After the media outrage made by one cursory report, we talked with a few officials from Ugljan island and got the information that brings an entirely different light on the incident.
Dnevnik.hr published the report about Ivan Rakitić being chased away from Ugljan island yesterday by the group of hooligans, and TCN has translated it and published the same report. As we did not have too much actual information from the original article, on July 2. 2016, we talked with a couple of sources from the island, who wanted to stay unnamed.
The original report brought the information about doors and windows being smashed, and the official police report claims it was only one broken window being broken by an unknown object.
Officials we talked with have spoken with the Croatian football star after the incident, and he was calm and aware that he was not the target. He even wanted to stay in Ugljan, but his wife did not appreciate the media attention, so they left the island in the evening.
The villa which was the venue of the incident is owned by a Hungarian businessman, and one local person. Our sources are confident that this was connected with this fact, and that the incident was only connected with Rakitić as the motive was to get media attention.
This was an unfortunate incident, as it got the wanted media attention, but there is one fact all the local people we have talked to are adamant about; Ivan Rakitić was not the target, and the media reports which connect this with the “hooligans” are plain wrong.
The word hooligan is rightfully used when incidents like this occur, but as it is related to football hooligans immediately in the minds of the readers, it should not be used lightly. After the incident, there is media speculation about Leo Messi's intention to join Rakitić on vacation. Officials we have talked with laughed when they heard this, and once more repeated that the reason for this is somewhere else, not in football or Ivan Rakitić himself.
TCN will follow up the story and try to get more official reports.
Article update - official press release and Ratikic's best man speaks.
