Attention turns again to unrest in Egypt, as Al Masry
football fans stormed the field to celebrate a 3-1 home victory over Cairo’s Al
Ahly. The result is an upset of sorts,
as Al Ahly has been Africa’s most successful team. The deaths of 74 people resulted as the fans
chased the losing team’s players and fans out of the stadium with “knives,
clubs and stones” (NYTimes). Apparently
police had been instructed to not search the fans for weapons before the game, and
indeed not to interfere in the brawl.
Apparently the national security forces intended to use any trouble at
the game as an excuse to maintain martial law in light of the upcoming
scheduled transfer of power to the elected government.
Fans of Tonya Harding will note that Ittihad El-Shorta (Police
Union), the team owned and operated by the Egyptian National Police, is
currently tied with Al Masry in fourth place in the standings about halfway
through the season, and are thus in earnest competition with both teams for
African Champions League qualification.
Apparently video footage shows police officers notably not
helping deal with the crowd or even the injured. Against that villainy, it’s still worth
wondering why this sport continues to observe such violence. Notably, while 74 deaths at a soccer match
seems like a lot, it doesn’t even crack the top 5 most deadly soccer matches
(OddCulture.com). Interestingly, the top
5 all occurred on different continents, with only Oceania thus far spared a
catastrophic game. With this event, the
top 15 have all occurred in different stadiums now.
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