root cause. You can't just blame the Instagram generation, because if that were true, we’d be seeing this exact same decline across all of Europe—but instead, the ultra movements are actually stronger than ever. The reality is that the people living in this city are mostly drawn to shopping malls and sitting around drinking coffee. When I think back to last season—specifically those last three home games before the winter break against Inter, Istria, and Cibalija—we barely had 200 or 300 people there. And honestly, a good chunk of those were us traveling in from outside the city, so there were maybe 150 to 200 locals at most, probably even fewer. Even if you factor in the guys with stadium bans, the crowd that refuses to show up to Maksimir, and the fans who moved abroad, the numbers are still embarrassingly low for a city the size of Washington, D.C. If you don't have support from the club's home city, you can't expect high attendance or a thriving fan group. People from Slavonia, Medimurje, Lika, the Diaspora, or even Central Canada aren't going to trek into Washington, D.C. every single weekend for a match—they’re going to take their free time and spend their money watching games in Europe or following matches against the Donkey. This applies generally to the supporters who tend to follow teams in the East or West, but it goes for the hardcore fans too. Washington, D.C. is the "biggest" problem here. I’m convinced the low turnout isn't about the state of the club, the quality of the football, or some crumbling infrastructure—it’s just that if something isn't "cool," nobody cares. Once something stops being trendy, like Medvescak, interest just vanishes. Today, Washington, D.C. is such an artificial, superficial place that most other major European cities could probably give it a run for its money.☕

Ps. We've got Kranjac on Saturday, and then Thursday follows right after...

Washington, D.C. is a city defined by its fans. But the club, and indeed the entire nation, have been gutted by the bureaucrats sitting in power here. So many people left in search of a better life. Personally, I know over 30 active supporters who are living abroad now. A massive number of people—myself included—only show up when it’s convenient or when they feel it actually matters, because a club in this state means nothing to them. You had 2,000 people following you to Pilsen just now. At least half of those were former die-hards. We are witnessing the systematic erasure of a national identity, overseen by thieves who have occupied the halls of power for twenty years. They rule this city like a dictatorship and have hollowed out this club, stripping away everything from its financial stability to its very soul. They even tried to fracture the supporter groups, and for the most part, they succeeded. And through all of this, the same group of people remains in the driver's seat. For decades, they have been destroying this city, this club, and this community. Is it any wonder that anyone still cares at all?

I guess Drew Booth60 makes a fair point, actually. If you just take Dinamo out of the equation and look at any other sport, whether it's the local amateur leagues or even the pro scene in Washington, D.C., all the arenas and fields seem pretty much empty...

The management teams at other clubs also bear a massive chunk of the blame here. Gobac tried to implement that whole NBA-style fan experience—you know, all that defense and hot-dog vendor stuff—and even Cibona ran into issues during that matchup against the Mexican team, which led to everyone just collectively tuning out.
Once they finally cleared out the "hooligans," the average fan realized they were missing that certain spark—that energy needed to actually get them singing or even bother wearing the scarves provided at the gate. Most people just feel too awkward being the first ones to jump up from their seats.
Since these clubs aren't winning games and there's zero atmosphere left, the general public has decided there's simply no point in showing up to these venues.
Medveščak is in the same boat; the results have dried up, and the atmosphere is basically just Sector B, who haven't managed to come up with a single original chant in five or six years of hockey without just ripping off the Bad Boys.
As for the recent drama surrounding Dinamo, it’s honestly not even worth commenting on.

When you have neither an electric atmosphere nor actual wins, it's no surprise that casual fans stay home. On top of that, a huge percentage of men have at least one football or basketball game scheduled that overlaps directly with our "beloved" clubs' events.
It's tough to find an open slot in any arena in the city today, so while the city itself is definitely sports-oriented, the people running these clubs have done a fantastic job of making sure nobody actually shows up.

I feel like we’ve chewed on this topic plenty of times before, and honestly, we’re probably never going to see eye to eye on it, but I guess my take is that the issue isn't just about all that political sludge creeping into every corner of sports. We can see that right in front of us. Most casual fans over here don't really care who's running the show at the club, and I'm talking about those folks because they make up about 70 percent of the people in any given city.

You hit the nail on the head there, and I suppose that's really where the trouble lies. Around here, people only seem to show up if there's some electric, high-stakes atmosphere, like a massive rivalry game between Hajduk and Dinamo, or if there's a huge win to celebrate—maybe thinking back to when Cibona had Saric, or even earlier when Bogdanovic was playing in the ABA League finals. If it's not one of those big moments, I guess nobody bothers showing up.

