SNAP ANALYSIS-Tennis-Ancient tensions spark crowd fights

By Julian Linden

MELBOURNE, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Friday's violent clashes at the Australian Open were just the latest in a long line of ethnic disputes that have spilled on to Australian sporting fields for decades.

Although the trigger for Friday's fighting was a seemingly peaceful tennis match between Serbia's defending champion Novak Djokovic and Bosnian-born American Amer Delic, the root cause of the brawl can be traced back to the centuries-old rivalry between the Balkan states.

Australia, which has long been a popular destination for migrants from eastern-bloc states, has unwittingly become a battleground for their ancient ethnic tensions and sport is the obvious focal point.

Migrants came to Australia in the 1850s during the gold rush but the three biggest waves were just after World War II, in the early 1980s and most recently after the bloody Balkan war.

Figures released after the 2006 national census showed there were around 100,000 Australians with Croatian heritage, nearly 120,000 Serbs, 25,000 Bosnians and 365,000 Greeks.

* Violent clashes became commonplace in Australia's soccer leagues, where clubs were traditionally founded along ethnic lines. Most of the fighting took place between teams from Croatian, Serbian and Greek backgrounds, as nationalistic tensions reached dangerous levels.

* In 2005, Australian state governments introduced new laws to crack down on sporting hooligans after a riot between rival supporters of Croatian-backed and Serbian-supported teams in a second tier competition in Sydney.

About 50 fans were involved in the brawl which resulted in heavy arrests, the injury of two police officers and escalated into gunshots and firebombing.

* The feuding and ugly nationalism became such a blight on the game in Australia that soccer's world governing body FIFA reversed its decision to award Oceania an automatic place in the 2006 World Cup because of the way Soccer Australia was running the game domestically.

That prompted the Australian federal government to intervene. Soccer Australia was dismantled and replaced with a new governing body, the Football Federation of Australia (FFA).

The FFA's first task was to start a brand new competition without any ethnic-based teams, taking away the one outlet rivals factions had to fight.

* With soccer no longer a focal point, rival supporters needed a new battleground and the Australian Open fit the bill.

While professional tennis was once dominated by players from the United States and Australia, there has been a rapid increase in the number of top players from the former Yugoslavia and other eastern-bloc states.

Yugoslav-born Monica Seles, who was stabbed by a crazed fan during a 1993 tournament in Germany, won nine grand slam titles, including four Australian Opens.

Goran Ivanisevic inspired a new generation of Croatians by winning Wimbledon while reigning Australian Open champion Djokovic is leading a wave of top Serbs in the sport.

* With the Australian Open played in Melbourne, which has a high population of European migrants, fans turn up in their thousands, wearing football shirts and chanting provocative nationalistic songs that add to the hostile climate.

* In 2007, 150 Croat and Serb fans engaged in a wild brawl, hitting each other with bottles and flagpoles. It was the first time in more than 100 years of grand slam tennis that violence had erupted at a tournament.

The images were broadcast around the world and despite increased security, the trouble continued in 2008 and 2009.

Last year, police used capsicum spray on a group of rowdy Greek supporters and there have been two separate outbreaks this week with the likelihood of more in the future.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)