World Football - View from Egypt: Who is to blame for tragedy?

Thu, 02 Feb 18:38:00 2012

Mohab Magdy, a senior sport editor for Yahoo! in Egypt, tries to make sense of Wednesday's tragedy that left 74 of his countrymen dead.

Soccer fans flee from a fire at Port Said Stadium February 1, 2012. Seventy-three people were killed and at least 1,000 injured on Wednesday after a soccer pitch invasion in the Egyptian city of Port Said, a health ministry official said, in an incident t - 0

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First of all, a confession. I had never been interested in politics before, but it seems that politics is involved in everything in Egypt these days - especially in sport.

On Wednesday, the whole world witnessed one of, if not the ugliest and saddest incident, in the history of sport.

Seventy-four people died and more than 1000 were injured as a result of a riot after a football match between Al Masry of Port Said and Al Ahly of Cairo.

To some it might have looked like a tragic 'accident' similar to what happened in Europe before at Heysel, Hillsborough, Bastia, etc, but when we learnt that the majority of the deaths and injuries were caused by stabbings, head injuries from blunt objects and gunshots, it became clear that there are some serious questions that need answering.

'Ultra' fan groups started in Egypt in 2007, and although I am totally against their aggressive and fanatical style of supporting their teams, right from the start they have suffered a lot at the hands of the police. When there were calls for people to go out and create a social revolution, they were among the first to participate.

After the toppling of former president Hosni Mubarak, they continued their protestations against the police and lately they have been putting pressure on SCAF (Senior Counsel of Armed Forces) to hand the power to a civilian authority.

It is also worth mentioning that 'Ultras' played a major role in defending the protestors during the ‘Battle of the Camel’ at Tahrir Square last year, when 11 Egyptian protestors died and hundreds were injured by Mubarak’s supporters who were riding horses and camels.

Do the actions in Port Said sound like a message on the battle's one-year anniversary?

Though some may say that the historical unrest between Al Ahly fans and the local fans of Port Said is the main cause of what happened on Wednesday, I have to say that after the revolution, the level of intolerance between various Ultras groups decreased significantly - after all, they participated and were all united under the same goal which ended the era of the old regime.

Even if this week's incident was influenced by fanatical causes, does it sound logical that fans of a winning team would go mad and kill 74 people? They would surely know the result of such actions.

Added to that, this wasn’t the first incident of a pitch invasion by fans in Egypt after the revolution; this happened five or six times before, although on those occasions no one was killed.

 : Riots in Egypt

As we move on to the police force and their role in keeping order at football matches, more questions get raised that I cannot answer myself.

If we can accept that the police could not prevent fans from invading the pitch during or after the match, is it acceptable that they allowed some home fans to enter the stadium with knives and guns and as such, was this violence planned?

According to witnesses in the Port Said stadium, doors that lead from the home stands to the pitch were opened, so the fans didn’t have to climb or make any effort to invade the pitch and cause chaos.

On the other hand, doors at the end of the tunnel that lead the away fans out of the stadium were locked. This caused the away fans to become trapped inside the tunnel and their stand and so, they couldn’t escape getting injured or killed. Was this a police trap?

These are just assumptions and questions that I don’t have all the answers to, so if anyone can answer those questions or has an opinion, please don’t hesitate to contact me or comment below.

Mohab Magdy, Senior Sports Editor, Yahoo! Maktoob Arabic (http://sports.maktoob.com/)

News Egypt

Riots in Cairo

Mohab Magdy in Egypt / Eurosport

Comment 275 - 294 of 294

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  1. omg, some of your comments people make me sick.

    this­ has nothing to do with religion, and i'm sure as­ hell it has nothing to do with sports.

    you are not­ getting the full picture.

    a bunch of hired thugs­ killed innocents, that's what really happened,­ trust me i live there, in port said.

    a bunch of scums­ came to the stadium to kill peaceful innocents, now the­ right question to ask is: who hired them ?

    the answer:­ someone from mubarak's regime.

    just like what­ happened in the battle of the camel on Tahrir square,­ someone paid a lot of money to thugs and criminals to­ storm the square riding horses and camels in order for­ them to kill the innocent and peaceful protesters.

    you­ should google "the battle of the camel tahrir­ square" and see whether you'll change your­ mind or not...

