Soccer & Society from Football Riot to Revolution. the Political Role Of

This article was downloaded by: [109.162.208.108] On: 30 June 2014, At: 14:17 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Soccer & Society Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fsas20 From football riot to revolution. The political role of football in the Arab world Dag Tuastada a Center for Islamic and Middle East Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Published online: 04 Feb 2013. To cite this article: Dag Tuastad (2014) From football riot to revolution. The political role of football in the Arab world, Soccer & Society, 15:3, 376-388, DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2012.753541 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2012.753541 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions Soccer & Society, 2014 Vol. 15, No. 3, 376–388, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2012.753541 From football riot to revolution. The political role of football in the Arab world Dag Tuastad* Center for Islamic and Middle East Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway In the Arab world, ideological resistance of supporters during football matches have coalesced with another rebellion, of youth breaking the chains of patriar- chal power. The political implication of this social process is tremendous. As youth have experienced that they have had to yield to the will of parents and grandparents at home, and to the old dictators in the public field, finding a social arena where one could liberate one-selves from the former implicated a congruent dissolution of authority ties also towards the latter. As football is a primary medium through which youth autonomy could be experienced, football has a seismic political potential. The role of ultras supporters in the Egyptian revolution and the political role of nationalist supporters in Jordan in killing political taboos are cases where supporters represent more than simply a barom- eter of political trends. The supporters have initiated struggles crucially affecting political developments in their countries. Introduction As the most popular sport, and the form of popular culture with greatest world wide appeal, football has been referred to as ‘weapons of mass distraction’. But this ‘bread and circuses’ thesis’, comment Gilchrist and Holen,1 has been challenged by historians studying progressive struggle in and through sport. Popular culture is not epiphenomenal or marginal, argues Whannel, ‘it remains a central element in the political process’.2 Football is, Sugden argues, ‘like all collective human endeav- ours, a social construction which is malleable according to the social forces that sur- rounds it’.3 Sport, writes Delgado, is ‘located at the centre of culture, and certainly Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 14:17 30 June 2014 ideology’.4 Only the uncertainty and passion of football competition, Strauken notes, referring to Faure and Suadu, ‘prevent it from perfectly reflecting social mechanisms’.5 Similarly, Gilchrist and Holen relate, ‘just as sports can reflect the dominant ideas of our society, they can also reflect struggle’.6 More than simply a reflection of political struggle, I will argue that in given cir- cumstances football supporters might be at the heart of political struggle crucially affecting political developments. In authoritarian regimes with a suppressed or lar- gely absent civil society, football has remained one of the few if not the only arena open for exposure of social and political identities, and the football arenas are where political messages are first communicated and struggle with authorities initiated. I will argue this mainly through a discussion of two empirical cases, on the political role of football in Jordan and Egypt. *Email: [email protected] Ó 2013 Taylor & Francis Soccer & Society 377 In Egypt, when 79 football fans were killed in Port Said in February 2012, this was not the result of panic and stamping from the unfortunate closing of gates. Al- Ahli fans were deliberately killed, stuck by knives and machetes, or thrown down from the terraces to the asphalt below and crushed to death. Newly elected Parlia- ment members saw the violence as payback time from contra-revolutionaries. It resulted from the fact that role of Al-Ahli football supporters in the revolution could hardly be overestimated. ‘There were two groups that were crucial for the Egyptian revolution to succeed, The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al-Ahlawi ultras’,7 said the French expert on political Islam, Stéphane Lacroix. ‘The ultras were the most important’.8 Football and violence in the Egyptian revolution On the 25 January 2012, the anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution, Egypt’s emergency law originally imposed after the 1967 war with Israel, was lifted by the newly elected parliament. When Al-Ahli played Al-Masri in Port Said on the first of February, this was the day before a second, concomitant anniversary, the ‘battle of the camels’ on Tahrir Square – the place where the main protests against the Mubarak-regime took place. The ‘battle of the camels’ refers to the attack by hundreds of horse and camel riders at Tahrir Square, wielding clubs and horse whips against the revolutionaries, accompanied by thousands of Mubarak supporters pelting demonstrators with stones and Molotov cocktails from roof tops surrounding the square, while the state television urged the protestors to leave the square. Three demonstrators died, about 600 were injured at the attack. The protest organizers after the attack thanked the ultras of Al-Ahli for their role in forcing back the mobs of the Mubarak supporters.9 The ultras of Al-Ahli, Al-Ahlawi, were founded in 2007. In 2009, during a match with their main rival, Zamalek, the supporters released banners and chanted slogans in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. Interpreting the incident as an illegal demonstration – solidarity demonstrations with the Palestinians were banned during the Mubarak regime, fearing for their relations with Western sponsors and that demonstrations could go out of hand – the police cracked down on both supporters groups, arresting scores of ultras. The incident marked the beginning of the animos- Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 14:17 30 June 2014 ity between the ultras and the Egyptian police forces according to the blog of one of the Ahlawi-ultras.10 Also in 2009, Mohamed Aboutrika, a star player of Al-Ahli, removed his jersey during a televised match, showing his T-shirt reading ‘Sympa- thize with Gaza’ as a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Although About- rika faced repercussions he later confirmed his stand in an interview with Al- Jazeera. He was later crowned the African football player of the year by the BBC, receiving more votes from listeners than more international famous players like Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o. In Gaza, youth would wear the red shirt number 22 of Aboutrika whenever Al Ahli was playing, singing ‘Palestine loves Aboutrika’; and ‘Gaza won’t forget you’.11 The essential role of football in political life of Egypt goes more than a hundred year back, to the anti-colonial struggle in the beginning of the last millennium. When Al-Ahli sport club was founded in 1907 it was as a cover for political activ- ists fighting against British colonial rule. Student unions formed a core of the anti- colonial struggle, but their unions needed premises where they could congregate and plan activities. For this purpose, Al-Ahli, meaning ‘national’ in Arabic, was 378 D. Tuastad founded. The club came to embody the rebellion against colonization. At the time of its founding Al-Ahli was the only club where local Egyptians could be members. Following Egyptian independence in 1952 Al Ahli became tremendously popular not only in Egypt but all over Africa and the Arab world.12 The symbolizing of the struggle for liberation was paired with tremendous success in football. Today Al- Ahli is the most winning team in Egypt and Africa, and the club has also qualified an unprecedented three times for Fifa’s World Cup for club teams. Al-Ahli’s success in Egypt has only been rivalled by the other Cairo club, Zamalek, and the derby between these two clubs has evolved into the main sport event of the whole Arab world. The day the two clubs meet at the 80,000 sold out Cairo Stadium is one of the rare moments where no people can be found out in the streets, be it in Cairo or Gaza. Since the 2009 incident with the demonstration of solidarity with Gaza and sub- sequent police crackdown in the Al-Ahli – Zamalek match, ultras and police would fight every time Al-Ahli played.

Load more