1970–71 Yugoslav First League


The 1970–71 Yugoslav First League season was the 25th season of the First Federal League, the top level association football league of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. Eighteen teams contested the competition, which ended with Hajduk Split winning their fourth title, club's first in 16 years.

Incidents

The season featured an incident that occurred in Split's Stari plac Stadium on 23 September 1970 during the Hajduk vs. OFK Beograd week 7 league fixture. With the score tied at 2-2, match referee Pavle Ristić from Novi Sad fell unconscious in the 52nd minute after getting hit in the head with an object thrown from the stands. The match was stopped and the Yugoslav FA's disciplinary body made a ruling to register it with a 0-3 score for OFK Beograd.
The disciplinary measure set off huge days-long, often violent protests in Split that quickly assumed a distinctly anti-Belgrade and anti-Serb tone. Led by the club's hardcore fans Torcida, the practice of seeking out parked cars with the city of Belgrade license plates and pushing them into the Adriatic Sea from the docks was especially widespread in Split during the protests. The press also reported about some of the gathered mob spontaneously launching into a cynical and sarcastic rendition of Sergio Endrigo's then current and popular song "Kud plovi ovaj brod" as the cars with Belgrade plates were pushed into the sea and floated in the water before sinking.
Due to their political undertones and the potential to undermine the country's official inter-ethnic guiding principle during the sensitive time when MASPOK was gathering steam in SR Croatia, the Split football protests quickly came to the attention of Yugoslav politicians who decided to deal with the situation by pressing FSJ into changing its disciplinary ruling and registering the 2-2 score. FSJ did exactly that, reinstating the score at the moment when the match was interrupted as the official result.

League table


Promoted from Yugoslav Second League:
Club
Sutjeska Nikšić
Vardar Skopje

Winning squad

PosPlayerAppsGoals
MF 346
DF 330
MF 3311
DF 320
FW 307
291
297
GK 250
FW 2420
234
DF 200
DF 161
DF 161
DF 140
121
MF 110
GK 90
80
80
30
20
11
10

Top scorers