    From HeartBreak Kid, on Sun 5 Feb 1:15

  2. there has been no sportsmanship in football since the­ 60`s. it`s become trible holiganisum and should no­ longer be classed as a sport !!!

    From a.fear, on Sat 4 Feb 9:33

  3. A sad day for football and Egypt. Sport's meant to­ bring communities together, condolences go to the­ innocents caught up in this horrific event.

    From TheManFromDelMonte, on Sat 4 Feb 6:33

  4. 292.To all western people who choose to be racists,­ stop­ preaching us about civilisation, democracy and­ human­ rights as racism is against all that.­ Civilisation in­ Egypt had started long time before­ your countries were­ put on the map. Every nation has­ periods of success and­ other periods of decline.­ Accept people for what they­ are even if they have­ different ideology, way of living­ and aims in life.­ This is being civilised. But not to­ come on this web­ page and start voicing negative­ opinions and hatered.­ And for western people who choose­ to voice thier­ condolences, we thank you so much.

    bullcrap, look up­ skara brae ahmed, a civilisation older than yours and­ in scotland of all places, civilisation in egypt was­ all master slave, whys there no middle class there­ nowadays, only rich/poor, 74 killed in a riot is so­ sad, how weak minded where the people who started it,­ and how weak minded are you for living in a bubble

    From lundy, on Sat 4 Feb 6:31

  5. To all western people who choose to be racists, stop­ preaching us about civilisation, democracy and human­ rights as racism is against all that. Civilisation in­ Egypt had started long time before your countries were­ put on the map. Every nation has periods of success and­ other periods of decline. Accept people for what they­ are even if they have different ideology, way of living­ and aims in life. This is being civilised. But not to­ come on this web page and start voicing negative­ opinions and hatered. And for western people who choose­ to voice thier condolences, we thank you so much.

    From ahmed, on Sat 4 Feb 6:03

  6. let us all hope and pray that egypt will have peace in­ their country. and that they will have a fair and just­ government. and the people will be able to live like­ the west without any fear or unjust.

    From haleacock, on Sat 4 Feb 5:57

  7. This stinks of revenge, and the people that engineered­ it should be tried for mass murder.

    From bryanh120964, on Sat 4 Feb 5:48

  8. And will washington be gaveing the { is it 1 billion­ dollars aid to Egypt this month } I think we would­ need at lease 10 or 20 goals that would need to be meet­ before money would flow {maybe as a goal was meet­ then amount would be gave ect .ect, } ???? We need­ to help bring peace

    From johnn, on Sat 4 Feb 2:40

  9. Just blame Israel for this...

    From SCOTT, on Sat 4 Feb 2:39

  10. they wouldnt know what to do if they werent clubbing­ each other skulls in

    From ,,,,,,,,,......, on Sat 4 Feb 1:34
  11. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I thought it was funny

    From dolecard, on Sat 4 Feb 1:02

  12. This has nothing to do with sport The police obviously­ had something to do with it. Revenge maybe, stange how­ the gates where opened to let them onto the pitch and­ the away supporters exit blocked. This was no­ coinsident.
    The amount of people killed all from one­ side in such a short space of time cannot be other than­ done by paid thugs, Also the police hate the­ humiliation they have gone through in the riots. and­ were most probably backed by the hated Interior­ ministry. anyway the word soon got out as the subsquent­ rioting in that area showed.
    Football supporters go to­ a match to watch football. Trouble makers go to cause­ trouble, but if you pay the trouble makers enough money­ they will do what they are asked to in a trouble torn­ country like Egypt

    From hi.tech100, on Sat 4 Feb 0:09
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    A tragedy,Yes.However everyone keeps looking for­ someone to blame.
    Well its not someone,its­ something...SOCCER.
    Every incidence of hooliganism or­ violence in sport is centered around soccer­ games.
    There is a pervasive element of violence that­ permeates the soccer supporter.
    Until you change the­ type of supporters at soccer matches, nothing will­ change.
    I guarantee you there are Egyptian supporters­ bragging about the riots in some taverna somewhere.
    Its­ just SOCCER...thats the problem,scum on and off the­ pitch..

