Soccer Riots in Africa

Many sportscasters and reporters have known Africa as the "soccer mad continent" over the last decade or so. This name has been attributed because terrible incidents of violence have struck the land and have arisen during soccer matches in the past. Political strife and border tensions in areas that have been prone to violence since the third wave have been stirred inside stadiums all across Africa making for instability in one of the continents beloved past times. As South Africa turns its attention as host nation of Africa’s largest tournament (Africa Cup of Nations) many questions arise, as it appears the instability of African Politics has put the continents football into a giant fiasco and it has regressed greatly since the triumph of the 2010 World Cup South Africa.

Over the last weekend tragedy has plagued African Football once again. In Dakar Senegal gigantic riots and unrest of the home team broke out during an African cup qualifier between Ivory Coast and Senegal. After one of Africa’s best players Dieder Drogba scored for the opposing team putting Ivory Coast up 6-2 the Senegal fans lashed out. The home fans shot missiles, burned their own countries flags in disgust and started tearing down the stadium. The ruling body in African soccer the Confederation of African Football disqualified Senegal from the tournament and probably will implement other fines and sanctions to Senegal.  It was reported that over sixty people were wounded in the match protests and many believe that even though the soccer result had much to do with the unforeseen riot others believe that underlying disgust with the current political state of Senegal may have contributed to the unruly fans. Ivory coast fans were forced to evacuate as rocks, missiles, and an angry mob surged toward their section. The team and fans were carefully rushed to safety. In Africa more times than not when tensions and riots such as this, most of the time it is due to current politics As more evidence comes out it will be very interesting to see if this is the case or it was simply just hooligans.

Even though the weekends riot was nowhere near as catastrophic as past riots in African soccer it still is very scary that events such as this one is still happening and security has not seemed to clamp down during games with such high implication, or games where there may be political strife. In Egypt last February amidst the Arab Spring two Egyptian clubs clashed in Cairo leading to over 1,000 injuries and around 80 deaths.  The clubs have always had a great rival over difference in territory and politics. It was alleged that the government planned this attack to happen to cause chaos in Egypt, which the former president predicted would happen with regime change.  The two clubs that were involved were between Al Masry and Al Ahly. The home team charged the opposing fans with knives guns and other weapons. The police opened the gate that separated the fans  and did not open the blocked doors allowing people to believe that the government wanted to cause great tension and disater through sports. In this case the country has “ultras” who use the football clubs to gain political strength were a main reason of the attacks.

This relates to class because underlying issues that have been going on for years have never really been fixed and conflict that has spread throughout the land and how instable some places are in Africa due to civil war and political oppression. These were the two main soccer riots that happened over the last year but the soccer stadium is no new place in Africa to stage violent act against either a different group or a club with opposing supporters that differ ethnically  territorially or politically. Even though many of the wars in Africa have been stopped, opposing groups and rebels have never really founfd peace and are bringing the fight into mainstream venues such as stadiums. A list of riots in the late 90's and early 2000 was put up by CNN and although a few came from South America, Europe and other places the majority came from unstable African Nations that had seen political unrest or large scale war in the 90’s. Within a quick span in late 90’s and early 2000 violence erupted in African stadiums due to spillover from other movements in Africa. Amongst many a few stand out that clearly have shaken Africa’s federation of football. Eight fans were killed and 39 injured as troops open fire to stop pro- and anti-Gadaffi views are expressed in Liberia. Four  people died when troops open fire at Kinshasa derby between Vita Club and Motema Pembe at the Stade De Martyrs, Democratic Republic of Congo. Other border rival such as Kenya Mozambique, Senegal Gabon has all lead to disaster in soccer matches when political strife causes violence. In many cases the police just stand there because the have either been told by the government or they have same views as the fans and are all right with the violence. It is sad that the beautiful game has caused death suffering in Africa the last year. Something needs to be done to prevent weapons and violence in stadiums where they clearly do not belong. Sorts should be unifying Africa and healing wounds of the past but instead it is becoming a violent arena for unruly citizens.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/01/world/africa/egypt-soccer-deaths/index.html

 http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/africa/05/09/soccer.chronology/

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/world/middleeast/scores-killed-in-egyptian-soccer-mayhem.html?_r=1

 http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/soccer/general/view.bg?articleid=1061168126&srvc=sports&position=recent