Is it an Egyptian hooliganism or a sensationalist media by-product?
It seems that the purpose of soccer in Egypt is about shedding as much blood as it could be. The horrific scenes of irate fans of Port Said soccer club assaulting their fellow ones from al-Ahly and resulting in the killing of At least 74 people indicate that there is something definitely wrong.
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| Port Said tragedy |
As some in Egypt, particularly The Muslim Brotherhood, accused remnants of the Mubarak regime of provoking the riot in an attempt to destabilise the country, many of Egypt's liberal youth activists, believing in conspiracy, quickly pinned the blame on the military council. Astonishingly, no evidence has been provided so far to back up any of the two allegations.
The root causes, I think, of this phenomenon are more than the work of some Mubarak’s loyalists, or the covert actions by the military council. As for Mubarak being involved somehow in this tragedy, I think history of soccer as bloody and violent as it has been confirms that hooliganism in Egypt is not a sudden occurrence. The Egyptian military council too has no benefit in exacerbating the security situation in Egypt. A disestablished Egypt, on the contrary, would intensify the popular dissent against the council.
The history of soccer violence in Egypt does not start in Port Said. We all remember what happened in Sudan in November 14, 2009 when dozens of Algerian and Egyptian fans were injured in assaults and clashes between the two sides as a result of Egypt’s soccer national team loss against Algerian one. Four days before that, on the night of the first game, which Egypt won, thousands of Egyptians flooded into the streets of Cairo screaming, dancing and wreaking havoc. Last year on Apr 3, 2011 hundred of Egpyt's Zamalek fans decided to storm the pitch, in stoppage time, and forced the referee to leave blaming the match’s Algerian referee for disallowing Egyptian side's third goal in a game between Zamalek and Tunisia's Club Africain. As the officials fled the scene after the game was abandoned, the crazies on the pitch threw stones, lit flares and attacked both the players and even each other.
In the aftermath of the game between Egypt and Algeria in Sudan, Egyptian and foreign observers alike marveled at the extent of nationalist fervor and mass mobilization done by the mass media in particular.
In this piece I argue, too, that the Egyptian media is to blame for all what tragically happened. Here is a one fact: Most of sport talk shows in Egypt, especially soccer ones, are run by inexperienced anchors that have no background in the field of mass communication. In fact, most of them were former players who think they can do better both on the field and in front of cameras. The incident of one famous talk show host, former player also, where he bastardized the whole people of Algeria is still fresh in memories. Another talk show watched by millions of Egyptians the host incited viewers to go out and kill any Algerian living in Egypt after a rumor spread in the net claiming that Egyptian fans were killed by Algerian counterparts in the Sudan game. By the way, this two frightening and despicable scenes happened on live shows where Egyptian flags were waved and national hymns were sung in a scene similar to a war mobilization.
The instigator host who openly urged his viewers to go out and kill Algerians who lived in Egypt had to be happy after he knew that some of his show fans responded to his call. It was not that long when his call for violence was answered and some hundreds of revengeful fans gathered in front of the Algerian embassy in Cairo, burning Algerian flags, and eventually clashing with of riot police.
The role of the media in this example was hijacked by fanatic and rookie media people who think their national pride was on the line and that there is no way but to take revenge from those who dare to deconsecrate it. Yeah, it is true that to those nationalism is sacred. For this reason, their sense of judgment is clouded by their allegiances to their nationalism rather than to their reasons.
Another extreme and strange response from the public to the sensationalist media following also the infamous Egypt vs. Algeria game was what was reported by al-Ahram newspaper when they ran a story about a village willing to change its name from al-Jaza'ir ("Algeria") to Mubarak al-misriyin.
Those are just few of a long list of examples of mishandling and unprofessionalism by the irresponsible Egyptian media which deviated from its proper course in educating people and helping in rationalizing their behaviors. Egypt is compelled to redefine the role of the media, in particular sport media and why not follow the steps of the European Committee on Civil liberties and Internal Affairs in its 1996 report which recommended that the media should "participate in the promotion of respect for fair pay in sport, to help promote positive sporting value, to combat aggressive and chauvinist behavior and to avoid any sensationalism in treating information on violence at sporting events”
As bereft Egypt is surely in our thoughts, one of the inexplicable remarks, yet saddening, is that as many as 73 people were allegedly killed by the winning team fans, which makes you wonder what would be the death toll if Port Said team lost.
