I’ve never made much secret of the fact that I hate football. I have done since I was forced to play it at school as a child, but I equally dislike the acrimonious rivalries, the overblown salaries and transfer deals, the diva-like behaviour of some of the players, the bad-loserism and the boorish behaviour of some fans (this has improved somewhat in the last few years, although earlier this year they proved themselves to be still capable of a touch of organised thuggery). I suspect that the game would be a bit more honest if you could get the same result from diving on the pitch as this lady got from diving onto her bedroom floor in her sleep.
Football is not inherently the most violent of sports; unlike boxing, it does not reward players for damaging their opponents’ brains, and unlike rugby, you don’t have these ridiculous scrums which have been known to collapse and leave players with broken necks, paralysed and sometimes on ventilators for life. Still, at least those victims are players, not bystanders or people who happen to come from the same town or country as the team which had the temerity to beat another team, which is what both were trying to do.
I have no idea, and don’t much care, who started the violence in Egypt (and Sudan, and Algeria). What I care about is the fact that Muslims are so exercised about a game of football that people have been beaten up, that people have been killed, that offices have been raided, that people are being told to stay indoors if they are (or look) Algerian and are in Egypt (or vice versa), and that countries are recalling their ambassadors and talking about war. This is just a game. Why can people not see that? I cannot understand why Muslims watch it anyway, given that men usually dress in less than they are actually required to in Islam. Many of them would not let their wives or daughters out of the house without a hijab on, so why do they watch men running around with their thighs exposed?
I find the statements made by the Egyptian president, Mohammed Hosni Mubarak, and crown prince Alaa, to be particularly distasteful. Daddy Mubarak told the country’s Parliament that “the dignity of Egyptians is part of the dignity of Egypt and vowed that Egypt will not tolerate those who insult it’s citizens”, while his son called a TV talk show and “delivered a 40-minute rant”, which included:
“It is impossible that we as Egyptians take this. We have to stand up and say, ‘Enough,’” he said. “When you insult my dignity … I will beat you on the head.”
The National, published in the Emirates, quoted him as saying this:
“There is nothing called Arab nationalism or brotherhood, this is just talk, that doesn’t mean anything in reality,” said Mr Mubarak. “When Algerians learn how to speak Arabic they can then come and say that they are Arabs.”
This rather gives the impression that Egyptian politics thrives on the need for a hated outsider. In the past, that has been the Jews or Israelis, and Tantawi himself has been accused of giving sermons which call the Jews “sons of apes and pigs”. Still, the Algerians are a softer target, as they are further away and don’t have nuclear weapons, and Algerian-bashing won’t win them any enemies or bad press in the West. Just as long as the Egyptian people have things to focus their anger on, other than lack of freedom of speech and assembly, poverty, bureaucracy and corruption. I read today that Colonel Qaddafi had proposed to mediate between the two sides, but if the game was won or lost fair and square, there need be no mediation (least of all by Qaddafi); what needs to happen is that the people responsible for the violence should be punished and the devious politicians stop trying to stoke hostility when there is no reason for it.
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I agree 100%! iMuslim´s last blog ..The Surprising Science of Motivation
I absolutely hate everything football. Most men are surprised at my views on football or rather the lack of it and people having lengthy debates on something so artificial equally surprises me.
“(Sports) offers people something to pay attention to that is of no importance. It keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives, where they might have some idea to do something about it. But the point is, it does make sense. It’s a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements. And you know, in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism (i.e. nationalism).” - [Noam Chomsky: “Manufacturing Consent”] Salman´s last blog ..Mental Health & Jinn Possession Amongst Muslims
I agree with your post but don’t agree with the hatred of football. It’s a wonderful sport but the behaviour of Egypt and Algeria’s leaders are another problem separate from football. You don’t see Ireland and France’s leaders go to war, do you? Mezba´s last blog ..Bangla song copied by Romanian!
I love football, you have to see it from both sides though, Egyptians were attacked in Sudan by Algerians who spent their time in Sudan buying knives, Mubarak was referring to the violence. What is ridiculous is egyptian player Amr Zaki’s comment that he will not play for portsmouth because an Algerian player is in the team. I dont understand how any person cannot like football, i find your comment on clothing absurd.
You would hope not, however things became a little heated -
Link did not work :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2.....breakdown/
I love soccer, their behavior is disgusting. I’ve lived there for 9 years growing up, and I’ve never seen this type of insanity over ball. And I thought British footie fans were a handfull. Sumayah Hassan´s last blog ..Our Collective Spirit
How did I miss this post?
Brilliant :)
It’s just another scheme to occupy the people from the REAL issues :-).
