Egypt, Algeria, Take Game to the Streets
Frida Alim | Nov 29, 2009 | Comments 10
The sound of cleats puncturing grass and the crisp pop of the ball being passed from one player to the other still sends my heart racing. The hum of thousands of patriotic fans cheering, flags flickering and horns blaring makes me more intently watch the ball weave from one player to the other. But the sight of blood, the sound of malicious insults and the general violence that followed the match between Algeria and Egypt did nothing to further my love for soccer. In fact, it made me realize that these games are often a catharsis for violent fans, and sometimes a proxy for political issues. And, on another level, it shows that there is nothing that unifies a people like a common enemy. So if the only news that has reached you regarding this game is the stoning of the Algerian soccer team’s bus by Egyptian fans, you have, at the least, been misinformed of the greater repercussions of the game. In fact, media coverage of the entire situation surrounding the game has been rather shameful.
When Egypt beat Algeria 2-0 on November 14, neither team qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Egypt, though the game’s winner, needed to score three goals during the game to secure a spot in next year’s coveted tournament. Regardless, the streets of Cairo were alive with the sound of drums beating and youths chanting. For many in Egypt and Algeria, soccer is an escape from the realities of daily life, from the downfalls of a failed government, and a reminder of what is left of national pride. Egyptians living in Algeria, however, had a different experience. And as the American and European media streamed Theirry Henry’s hand-ball against Ireland as though it had altered the world of soccer, Africa and the Middle East followed a much more violent soccer-related story.
In the days leading up to the second and deciding match between Egypt and Algeria, Egyptian citizens residing in Algeria reported assaults and intimidation. And although on November 18 Algeria put an end to Egypt’s hopes of attending the 2010 World Cup, beating the rival nation 2-0, it did not put an end to the violence. And in this case, the victors were the assailants. Following the game, Egyptian fans phoned satellite television channels reporting that it was difficult to leave the stadium due to assault by Algerian fans following the game. Despite the promised presence of 1,500 police officers by stadium, none of the officers did anything to calm the escalating tension. This is not surprising, given Sudan’s expulsion of neutral human rights groups. And until the situation diffused, many Egyptians were forced to seek refuge in Sudanese homes.
The violence leading up to the game and following Algeria’s win has been attributed to a propaganda campaign carried out in the Algerian media. Following Egypt’s victory in the first game, Algerian news-outlets repeated claims that nine Algerian nationals had been killed in violence between Egyptian and Algerian fans, spurring further hostility.
Although there was undoubtedly tension between the fans, as in any soccer match, deaths were certainly not the result of the skirmishes. Yet this media propaganda was effective in inciting further violence — this time with Egyptians as the victims. Following Algeria’s initial loss, EgyptAir’s office in the Algerian capital was attacked and looted, as well as Egyptian companies Orascom Telecom and The Arab Contractors. Employees of these organizations were trapped in their homes and offices.
In Marseilles, France, 500 French officers were deployed in response to Algerian youth who reacted to the first game by smashing shop windows, throwing stones and setting fires, prefacing later violence. Local sources in Egypt claim that there had been an increase in knife sales in the Sudanese capital only days before the game. And in the days leading up to the second match, Egyptians residing in Algeria became the targets of hate-crimes. Despite this coordinated violence against Egyptians, the result has been a global media campaign depicting Algerians as the victims.
It is worth noting that media reporting on this particular issue has been conflicting, but many of the reports of violence have come in the form of first-hand accounts of violence uploaded to YouTube. And Egyptian accounts of the violence have largely been limited to Arabic and thus to an Arabic-speaking population. While it becomes difficult to clarify the details of the violence, as Algeria, Egypt, and Sudan are all notable examples of nations with faulty security and minimal oversight, it is hard to overlook the startling accounts of violence for the sake of a sport. And for those of us who love soccer as a pastime and as a sport that unifies people across borders, ethnicities and languages, this is a sad example of meaningless violence.
