Soccer Riot in Egypt

                                             Soccer Riot in Egypt

Have you ever wondered why there is so much violence in sport?  What about the game of soccer?  Many instances of violence have occurred within the crowd of spectators at soccer games . One such instance happened on Feb. 1, 2012 in Egypt.

In Egypt there was a big soccer game between two Egyptian teams. The Al-Ahly were playing against the the Al-Masry. The favourite team was Al- Ahly. They were the top team in their league.  Everything was going fine.  Al-marsy was up 2-1.  The game was almost over when Al- marsy scored one more goal to win the game.  Al-Masry had won 3-1 and defeated the top team in the league.  Following the game Al-Ahly fans started to get angry and stormed the field with all sorts of weapons like knifes, chairs and rocks.  Then it started to get worse. 

The police started to get involved. They made things worse. They started to throw tear gas at all of the fans and started to hit fans with their sticks. Some of the survivors said that the police were not helping.  74 people died.  Some of the deaths were caused by people suffocating as they were trampled in the large crowd.  This happened because most of the people headed to the exit but when they got there it was blocked by a heavy metal steel gate.

Some of the fans didn't even run for the gate. They stayed back in the stadium and started to set parts of the stadium on fire. One of the Egyptian soccer players said that it felt like a war. What is surprising is that in all of this chaos none of the players from either team died in the riot. When the riot was finally over 74 people were killed, over 1000 people were injured and about 47 people were sent to jail. This has been one of the biggest riots that I have ever seen or heard of.

Here are some photos that happened that day

  

This is when people got killed from large crowds



This is when the people stormed the field

This is what happened when fans started to put the stadium on fire.

 

This is when the police got involved



This is a video of all of the chaos of the soccer riot in Port.

 

How can we stop violence in sport and in particular, soccer. There may be no way to stop violence. Violence is all over the world. Today and tommorow.   History is filled with conflict that erupts into violence.  Why should sport be any different? Why do people commit violence in sport?

Violence in soccer makes me sad because people die and get injured.  I don't like seeing it in the game I love and dream of playing when I grow up. When this stuff happens in soccer it kind of turns me away from the game. Violence is everywhere, in wars, in your home, in sports and it's in malls. It is so disgusting that there would be people out there killing or hurting other people just because their favourite soccer team lost a game. This has to be stopped.  I have a few ideas that how this can be stopped.

1. no alcohol at games
2. shut down the team whose fans are violent
3. more security entering stadium
4. ban fans with violent past
5. everybody that riots goes to jail

And that is all of the things that I can think of to stop soccer violence.


            Different soccer riots in history

I am going to tell you about some other soccer riots in history to make a point that this happens a lot.

1. 1982, October 8. The riot was in the UEAF cup final match between Spartak vs. the Netherlands and it was held at a stadium in Moscow.  According to the police 66 people died from this riot but other calculations say that 304 people died from this riot.

2. This riot happened at 1985 Hayley Stadium. This was the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.  39 Juventus fans were killed in this riot.

3. 1985. When football has reached it's lowest point in England. It was between Birmingham and Leeds.  Only one person died in this riot. It was a fourteen year old boy.  It happened when a wall collapsed on him.

4. The 2008 UEFA Cup final match was held at the Eastlands Stadium, Manchester City vs. Zenit St. Petersburg. Outside the stadium was a drunken riot of Manchester fans. They started to fight with the police and then throwing trash cans at window shops.