The fact that crown prince Mr. Alaa Mubarak goes about using ‘Jew’ as a racial slur tells you tonnes.
Ignorant. Organica´s last blog ..Muslim Dating: The Reality of Our Ummah
Assalamualaikum
I agree with most of the sentiments of matthew and especially those of Salman. I personally hate all ritual sports. There is a whole anthropology behind the whole sports thing worldwide.
The observations of Chomsky have been echoed by many people both past and present. The greek philosophers complained that people were taking sportsmen as their heroes instead of people of real worth.
” And you know, in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism (i.e. nationalism).” - [Noam Chomsky: “
Absolutely. What else can the wretch inducing singing of national anthems be. Lets also remember that the romans used the arena as a way to dissipate the energies of their citizens hence the colosseum.
Physical exercise/recreation and ritualised sports are two completely different things. We as muslims know that the world was not created for play.
I long to see the day when there are no muslims taking part in any off these games especially the fire/body worshipping olympics.
What a waste energy
“This is just a game. Why can people not see that?”
Probably because, for those 90 minutes the Egyptian national team becomes Egypt. We don’t say that ‘The Egyptian national team lost the match’, we say, ‘Egypt lost the match’. However, that is not an excuse for violence, and any country that can’t control the behaviour of its fans should be excluded from international competitions. It happens at the club level (Liverpool in the 80’s), it should happen at the national level as well.
I’m not a passionate football supporter, but I can understand why a lot of people call it ‘the beautiful game’.
“(Sports) offers people something to pay attention to that is of no importance. It keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives”
Why is it nobody ever says that to the huddled masses around the Mona Lisa? To a lot of people, they can only get through the week because of Saturday afternoon football. Whether you agree or disagree with that lifestyle, it’s useful for society to have football as a safety valve. As for football violence, as far as I remember, most hooligans tended to target rival fans, usually other hooligans. Football violence fell dramatically, following the end of terraces and a rise in ticket prices in the early/mid 90’s, neatly coinciding with the rise of the lager louts on the streets. I think I preferred the loutish behaviour on the terraces where I couldn’t see it.
first of all i would like to congratulate Algeria for their diserved victory and consequent qualification to world cup. to Egypt i would like to say {hard luck} it is sad to see a great player like Abou trika not to go to world cup ,but this is football there is always a winner and a looser….i am Emirati and would like you guys to listen to my neutral and therefore objective comments but before doing so i would be very grateful if i can have your mind opened and your patriotic feeling put aside which will enable us to have a constructive and objective analysis of what really happened…..the problems started 2 days before the match in Cairo (as confirmed by great egyptian journalists such as Alaa Sadek) the Algerian team bus was attacked by egyptian mobs injuring 3 Algerian players(witnessed by Canal + and FIFA representatives who were behind the bus)that was when the drama started..the second Egyptian mistake was when instead of admitting this attack they accused Algerian players of fabricating this desolating incident !!? then Egyptian TVs started a wild compaign of disinformation and characterized attacks against Algeria (the match was politicalized for obvious Egyptian elections purposes)these attacks were responded by few Algerian newspapers (as there are no private TVs in Algeria)all this has created an electrical atmosphere which only motivated Algerian players , spectators and government alike after the Cairo match was lost and Sudan match was imposed…(by the way the second Egyptian goal was clearly off side)…Algerians are very proud and very tough tempered people they are real warriors, when injured they became Lethal (ask the french, they know better)……the other Big Egyptian mistake was to choose Sudan , Sudanese are brave people who rejects injustice that is why most Sudanese backed {aggressed}Algerians…another Egyptian mistake was instead of sending real spactators to Sudan they send actors and singers !!!? (i guess Egyptians never thought that Algerians will invade Sudan in such large numbers in so short time because Algeria s too far away)but again they were wrong…..but the fatal mistake that Egyptians committed was that they never :RESPECTED: the Algerian Team .ALL above accumulated Egyptian mistakes were too many to allow Egypt to Win….it was simply multiple errors of judgments on the part of Egyptians which should lead to one simple question :- WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE ERRORS OF JUDGMENT !? is it Algeria !? of course not. is it Samir Zaher !? probably YES. is it the political regime !? certainly (after all they politicalized the match)SO THIS SAID WHAT IS THE SOLUTION THEN !? i will let you guys resolve this equation and answer this question in case you would like to see Egypt prosper and flourish in future (and of course qualify to world cup 2014) IF NOT then you can continue throwing the blame on Algeria but the price you will pay will be MAKANAK KIF (Status Quo) in the meanwhile Algeria is in world cup……..Algeria Caravane is advancing