Dynamo Kiev fighting Ukrainian election results
Even Dynamo Kiev and Klitscho fighting for Yushchenko in Ukrainian election
Kiev, Ukraine, Nov. 26 — As Dynamo Kiev beat Roma 2-0 at home to go top of Group B in Tuesday’s European Champions League match, the game was played with an orange football, the official campaign colours of Viktor Yushchenko’s opposition party.
Orange has become a symbol of this week’s struggle for democracy after Sunday’s allegedly rigged presidential election. The match was played in a show storm, and UEFA rules apparently state that in such weather an orange ball must be used.
Dynamo wore their usual blue and white strip — coincidently the colours of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-government party — while around 60,000 fans had 2 tonnes of orange banners, flags, and armbands confiscated by police as they entered the stadium!
Last Saturday, on the eve of the presidential election, some Shakhtar Donetsk supporters complained of their team’s black strip in the team’s home Ukrainian Cup match. Shakhtar usually play in orange. The eastern Ukrainian industrial city of Donetsk is a pro-Yanukovych stronghold, and the scene of the most widespread alleged election violations.
In Wednesday’s Champion League trip to AC Milan, Shakhtar again left their orange kit behind, but probably because the home team, who won 4-0, played in that colour.
At this match, two “Andriy Shevchenko for Yushchenko” banners were reported in the crowd, although the Ukrainian striker who plays for Milan later said that he was a political neutral.
Dynamo Kiev's Champions League win over Roma, only a mile away from the mass demonstrations in Kiev’s main square, is viewed by Yushchenko's headquarters as another of their victories. "The fans are our people and they worked there," said Nikolai Tomenko, one of the headquarters' leaders, closing a rally in the square.
Other Ukrainian sporting stars have also declared their support for Yushchenko, including the Klitschko boxing brothers, Totenham Hotspur striker Sergei Rebrov, and former Arsenal defender Oleh Luzhniy.
