Egyptian Soccer Club pushes through violence to honor fallen fans

Al Ahly doesn't lose often. Football club is the largest and most successful in Egypt, and which claims to have tens of millions of fans around the world. But Masry's supporters were not celebrating the victory. Something had gone wrong.
"The fans were coming, Sprint after the match," fini, 28, recalled last week. "I knew they hated me and all the players. All the players worked. I didn't know what was happening outside. But something was happening outside. After that they killed the boys. No men, boys. "
As fini and his companions fled from Masry in supporters dressing, one of the darkest episodes in the history of football has been unfolding in the nearby bleachers. Within an hour, more than 70 people, many of them fans Ahly and members of the fan club, robotics Ultras, lay dead.
"One of the fans came into the room and said: ' you have a problem outside. Someone was killed. ' And then another was killed and another, "he said. "After this other comes in, and has a wound".
He worked slowly a finger from the left side of his temple to his chin, to illustrate the Gash on the face of the young man. It was the bloodiest day in Egypt in the wake of exit 22 months ago of President Hosni Mubarak who ruled for nearly three decades. There were widespread allegations that the military Government that had replaced Mubarak allowed the violence to escalate in order to justify his powers and undermine the revolution.
As a result, the Football League was cancelled immediately. The game has yet to resume, and some clubs are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But fini and his teammates somehow have endured and continue to play. The team is dedicated to taking part in the most prestigious competition that remained — hard African Champions League — and vowed to honor those who died and winning. And he did it. Last month, al Ahly beat Esperance of Tunisia to be crowned champions of Africa, taking a path to the title that meant advocating a coup d ' état of Mali, conspiracy theories and protests during a meeting on the street.
Not only was the seventh victory of Ahly club contest — making it the most decorated club of African history — but also meant the team qualified for the Club World Cup in Japan, where the champions of the six regional Confederations Cup fought out through this past weekend to be crowned the best in the world. Another title, another chance to honor those who had died, was at stake. The man who had taken the Ahly this far, which had put back on track after the bloodbath, who had gotten to players who had been scarred by the chaos that had witnessed was the 52-year-old coach, Hossam el-Badry.
"The club called me to take charge as head coach, but it was very difficult for me to prepare players emotionally after Port Said," Badry said the day before al Ahly was to play the Japanese champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the quarterfinals of World Cup for clubs. Port Said's accident had led many players to withdraw immediately from stock. Among them was Mohamed Aboutrika, al Ahly midfielder famous and one of the greatest players that Africa has produced.
As the fans were killed in Port Said — some crushed to death in a stampede, others stabbed and beaten by supporters Masry said that Aboutrika — held a fan into his arms as he died on the floor of the locker room. Badry, the answer to get his players to focus on football again had to convince them that redemption for what happened on the field.
"I told them that I know it's very difficult to forget that day," he said. "You have to change this bad time for doing something good for them."

Russian Soccer Fans Marching Backward to Intolerance

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
The prominent group of Zenit supporters, known as Landscrona, posted a letter on its Web site on Monday, saying it wanted to preserve the traditional identity of the team by signing only homegrown players or those from Slavic nations like Ukraine and Belarus, from the Baltic nations or from Scandinavia. The club did not have a black player until late summer and has a history of prejudiced behavior by some of its fans.

“Dark-skinned players are all but forced down Zenit’s throat now, which only brings out a negative reaction,” the fan group said, adding that gay players were “unworthy of our great city.”

Antiracism officials said the episode was another embarrassment for Russia as it prepares to host the 2018 World Cup and for Gazprom, the government-controlled natural gas company that owns Zenit St. Petersburg and is a sponsor of the Champions League, Europe’s most important club tournament.

Late Monday night, Zenit’s sporting director, Dietmar Beiersdorfer, rebuked the fan group, saying on the club Web site, “We make our player selections without any limitation regarding origin, religion or skin color.”

Zenit’s Italian manager, Luciano Spalletti, called for inclusiveness and respect of other cultures in an interview with the club’s radio network, saying that “being tolerant means that you fight against any kind of stupidity.”

Despite Zenit’s disavowal of its fan club’s demand to sign only white players, “at some point, this policy has been practiced by the club,” said Piara Powar, the executive director of the London-based FARE network, formerly known as Football Against Racism in Europe.

Zenit was the only top-level Russian club never to include a black player until early September, when it signed the Brazilian forward Hulk and the Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel for a combined $100 million. In late September, according to Russian news accounts, a fake bomb was found in a bag at Zenit’s training site, with a photograph of Hulk and the inscription, “Hulk out!”

The French midfielder Yann M’Vila, who is black, reportedly turned down a transfer to Zenit in August after receiving threats from some of the club’s most extreme supporters, known as ultras, who have a notorious saying, “There’s no black in the colors of Zenit.”

Last year, Zenit was fined about $10,000 after one of its fans offered a banana to Roberto Carlos, the onetime Brazilian great who was finishing his club career in Russia. Later last year, Carlos walked off the field before the final whistle in a match against Zenit after a banana was thrown at him.

In 2008, Zenit’s manager at the time, Dick Advocaat of the Netherlands, said, “I would be happy to sign anyone, but the fans don’t like black players.”

In 2007, Serge Branco, a midfielder from Cameroon playing in the Russian league, said he incurred repeated racial abuse by Zenit fans and added, “Zenit bosses do not do anything about it, which makes me think they are racists, too.”

European soccer has dealt with a number of high-profile instances of racial abuse since last December, including the suspensions of Luis Su?rez of Liverpool and John Terry of Chelsea in England’s Premier League. By degree, racism and xenophobia have historically been more virulent in Eastern Europe, with some fans making monkey chants and throwing bananas, and others giving Nazi salutes.

The Russian soccer federation was fined $150,000 at the European Championships last summer after some fans fought with stadium stewards and displayed nationalistic “Russian Empire” flags. Russian fans also clashed with Polish fans in Warsaw and were accused of racially taunting Theodor Gebre Selassie, the lone black player for the Czech Republic.

“People ask me, ‘Are we in crisis in Europe?’ ” Powar of the FARE antiracist organization said in a telephone interview from London. “I don’t think so. There’s not the same focus on racial tribalism as in the past. I think some big gains have been made. But some things we took for granted have been eroded away. It’s been a tough year, a step backward.”

The latest racial behavior by Zenit fans underscores the education of tolerance necessary in Russia ahead of the 2018 World Cup, said Powar, who visited Moscow last week. The Russian soccer federation “understands the problems they face; they seem determined to do what they can,” Powar said. “But in the end, Russia is a very big place. To completely eradicate elements like this is going to be very difficult.”

Some antiracism officials have criticized the muted response by European soccer officials to the latest Zenit incident. UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has asked Zenit to clarify its position on the signing of players. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, which has called for zero tolerance of racism, could not be reached for comment. The FIFA Web site did not address the issue Monday or Tuesday.

“Where is the world governing body in its denouncement?” said Lord Herman Ouseley of London, chairman of the antiracist group Kick it Out.

Last week, Ouseley resigned a position with the English soccer federation, saying he thought it was retreating in its fight against racism. Of the demand by Zenit fans, he said from London: “It stands out because it’s gone public. But a lot of people are trying to articulate prejudices in different ways, behind the scenes, with a lot of pressure applied.”

Given the growing diversity on Europe’s elite club teams, adherence to a policy of racial purity would only limit the breadth of Zenit’s player pool and lead to isolation and failure, Powar said.

“Perhaps that is no bad thing,” he said.

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