3) Nika Riots, Constantinople – 532 AD
Football thuggery isn’t a new invention. Even before football was born sports would still get people riled up and raging. In Roman times it was chariot racing that saw the largest amount of hooliganism. There were four teams – blues, greens, reds and whites. Each team stood for different political focuses and became many people’s outlet for political or theological arguments. Like the Celtic versus Rangers hatred of modern times: it’s about much more than football.
In 532 AD a fight broke out amongst the fans at a chariot event, some of the competitors got involved and people ended up getting murdered. Emperor Justinian (pictured below wearing a hula-hoop) was not a fan of the bedlam and had a couple of the hooligans hung. Two of the trouble makers managed to escape and hid in a nearby church, attracting a large mob.
Justinian had enough on his plate, the Persians were making trouble and he’d recently raised taxes, so out of frustration he postponed the next chariot race. This decision turned out to be a pretty bad one.
By the time the next race came around people were baying for blood. The crowd was chanting “Nika!” at Justinian meaning “conquer”. The atmosphere turned sourer and sourer and soon enough, Justinians palace was under siege by the angry mob, which lasted five days. Justinian was almost overthrown but managed to manoeuver his way to safety. In the aftermath about 30,000 rioters were killed and half of Constantinople lay in ruins.
