Tornado Zadar

Tornado Zadar is a supporter group from Zadar, Croatia. They are mainly supporters of the KK Zadar basketball team. The official name of this civil association is in Croatian Udruga navijača Tornado Zadar, which translated means Civil association of the supporters Tornado Zadar. The association is registered with the Croatian NGO register under the number 13000768.

History

Tornado Zadar has been organized since 1965. and is a second oldest supporters association in Croatia after Torcida Split with whom they are friends. The sixties and seventies were the golden age for the association, after which the enthusiasm of the members were slowly declining, the culmination of which happened in 1999, when the core of the association members retired, leaving the association for good.

The 2002 was essential for the association because the young generation of the supporters started to regroup and to refurbish the association.

Activities

Association Tornado Zadar mostly supports basketball club KK Zadar, but also football club NK Zadar as well as other sport teams from Zadar. It is accustomed that any match of the KK Zadar is followed by a group of Tornado supporters. They don't have exact rivalry (although some see Šibenski funcuti group from Šibenik as their rivals) but they are with odds mostly with clubs from Zagreb, or internationally from Serbia and their respective ultras.
Throughout the era of former Yugoslavia the tensions were high on matches with KK Crvena Zvezda.

In 2009. a book titled "Posljednja generacija istoka" was released, which deals with the supporters group. The book itself does not have a publisher, can not be bought from a book store, and only 300 copies were printed.

The group is known for the harsh and loud atmosphere they create on home venues, the state of the art Krešimir Ćosić Hall and run-down Stadion Stanovi. They have their own sections on those venues. In the old Jazine Basketball Hall fundraising called "Let's help the family of Tihomir Purda". The aim of that humanitarian action was to financially help the family of the war veteran who was held in custody in Zenica on the basis of international arrest warrant issued by Serbian prosecution In 2012 Tornado Zadar supported humanitarian aid aiming at collecting financial support for the war veterans surviving with €19 per month. The members gave financial support as well as support in material things like hygiene products.

In 2023, during a basketball game against KK Crvena zvezda, the supporters chanted "Oh Croatian mother, we will slaughter the Serbs" and "Oh Croatia, oh Croatia, independent state" in reference to the mass slaughter of Serbs during WWII by the Croatian Ustaše. The match was also preceded by a hooligan attack and assault on a Serbian journalist and member of Crvena Zvezda board of directors.

References

Further reading

Press release of the Tornado Zagreb regarding the arrests of the members of soccer "mafia"

Article about graffiti known as Tornado wall

Article about Tornado Zadar being banned from attending the game in 2012

External links

Official website

Link to a blog about "Posljednja generacija istoka"

Gallery of Tornado
in Jazine Basketball Hall

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