It was a day remembered less for the football and more for the repression in and around football. On October 7, 1989, Borac and Dinamo met in a league match in Banja Luka.

The Blues had a great opportunity when Davor Šuker hit the crossbar with a long-range shot, but then in the 42nd minute, Goran Alar found Dinamo's net and the hosts eventually won 1-0.

However, the match was marked by police repression against the Bad Blue Boys, with some media running headlines of "A millimeter away from massacre". Near the end of the first half, several flares and firecrackers were thrown from the northern section of the stands where the BBB were located, causing referee Mateo Beusan to threaten to stop the match and announce that he would clear that section of the stands. Police then rushed among the spectators in the north stand and used brutal physical force with drawn batons. The visiting supporters were then moved from the northern stand to the auxiliary pitch, surrounded by wire and a police cordon, and held there for hours. Double standards were evident in that law enforcement did not react to the pyrotechnics arsenal of home supporters during their goal celebration.

In a statement from Banja Luka's SUP (Secretariat of Internal Affairs), a criminal offense was announced for Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban. When Boban came to the ball near the bench with substitute players to take a throw-in in the second half, a policeman interfered with him. Just as the Maksimir captain reached for the ball to take the throw-in, the militia member kicked it several meters away. When he asked why he was doing that, the policeman snapped back with a curse and a derogatory mention of Zagreb, to which Boban also verbally responded. Later, Dinamo's captain recalled that the policeman insulted him "on national grounds" while he insulted the policeman only on "physical grounds".

Interestingly, Borac's coach, Split native Stanko Poklepović, left his team and the stadium after only 30 minutes of play and flew by republic SUP helicopter to his son's wedding in Trogir.

The Blues came to Banja Luka just three days after the first leg of the Cup round of 16 in which they visited Partizan in Belgrade in a match where they led twice, but the hosts still turned it around and won 3-2. Later, the black and whites also celebrated in the return leg in Zagreb with a 1-0 victory.

With the defeat in peculiar circumstances in Banja Luka, the Blues lost their place at the top of the table, which was taken over by Red Star, as they beat Rijeka at Kantrida 4-1 in the same round. After that weekend, both the Blues and the red and whites had the same points tally.

Dinamo then played against Rijeka in the next round, but at Maksimir Stadium. After 90 minutes of play, the result was 1-1, with Zagreb still winning a point through better penalty execution. At that time in the Yugoslav league, there was a rule that in case of a draw after 90 minutes, teams would take penalties. Whoever was more successful would win a point, while the opponent would remain on zero.