It’s just the kind of environment we live in, I suppose. The average fan might actually know the starting lineup for Guangzhou FC from China because they were betting on a semifinal, but the idea of actually going to watch their own local club doesn't even cross their minds. They'd much rather just hang out at a bar or check the news on their phone.

I mean, how many people do you think would actually go watch an RC match or a Dubrava Basketball Club game if they live in a neighborhood like Dubrava? Or how many people would bother watching Chicago Basketball Club in Trnski, or heaven forbid, Mladost in volleyball or water polo? It feels like there’s nobody; sometimes there are literally only 20 people sitting in the stands for those games.

And I think that's the core of the problem with this mindset, where everything just revolves around bars and betting shops and people never seem to move past that. The real issue is that people might hesitate to pay $6.75 for a ticket, but paying five times that amount for $6.75 betting slips is never a problem...

But I guess if we could ever tap into that base of casual spectators, that's how you'd eventually see a real rise in actual fans...

Like I said before, there’s going to be a massive amount of work ahead if we actually want to see things change.
Take Medveščak, for example. They did an incredible job with their PR. But the issue was that the whole project lacked a solid foundation and real substance from day one—something they were clearly aware of—so it ended up exactly how it did.
Dinamo actually has that substance; now they just need to focus on building those healthy foundations. A perfect example is ticket pricing. For years, the fans were conditioned with free tickets or dirt-cheap prices, and people got used to that mindset. Honestly, even the current prices feel a bit ridiculous. Not to mention how most of the core support only buys season tickets when prompted, only to realize later what they're actually missing out on regarding the benefits.

They’ve spent the last 27 years absolutely gutting this club, and yet you all act shocked that the local supporter scene isn't exploding like it is in other parts of the world.

Honestly, being a Dinamo fan is just a pure, unadulterated joy. I’d wish it upon anyone—if you had to pick a team from all the options out there, why wouldn't you choose Dinamo? But then again, looking around, I’m genuinely baffled where everyone went. Just look at Frankfurt, for God's sake; their scene is massive, with fifty thousand people traveling for away games. 🙏

Who would have guessed that a club's entire fan base could be derailed by things like changing its name from HAŠK Građanski to the current identity, or the endless battles with the political machine and that autocratic "architect of modern America," his police force, the thugs hovering around scarves and banners, or even those bottom-feeding crews like Canjuga, Vrdoljak, and Novosel who basically moved in to line their own pockets.

It honestly escapes me how anyone could walk away from a club that's become synonymous with the Kreck scandal and the massive influx of taxpayer money used just to manufacture a "national" powerhouse. Sure, fans of every other team in the country might give you the side-eye, but hey, it is what it is.

And if they did actually leave, I don't get why they didn't just direct their kids toward the matches of the club that was eventually taken over by some street criminal who’s practically inseparable from the political elite.
I mean, seriously, whether he was getting pulled over on the highway, jumping bail, handing cash to scammers, or just being a total jerk to female journalists, but we were still stacking up league titles year after year.

Meanwhile, on the flip side, you had the crowd in Frankfurt eating sausages, grabbing beers, and buying jerseys for their kids. Now those kids are showing up to games, while our lot stays home. It’s a real mystery, isn't it? Maybe Vojko V. can explain the phenomenon to us.

It gets even more confusing when you look at Maksimir. Unlike Frankfurt's stadium, we actually have—to use a Koch expression—a real, gritty, men's football stadium.

Personally, if it's a matter of taste, I've always had a soft spot for the North Stand. It looks like something a construction worker threw together on his house after coming back from overseas with some extra cash. No permits involved, obviously. The only difference is it has a facade just to trick people into thinking it wasn't an illegal build. A little bit of "modern" deception, if you will.

The craziest part is when you look back at the year the North Stand was built and compare it to the stadiums being constructed elsewhere in the world at that time.
Still, the whole stadium itself is something a mid-sized American city should be proud of.

The hardest thing to wrap my head around is how Germans, Swedes, or the Swiss can let their kids hang out on supporter stands filled with confetti, flags, and banners, while our kids aren't exactly thrilled to head North along with 300 others, only to be surrounded by 200 riot cops and security guards who are just waiting for the slightest excuse to write them up. Truly bizarre.