Frida Alim is a third-year political science major. She can be reached at aabdelal@uci.edu.
Filed Under: Sports
Funny this article … already seen … always lies … but unfortunatly you’re telling only one side of the situation ! anyway it’s no importance … don’t you know that what happened from ALGERIAN supporters (MEN) was only reactions to what EGYPTIANS started !!! so if Egyptians didn’t do anything, if they were civilized anything of that would happen …
And yes (since you don’t deserve peace) let say we Algerians can and WILL be very agressif if you touch us or any of our cityzens !!! so be careful ! it was just a first sight ! we don’t know cowardice US !
Fist of all thanks to all European, many Arabs and Egyptians who supported the just cause of Algeria and exposed all the disinformation and spin by mainly the Egyptian corrupt media
To understand exactly what happen between Algeria and Egypt watch the link from 1 to 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px4X9VeV7KQ
Simon Boulanger:
Half of videos u mentionned has nothing to do with Algerians, the game, and most of them are not even in Cairo.
Not taking about the singer Reda city 16 who claimed that his brother died there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAUwmnGNF0
These cabs are not in Cairo at all, and this video is like 3 years old from another city and there are no algerians in it.
Other videos are as fake as an orgasm, I dont know where you see the algerian girl attacked on this video for instance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQmgVOMTXTY
For everyone who is saying that nothing happened in Sudan, I wont argue about that as I had friends who lived the whole experience and their buses were attacked.
Regarding burning the flag, it only happened after all the burning and destruction of Egyptian buildings and interest in Algeria, that include burning the Egyptian flag (I lost count how many times) and all the hate shown towards Egyptians there.
The problem for Egyptians is what happened in Sudan, it has nothing to do with a soccer game defeat. Egypt played thousands if not tens of thousands of matches, with all countries of the world. That is the only time that Egypt is faced by such barbarian acts from a whole country such Algeria and supported by its government and Army who provided food and transportation to Algerian fans till they accomplish their mission of attacking Egyptians. Shame on them!
I hope El chorouk was able to locate the body of the brother of Red City 16, he claimed he died there…which is quiet funny as his video was so naive, Strangely enough a population of 40 millions reacted based on it and believed it.Quiet awkward!!
“the stoning of the Algerian soccer team’s bus by Egyptian fans”
just a kind of Cairo folklore…
Your article is a violence against cleverness
This article was seemingly written by an Egyptian.The Egyptians stoned the Algerian players and tried to kill them with the complicity of the egyptian police. They seriously wounded three of them and the doctor of the team. The whole planet condemned this awful and stupid act. After the game the Algerian players were again stoned. The images are on all the world channels and the Algerian fans were assaulted and wounded. In Sudan nothing happened, the FIFA and the Sudanese authorities confirmed that. On an Egyptian channel the director of an Egyaptian newspaper called to the murder of the Algerians! In this country there is a hateful campaign against Algeria because Algeria defeated them.The Egyptian lawyers which means the elite of this underdevlopped country burned the Algerian flag! The middle age!On 2 December FIFA will sanction Egypt. In France it was not the Algerians it was young French of North African origin who are completely excluded by the French society.The Algerian newspaper el Chourouk will soon publish a white book containing all what the Egyptians did. Shame on them
As usual a one sided story coming from an egyptian news outlet. I would not blame you as you have been brainwashed by the general hysteria in Egypt.
Dahman
A lot of news coming from egyptians media were pack of lies. Even some Egyptian journalists admitted that a lot of Algeria-Egypt news were fabricated
The head of Egyptian community in Algeria talking to Egyptians TV.
