Supporters
Hajduk Split's supporters, Torcida, were formed on 28 October 1950. They took their name from the Brazilian fan group they idolized, which comes from the Portuguese 'torcer' which means 'to cheer on'. They are the oldest organized supporters' group in Europe. Supporters call the Hajduk players 'Bili', which in the local Dalmatian dialect means "the whites". "Hajduk lives forever" is the fan's slogan.
Torcida members and other fervent fans gather in the north stand at the Poljud stadium from where they support their club. The 'Heart of Hajduk' (Croatian: Hajdučko srce) is an annual football prize which was established in 1994 and is officially awarded by the Hajduk Split supporters' Torcida Split to the Hajduk player of the year, i.e. the team's best performing player during the season.
Read more about this topic: HNK Hajduk Split
Famous quotes containing the word supporters:
“No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)