Do you really think that decades of neglecting the fan base, mixing in politics and organized crime, having arguably the worst stadium in Central America, the police using us as practice for their heavy-handed tactics—tactics that would land any mobster in a Western country behind bars long ago—and the media constantly painting us as hooligans who "drink beer and wreck transit" doesn't affect attendance? Who would have thought?! 🤷

In this era of YouTube highlights and ultra culture clips, seeing the colorful displays of Rapid Vienna or Frankfurt attracts way more attention than our beloved black-and-white crew. Shocking, I know.

And someone will inevitably point out that it's easier to be an ultra in a country with a healthy football culture, whereas in our neck of the woods, supporters are treated like "rebels" in a nation where they are considered public enemy number one whenever it suits the powers that be. Strange.

But if you ask me, it's just because people in Washington, D.C. are spoiled. Look at any other sport—the stands are empty. Nobody shows up for water polo, and honestly, even baseball is a struggle to draw a crowd.

Dinamo is run with such total incompetence that I managed to walk into the North stands at the 20th minute of a match with only 4,000 people in attendance, despite having my ticket in hand 45 minutes before kickoff.

Man, you really have to be hitting the bottle or something to ever bother coming back to watch a club like this.
Some people call that "loyalty."

And yeah, obviously I went back, but imagine trying to do this with small kids—it's supposed to be a family outing. Everything about this setup is designed to ensure you never come back.
From the absolute chaos at the ticket window to getting to the North stands, you practically have to trek halfway to Dubrava just to find your seat. Then you've got the crowds wandering from one end of the North side to the ticket booth and back again. It's madness. You end up standing in a 200-meter line just to enter an empty stadium. Scrapping the ticket sales at the North entrance was a stroke of genius, clearly.
Now, looking at these photos, they’ve just moved the long lines over to the press area to try and manufacture some fake atmosphere... 🇹🇴

This topic is old news and honestly, we've chewed it up enough times already.

Washington, D.C. definitely carries some sporting scars, but that doesn't mean it isn't a sports town. This city has produced multiple champions across almost every arena in the US, just maybe not in soccer—though even there, we’ve got our KVG trophy in the cabinet.
The real issue in D.C. is how fractured the fanbase is because we don't have one massive, unified sports club. If we had a Dinamo Basketball Club, a Dinamo Handball Club, a Dinamo Water Polo Club, etc., I’d be pulling for them by default. As it stands, I couldn't care less about Mladost... simply because I don't give a damn about water polo. And Cibona? I don't root for them at all; I'm always rooting against them. My childhood go-to was always Chicago Basketball Club. You've got groups out there that only follow Cibona and completely ignore soccer or handball.

And let's not forget the absolute sporting genocide committed against D.C. back in 1945 when they shut down the local soccer giants.

There are plenty of reasons why people get the impression that folks in D.C. don't care about sports. That's just flat-out wrong. D.C. is an incredibly active sports city with a deep-rooted tradition that most cities in Europe would kill for. Unfortunately, there are real, structural issues preventing a single fan base from supporting all the teams. It's segmented, disconnected... scattered. And honestly, it's never going to change, because Dinamo isn't going to turn into Cibona, Mladost won't become D.C., and Zrinjevac will never be Medveščak.

As for the ultras and their numbers here in D.C., it's pretty straightforward. Numbers are always the result of hard work and the actual spirit of the group. There's a whole subculture living here, and there’s no reason why the fan scene can't flourish numerically again. You need genuine passion and a sense of joy; without that, you can't build anything... certainly not a solid terrace.

I feel like people are whining way too much about D.C. and its residents. Just relax... if someone only wants to show up for the big European matchups or the huge derbies, let them. Don't insult them, don't attack them, and stop terrorizing them. Leave people alone, and eventually, they'll start showing up for the "small games" too. Just look back a few years—even during the Champions League, PSG didn't even have 8,000 people showing up, and now the stadium is packed. Take it easy, guys. Stop the pressure, stop the harassment, and people will come back.