    From Garrett B, on Fri 3 Feb 23:20

  14. Makes me puke - civilised my arse - this was football­ not a war!!!!
    Human life is so cheap in the middle­ east
    No wonder the world is in such a mess

    A good­ example of this is - when there is a headline piece on­ TV following an accident in any middle east country -­ the paramedics and the police have to fight with­ members of the public to get to the victim? The whole­ population is out of control!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Gring, on Fri 3 Feb 22:12

  15. Personally I would blame the Egyptian FA officials who­ went ahead with the game despite the hostile­ environment. There were signs of trouble before the­ game started and the visitor's team "Al­ Ahly" couldn't do any warming up beacuse they­ were bombarded with fireworks and explosive­ projectiles. Also in all the available videos you can­ notice a blatant passive behaviour from the riot police­ who have allowed Port Said supporters to butcher and­ kill the visitors. Whoever was responsible for this­ massacre (which by the way has nothing to do with­ football or sports) has succeeded in excuting their­ plan and spreading the fuel of violence, I am afraid­ it's just a taste of what's coming ahead and­ the kind of price Egypt will have to pay for democracy.

    From Aziz, on Fri 3 Feb 22:02

  16. It's sad how people have commented, when something­ like this happens in any other country like uk or­ anywhere else it's a tragic accident, but when it­ happens in a muslim country how everybody starts to­ blame the religion when religion has nothing to do with­ it. Shame on all the racists

    From Sab, on Fri 3 Feb 21:35
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Who's to blame? Well ... probably the West, Israel,­ Obama, Blair, and anyone who isn't Muslim.

    From B, on Fri 3 Feb 20:59

  18. nothing changed

    From WilliamA, on Fri 3 Feb 20:44
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    The koran was written 600 years after the Holy Bible­ was completed by The God of Creation...Revelations­ ch.22:18 For I testify unto every man that hear

    From R, on Fri 3 Feb 20:42

  20. We could deepen the query with a basic understanding of­ how people connect to others, not just in the context­ of the event at hand. Sports are built upon the­ adversarial system of human relationships. Teams are­ comprised of individuals who's personal allegiance­ is toward the team to which they belong. The­ adversarial relation between teams gives meaning to the­ individuals involved and to those experiencing a­ vicarious attachment to a particular team by being a­ "fan". Those persons will sport hats, shirts,­ flags of their chosen team. This system of­ identification is the basis of all team competition and­ is an expression of "tribalism" which in turn­ is expressed in the animal kingdom as "pack"­ behavior. So in a real sense, all sports, at their­ base, are an expression of the animal part of the­ human condition. If one objectifies any particular­ sport, the intent of that sport is extremely simple. In­ football, a team moves the ball from one side of the­ field to another. In basketball, a team moves the ball­ from one side of the court and drops the ball through a­ hoop. But underlying that simplicity is the­ complexities in strategy, skill, and management of­ personalities to obtain the desired result of­ surpassing the effectiveness of the opposing team. The­ requirement for success is to act coherently and­ favorably toward ones team members and to reduce the­ opposing team to the status of enemy. The analysis­ begins to look very similar to the realities of war­ and, in fact, is ritualized war if one is to­ contextualize in terms of national fervor and jingoism.­ It is no surprise then that hyper-involved in-group­ driven individuals will , under the intoxication of­ team importance and hegemony, develop hatred for those­ not of their group. At it's base, events like this­ tragedy are simply a consequence of people's­ attachment to ideology (team supremacy) which is a­ consequence of the adversarial model of human­ relationships. The opposing w

    From Mark Y, on Fri 3 Feb 20:35
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