The root causes, I think, of this phenomenon are more than the work of some Mubarak’s loyalists, or the covert actions by the military council. As for Mubarak being involved somehow in this tragedy, I think history of soccer as bloody and violent as it has been confirms that hooliganism in Egypt is not a sudden occurrence. The Egyptian military council too has no benefit in exacerbating the security situation in Egypt. A disestablished Egypt, on the contrary, would intensify the popular dissent against the council.
The history of soccer violence in Egypt does not start in Port Said. We all remember what happened in Sudan in November 14, 2009 when dozens of Algerian and Egyptian fans were injured in assaults and clashes between the two sides as a result of Egypt’s soccer national team loss against Algerian one. Four days before that, on the night of the first game, which Egypt won, thousands of Egyptians flooded into the streets of Cairo screaming, dancing and wreaking havoc. Last year on Apr 3, 2011 hundred of Egpyt's Zamalek fans decided to storm the pitch, in stoppage time, and forced the referee to leave blaming the match’s Algerian referee for disallowing Egyptian side's third goal in a game between Zamalek and Tunisia's Club Africain. As the officials fled the scene after the game was abandoned, the crazies on the pitch threw stones, lit flares and attacked both the players and even each other.
In the aftermath of the game between Egypt and Algeria in Sudan, Egyptian and foreign observers alike marveled at the extent of nationalist fervor and mass mobilization done by the mass media in particular.
In this piece I argue, too, that the Egyptian media is to blame for all what tragically happened. Here is a one fact: Most of sport talk shows in Egypt, especially soccer ones, are run by inexperienced anchors that have no background in the field of mass communication. In fact, most of them were former players who think they can do better both on the field and in front of cameras. The incident of one famous talk show host, former player also, where he bastardized the whole people of Algeria is still fresh in memories. Another talk show watched by millions of Egyptians the host incited viewers to go out and kill any Algerian living in Egypt after a rumor spread in the net claiming that Egyptian fans were killed by Algerian counterparts in the Sudan game. By the way, this two frightening and despicable scenes happened on live shows where Egyptian flags were waved and national hymns were sung in a scene similar to a war mobilization.
The instigator host who openly urged his viewers to go out and kill Algerians who lived in Egypt had to be happy after he knew that some of his show fans responded to his call. It was not that long when his call for violence was answered and some hundreds of revengeful fans gathered in front of the Algerian embassy in Cairo, burning Algerian flags, and eventually clashing with of riot police.
The role of the media in this example was hijacked by fanatic and rookie media people who think their national pride was on the line and that there is no way but to take revenge from those who dare to deconsecrate it. Yeah, it is true that to those nationalism is sacred. For this reason, their sense of judgment is clouded by their allegiances to their nationalism rather than to their reasons.
Another extreme and strange response from the public to the sensationalist media following also the infamous Egypt vs. Algeria game was what was reported by al-Ahram newspaper when they ran a story about a village willing to change its name from al-Jaza'ir ("Algeria") to Mubarak al-misriyin.
Those are just few of a long list of examples of mishandling and unprofessionalism by the irresponsible Egyptian media which deviated from its proper course in educating people and helping in rationalizing their behaviors. Egypt is compelled to redefine the role of the media, in particular sport media and why not follow the steps of the European Committee on Civil liberties and Internal Affairs in its 1996 report which recommended that the media should "participate in the promotion of respect for fair pay in sport, to help promote positive sporting value, to combat aggressive and chauvinist behavior and to avoid any sensationalism in treating information on violence at sporting events”
As bereft Egypt is surely in our thoughts, one of the inexplicable remarks, yet saddening, is that as many as 73 people were allegedly killed by the winning team fans, which makes you wonder what would be the death toll if Port Said team lost.
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