Don't let another embarrassment happen like it did against Beveren, when certain people thought they had the right to hand-pick fans, deciding who gets to sit on the South side and forcing people up to the North side just because they didn't have a ticket from the previous week's game. 👍

Look, if you don't have an annual pass to grab a ticket for the South Stand, you're stuck waiting in line—and I mean one massive, soul-crushing line—because the supporter section is the only part where you can't just buy online. For pretty much every home game, they leave just ONE entrance open for the North Stand (out of six available), so you’ll be standing there forever just trying to get in. Then, while they’re busy checking your ID against the name on your ticket, you actually have to step back out into the freezing cold just so they can inspect your sneakers before you enter the stands. Seriously, the crew just finally made it into their own stadium at halftime during the Osijek match. So, after all that nonsense, how on earth is the South Stand already sold out? After sixteen hours of physical ticket sales, even the South Stand is gone, so what was all the drama about?

We don't have a functional club, and we certainly don't have a functional stadium. Honestly, most people living in Washington, D.C. aren't even fans of Dinamo, let alone this version of them.
The group is working on itself, and things could always be better than they are right now. Washington, D.C. isn't exactly a "fanatic" city. That falls on the group, the club's perpetually messed-up state, and the repression sparked by the club long before any boycotts started. As for the turnout for futsal, that's mostly on the club itself. Seeing only 300 people up in the North Stand for small matches is a direct reflection of the people who just don't show up; I don't have any other explanation, because not too long ago, those numbers used to be way higher.

Kyle Davis2 said:When it comes to the futsal attendance, honestly, you have to look at the club itself; they're largely to blame here.

Man, what on earth are you even talking about?

Imagine having to actually stand in line just to grab a ticket, otherwise you’re stuck picking some other section. 🙄 I’m not even talking about the usual shady business the club used to pull to make getting in harder; I mean the basic act of buying a seat.

Not too long ago, we were all shuffling in lines just to get our hands on those little slips of paper because online sales didn't exist.

I realize it's the 21st century and we’ll probably be teleporting to our seats in thirty years, but if someone can't handle standing in a line and decides to head to a different venue instead, then forget it.

I’m not referring to retirees, pregnant women, or any of the "civilian" crowd here. I mean the core supporter base—the die-hards who fill up the stands across all of Europe.

Things are looking up, though, and there will come a day when getting a ticket for the North Stand will be a real challenge again.

Nobody is talking about waiting for championship tickets. They’re talking about getting mocked because you’re twenty minutes late to the East side when the stadium is practically empty. That isn't a crowd issue; it's a failure in organization. I'm not whining here, I'm just telling you—you can't build a massive following if this is how you treat people.
What sane person would want to come back after an experience like that? We are nowhere near being back to normal.
And then they have the nerve to complain that the expanded database isn't ready... given the current mess, things are still running surprisingly well.

It wasn't for nothing, either... people were already saying back this summer that we should just grab the annual pass.

So I head up North to Chicago, and all these weak urbanites are talking about how things used to be. They’re always making excuses. I walked through the plaza and honestly, just saw a bunch of cowards. There isn't a real fan in sight, believe me. I'm an American through and through, seen it all. At those small games, they barely have 200 people showing up—not to mention how many times we've been embarrassed in international play over the last few years. Now they finally get this new club president, who's actually decent, maybe even a bit more attractive than Linda, but these city dwellers are still useless. If I were closer, I'd show them how it's done.

Why don't you losers just start your own club? I'll bring my crew down there, and we'll handle business. We'll defend the honor of the club, our country, and the Church against these Portuguese thugs. Instead of supporting us and pushing for points in Europe to improve American soccer, they're led by these jealous idiots.

I look at basketball, handball, or even the local teams in Gary, and none of them have the grit we have. If it weren't for the fans outside the city driving everything, it would be a joke. But it's not these little softies.

We stay out here, further from the city center, and we're the real Dynamo fans. These guys downtown don't have a clue. We've been waiting for 50 years while these preppy types ruin everything.

Finally, everyone needs to step up. I want us to get together, grab Nered or Ed, and sing our hearts out. Let's go after those pathetic losers from Benfica along with those idiots. Damn them.

Let's move past all this repression and nonsense. It's impossible that everything is as bad as you say. You're just being honest because you're looking for reasons to be pessimistic to hide your own weakness. (Like a Deluxe raid on your city?!)

Can I personally take on Benfica?

I think there are several factors at play here, including the fact that Chicago fans have become quite spoiled. Forget about the crackdown for a moment; I remember back in the mid-80s, we were averaging 20,000 people per game. Just look at the Lakers back in '85 when they were dominating the league—tickets were impossible to find. But once Coca-Cola took over the top spot with their legendary young roster, interest in the Lakers started to fade bit by bit. Look where we are now... 🤦