On the subject of football and diplomacy, in 1984 the then British Ambassador to communist Yugoslavia and I as Embassy First Secretary went to see Croatia’s Hajduk Split team play Tottenham in a UEFA Cup first-leg game.

At half-time Spurs were leading 1-0 and going well, Micky Hazard in outstanding form. The Ambassador went off to the VIP box. I stayed in my seat. And I saw something I never seen on any other football pitch or indeed anywhere else (I have led a sheltered life).

A Hajduk supporter sauntered out from the crowd on to the pitch and walked towards the centre circle. In his hand he gripped a live and unhappy chicken. Reaching the centre of the pitch he waved to the crowd and then ceremoniously wrung the chicken’s neck, throwing the flopping body on to the grass before strolling off to great acclaim from the Croat supporters. A Hajduk official scurried out and removed the corpse.

A vivid Balkans gesture of respect and welcome for Tottenham, whose emblem of course is the cockerel.

I recall seeing nothing subsequently about this grotesque and scandalous episode in the UK media, whose representatives no doubt were busy sampling rakija and grilled meats in the half-time bar. This was long before people had the high-tech kit to film such events themselves from their mobiles and get images on the Web or otherwise make an almost instantaneous e-fuss on a large scale.

Anyway, as a bit of dark Croatian ju-jitsu it worked up to a point, as Tottenham lost the match 2-1. But they beat Hajduk in the return leg at White Hart Lane and went on to lift the UEFA Cup, albeit on a penalty shoot-out – the last time they won a European competition. 

Here are the goals from that match in Split, from a Croatian compilation of some sort.

Look at the tight, short shorts. But no sign of the Dead Chicken.