Egyptian Soccer Riot: Death Toll At 73

Egyptian Soccer Riot: Death Toll At 73

latimesblogs.latimes.com

“There are 11 deaths at my hospital. Two other hospitals include 25 deaths. Three fans have also died in the stadium," Hassan Esnawy, the manager of Port Said's El Amiry hospital, said in a television interview. “Some died of stampede and others died of suffocation.”

Indications of the mayhem to come occurred when Port Said fans threw fireworks at Ahly players before the match. Hooligans tried unsuccessfully to rush the field during halftime but there were no confrontations during 90-minutes...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow, I am a HUGE footy fan, but this is fricking absurd.

I love the aggressive atmosphere and the passion people show for teams, but it's stories like this that give soccer fans a bad name.

Hooligans shouldn't be able to whip a stadium into a murderous frenzy...

This is just another sign of the times... Can't even have a respectable match of footy anymore...

latimesblogs.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

People like to criticize the states obsession with American football but these things don't happen with our fanatics. Regardless, its still a tragedy. People just want to play a game and others like to ruin it.

It is funny how America is full of gun stories and nothing happens in matches and in the UK no guns they riot all over the place, maybe the gun culture in America sends a signal saying it would turn into a cival war and no one dares bring these kind of fights at matches inside or outside the stadiums. What causes the football holigan culture in the UK is alcohol most of the time.

As for Egypt, if something like a riot or stadium brawl comes to life, expect a lot of life to end too in the process.

Repeat after me sports fans "It's just a game."

Getting pissed and curb stomping people, flipping over cars, setting fire to private property, none of that changes this fact, nor does it change the outcome of the game.

Herd mentality. This is why most people will die should the $h!t ever hit the fan. Mobs are stupid.

reply to post by YouAreLiedTo


This is something I'd expect during a Croatia v Serbia game, not in Egypt!

reply to post by YouAreLiedTo


75% of their elected officials are now members of radical Islamic groups. Expect to see it get far worse than it was before the revolt as they take control. A new Iran in the making. On purpose I think.

Soccer fans are just crazy I guess. I wonder how many have died at Soccer Games? Perhaps they should ban the sport since the fans are so violent. No sport is worth a human life unless all the fans are insane.

Perhaps they are all on some kind of bizarre Soccer drug?

In my opinion as an avid fan of football, I think this has a lot to do with the current socioeconomic and political climate in Egypt.

Hooligans are generally males who have no other outlet for their frustration and hence, turn to tribal style violence as a way of expression. It also gives a sense of security (when in a 'firm') as well as addressing other identity issues.

Does anybody remember a Serbian team playing a Croatian team in the former Yugoslav league right before the Balkans war? Fans, police and even players were going at it, it has also been attributed by some as 'the last straw' before the Balkans war. Is this mindless football violence?

Football is a lot more than just a sport, it is a platform for the people to be heard and depending where in the world you are, can be very politically rooted.

I don't condone these actions however, there is a lot more to football than a few blokes kicking a ball around.

This is written from a wealth of experience by the way, not just speculation.

Im almost certain that there are underlying passions here which have resulted in deaths.
These people didnt murder each other beacuse their team lost.

do we forget they just came out of a very bloody and violent revolution? one that is still ongoing?

You cannot compare this to america or the UK.... and there gunright laws.
Sorry, but america still trumps the world in its youth murdering each other for even less than a soccer game.

imagine if Ireland and the UK had a soccer game at the height of the IRA bombings..

i was at al-ahlys last violant match.....from what i saw....theyr chants are political, 90 mins of pure chanting.

theyr fans are also used as political tools.....predictable, loud, boyyish young men....these "fans" can stop the country functioning...

what i saw in cairo that night....got to say the police were at fault, this time there were NO police....dodgy

peace

Maybe we should stop calling this game a sport.
I do not see any "sportsmanship" being displayed here.

Fights/riots like this seem to be somewhat common around this game.

Any sporting event that is not safe to take my kids to, is not a sporting event.

This is just heinous. Seventy-Three people are dead. Deceased. No longer living. Due to Soccer. Seventy-Three people will never see the light of another day because of what is supposed to be a sport. I am appalled and I don't even know what to say about this. My condolences to the families of these people for whatever it may be worth.

When I lived in Columbus Ohio, the Michigan vs Ohio State football game was the catalyst for much rioting. One year I remember someone did not like a guy so they painted "Go Michigan" all over his car. A gang of OSU fans came along and turned it over and set it on fire. Sports riots happen here in the USA also.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Im almost certain that there are underlying passions here which have resulted in deaths.
These people didnt murder each other beacuse their team lost.

do we forget they just came out of a very bloody and violent revolution? one that is still ongoing?

You cannot compare this to america or the UK.... and there gunright laws.
Sorry, but america still trumps the world in its youth murdering each other for even less than a soccer game.

imagine if Ireland and the UK had a soccer game at the height of the IRA bombings..

I COMPLETELY changed my opinion on this. I originally said it was all beyond soccer. Which it may be, but, what constitutes killing that many innocent people? Nothing.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
........................
You cannot compare this to america or the UK.... and there gunright laws.
Sorry, but america still trumps the world in its youth murdering each other for even less than a soccer game.
.................

Egypt is a single country, you can not compare this to North America, Central America, South America.

73 people in one day.....perhaps your referencing the recent drug wars in Mexico, or a combination of Central American countries?

These are over drugs, not a sporting event.

It's funny how one of the least manliest sports results in the fans acting like desperate women.
Second line..what a joke of a sport that game is

Have any of you appart from The Pharaoh ever even first hand experienced a football match?

I have, seen plenty of violence and riots too. Been in the thick of them, been cornered by rival fans where we were outnumbered nearly four to one, seen plenty of arrests, flares, police brutality,Police get beaten, underlying politics, have and do sing/Chant a full 90 minutes= experience so speculate all you want people- FOOTBALL IS MORE THAN A SPORT TO A LOT OF PEOPLE! Anthropologists have studied terrace behavior (know what a terrace is!?) will link some reports when I'm not on my phone.

Is it just me orrr was there not a huge riot regarding last years Stanley cup?

“The security forces left us, they did not protect us. One fan has just died in the dressing room in front of me,” veteran Ahly player Mohamed Abou-Treika yelled in a phone while speaking to a TV channel.

Another Ahly player, Mohamed Baraket, said: “People have died, we are seeing corpses now. There are no security forces or army personnel to protect us.”

Ahly’s TV channel reported that Port Said fans blocked ambulances from reaching the field for up to 90 minutes. Those reports could not be independently confirmed.

From the article quoting the hospital it sounds like a lot of the deaths were from being trampled, but this last part just goes to say there were some who were actively trying to kill people. Some hospitality.

In Turkey, I believe it was, they eliminated virtually all soccer fan violence.

How?

They banned men from attending...

Ah, the traditional after-game riot. I always assumed that that was most fans' favourite part of a soccer match.