The football fans of the Lithuanian club FK Zalgiris have come up with a rather unique way to protest and show their displeasure against the coach Vladimir Cheburin. They carried suitcases onto the stadium and threw them onto the field of play. The players were left to clear up the debris to play. This is their way of saying ‘pack up and leave’. This is a club that had collapsed in 2008 and was re-established by its fans. Hence their passionate involvement.
The suitcase episode happened in a league match on August 4 during a Kaunas derby against Kauno Zalgiris. Incidentally, the coach, Vladimir, calmly applauded at the gesture.
FK Zalgiris fans are calling for change due to the club’s recent poor results. They are ranked seventh in the A Lyga, the local league, well behind their rivals Kauno Zalgiris, who are 18 points clear of the leaders. FK Zalgiris have already been eliminated from the Conference League last week after they lost in the quarter-finals of the qualifying play-off to Northern Ireland’s Linfield (0-0, 0-2).
Founded in 1947, FK Žalgiris, also known as Vilniaus Žalgiris, is one of the most popular football clubs in Lithuania, winning multiple championships and cups. They had made it to the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League for the first time in the club’s history
The club’s official website lists its history thus: “The club was founded in 1947 as Dynamo Vilnius, renamed as Spartakas a year later. It adopted its current name, Žalgiris, in 1962. The team was the representative football side of Lithuania and went on to win bronze in the Soviet football league in 1987. Following Lithuania’s independence re-establishment in 1990, Žalgiris became a private club and the most successful in terms of trophies.
“The club suffered a collapse in 2008 and was re-established by its supporters as Vilnius City Football Association Žalgiris, established in 2009 February 26th. In 2014 November 25th the club brought back its old name.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
