The “Žalgiris” battle in the Lithuanian football Top League tournament took place on Sunday, with the match ending in a victory for the visiting Vilnius team with a score of 1:0.
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However, even before and during the match, symbolism with the Polish phrase “Nigdy w Lewo” (“Never to the left”) and the aforementioned L. Kasčiūnas phrase, sometimes associated with neo-Nazi movements, was displayed in the Vilnius fans’ “South IV” stand.
Soon after the match, L. Kasčiūnas shared a brief reaction on Facebook: “Good night Left side”.
This post received both support and heavy criticism, claiming that both this slogan and the Polish phrase displayed in the fans’ stand during the match were borrowed from far-right movements and represent the spread of neo-Nazi or even fascist so-called football ultras culture.
L. Kasčiūnas himself assured commentators that he was responding to public criticism specifically about the Polish inscriptions during the match but did not explain further.
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The conservative leader was also attacked by the “Aušriečiai” chairman Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who stated that L. Kasčiūnas’s phrase is associated in the context of European football with “far-right and neo-Nazi subcultures” and is considered an inverted version of the anti-racist slogan “Good Night White Pride”.
Nevertheless, L. Kasčiūnas told 15min that the interpretations have gone too far and explained what he really intended.
The club president and public figure Andrius Tapinas also commented on this step by the famous fan.
