Slavia Praha's celebration of a win after a Gambrinus liga match in Mladá Boleslav followed the script of every other post-game celebration in team history. But when three Slavia players ad-libbed a famously hateful line, they unwittingly upped the ante of a century-old rivalry and now face stiff league sanctions.

After the Oct. 29 win, several Slavia players ran up to the crowd to thank the dozens of Slavia fans who came to the game. The celebration escalated, resulting in a few players chanting, "Death to Sparta!" alongside their fans.

Slavia players Stanislav Vlček, Pavel Fořt and Radek Dosoudil were caught on film, and the clip was later posted on a Slavia fan Web site, where it caught the eye of daily Mladá fronta Dnes.

The paper reported the incident, which has raised turmoil in the soccer community. After initially denying the incident, the players admitted chanting with fans.

"We felt euphoric after the win, and, in this situation, one can say something that he really does not mean," Fořt said.

Meanwhile, Vlček asked for public forgiveness.

"It was my stupidity," he said. "I'll be ready to accept punishment."

Slavia's rivalry with crosstown Sparta is as old as professional soccer in the country, and the clubs practically divide the nation into two. But this was the first time that players from either side displayed publicly witnessed hate speech toward their rivals.

Slavia management said that it would admonish the players for their controversial behavior, but said it would take no other action.

In the meantime, the Czech Football Association (ČMFS) Disciplinary Committee has started a proceeding against the players. They face possible suspensions.

But ČMFS Committee Chairman Alexander Károlyi said the affair was likely to end with fines that could reach up to 500,000 Kč ($23,000) for each player. The decision was expected Nov. 15

Deep-seeded differences

While the Slavia players' actions are unprecedented, the chant is nothing new, and the history of ire between the players and fans of the two clubs goes back some time. "Death to Sparta" can be heard at any Slavia game, regardless of the opponent. Sparta fans, for their part, often chant "Jude Slavia," a nonsensical anti-Jewish epithet.

In fact, nothing divides Czechs quite like their allegiance to either Sparta or Slavia. The rivalry transcends sport, emerging from political and economic differences in the country's history.

During the communist era, Sparta was considered the favorite of the ruling elite, while the club's traditional support came from the working class.

Slavia was a thorn in the side of communist apparatchiks, and its fans were recruited mostly from the youth and local intelligentsia. From its inception as the athletic branch of a Czech-language literary and debate society in 1892, Slavia took its colors and red star from the independent Czech flag of the day.

Generations have been raised to root for one team or the other, and devotion to a team is often a matter of family heritage.

"My dad was a Sparta fan, and I've been a Sparta enthusiast since childhood, too," Sparta Captain Tomáš Sivok said.

Eat them!

Players who have had the misfortune of playing for both teams are often subject to boos, both from their new team's fans and their old team's supporters.

National team star Karel Poborský, who now plays for České Budějovice, was not spared fans' ire.

"Some fans would cheer me when I was on the national team, and, a few days later, boo me just because I donned the Sparta jersey," Poborský said.

Similarly, midfielder Pavel Horváth — a key Slavia midfielder who later joined Sparta Praha — said that he expected a hostile welcome from Slavia fans.

"No one can escape that," Horváth said.

While fans' provocations have become a tradition, the tension between opposing players is a nascent phenomenon.

Former Sparta head coach František Straka, an admitted loyalist, ordered a special meal for the team during a dinner before a match between the two clubs in 2004: bloody steaks shaped like the Slavia organization symbol — a five-point star. Straka said he intended to further pump up his players before the game.

Before another game last spring, Sparta captain Sivok did not hesitate to openly declare that he despises Slavia. In order to demonstrate his attitude, he let himself be photographed last spring holding a Slavia flag at a distance from his body, wearing a plastic glove on the hand with which he held the flag.

ČMFS Disciplinary Committee Chairman Károlyi said that, while the traditional rivalry between the two clubs is understandable, the committee is ready to punish unsportsmanlike conduct typified by the three Slavia players.