To the astonishment of the Egyptian TV presenter he said that not a single Egyptian was beaten or abused in Algeria contrary to what the Egyptian news were propagating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKh7hNhfIM
Algerians fans after Egypt game, prior to leaving Cairo, being attacked in Cairo airport and forced to give-up their mobile-phones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zguoxIrdSHI
An Egyptian journalist talking to TV presenters and confirming that during the game in Egypt , the Algerians team was attacked with rocks, 45 Algerian fans were injured, 240 cars were damaged, one Algerian fan was stabbed with a knife and all under the Egyptian police watch who let it happen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ft_-ul9-hs
An Egyptian journalist confirmed that the video shown on all Egyptian TV regarding Algerians carrying knives in Sudan was invented, and the later video was in his email inbox about 5 days prior to the game Algeria-Egypt in Sudan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-FCfyHcsqU
In Cairo, Egyptians beaten up Algerian during Egypt-Algeria game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAUwmnGNF0
Attacking Algerian family in their home in Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQmgVOMTXTY
The Egyptians attacking Algerian fans in the Bus, The Egyptian driver was screaming “Where is the government? Where is the police? Where is the security”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX0Wb8_7xKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwOpqOZ_3Vw&feature=PlayList&p=030010FBDF2EC2AC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16
Interview of Al-Jazeera journalist based in Sudan. Confirming that all the Egyptian news reported concerning stoning of Egyptian bus, knifing Egyptians and beating Egyptians were untrue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpDPIrtMWF
This lost football game revealed the deep depression of the Egyptians.
Egyptians will be 150 millions in 50 years living in a 10 km wide band along the Nile. A Gigantic Gaza…
The real question is then: How are you going to deal with this situation…
Wake up
thanks for the article. You’re the only one who the depicted the whole situation as it is. Lot of the articles I read lately claim that Algerians are the victims while the opposite is the truth!
If you’re looking for an English speaking YouTube video for what really happened for the Egyptian fans, see this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcGBhoqRyHE&feature=player_embedded
According to EGYPTIAN ministry of health 45 Algerian fans were injured in Cairo after the game. This is just the number of fans who checked themselves into hospitals. You see, we’re not taking about hundred of others injured, humiliated , some tortured by Egyptian state police, others held hostage in the stadium 4 hours after the game ended. On the other hand, all the accusations put forward by the Egyptian officials with the help of a failed Egyptian journalism against Algerian fans behavior are baseless. Regardless, the FIFA sees th violence between soccer fans as football violence; but attacking a bus carrying the soccer elite of a country, thirty minutes after their Arrical to Cairo is unacceptable. The FIFA can’t protect Egypt as it’s always done. Protecting the dirty tactics, mischievous tricks and ” use all means to win ” is getting A very risky business for the FIFA. After all, there is always a divine justice even in football and the goal of Antar Yahia was proof of it. Egyptian officials failed the Egyptians when they underestimated Algeria as potential ambitious opponent. The egocentric Egyptian media, self proclaimed leader of the Arab media, failed the Egyptians when they conducted themselves unprofessionally by responding to youtubers and stepping over the boundaries of ethics by insulting revolutionary heroes, historical accomplishments and mocking the ethnic diversity of an entire nation that shares the same religion, the same language and the same ambitions to go to the soccer world cup. Egyptian government failed the Egyptians by not protecting the Algerian players in Cairo after theirs were received in Algiers with flowers. Their stupid arrogance and irresponsibility went too far when they stated that the incident was staged and they wasted no time in putting a phony bus driver as a solo witness of the attack. The Egyptian government failed the Egyptians when they didn’t protect the Algerian fans after the game. It failed them again when they miscalculated the game in Sudan and underestimated the capabilities of Algerian Airlines to move 10,000 fans in 42 hours. They underestimated the readiness of the Algerian embassy in Khartoum to accommodate its people. The Egyptian team failed the Egyptians when couldn’t beat the fennecs. The Egyptian government failed its people again and again and again by looking very pathetic, uncapacitated of giving something back to their ambitions. Soccer was all they had and it was also what the government wanted them to have. Instead of backing up and showing a sign of hope to the people, Mubarak family went running forward and making of a soccer ball a political hot potato. What a shame!