Seventy-three dead in Egypt's "worst" soccer riot

[NUance]

Seventy-three dead in Egypt's "worst" soccer disaster

By Sherine El Madany and Ali Abdelatti | Reuters – 8 mins ago

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 73 people were killed and 1,000 injured in a riot at a soccer match in the Egyptian city of Port Said, the worst disaster in the country's soccer history, health officials said. "This is unfortunate and deeply saddening. It is the biggest disaster in Egypt's soccer history," deputy health minister Hesham Sheiha told state television.

The game was between Al Ahli, one of Egypt's most successful clubs, and al-Masry, a team based in Port Said. Live television footage showed fans running onto the field and chasing Ahli soccer players.

 

Egypt's state prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the pitch invasion and the violence that ensued, judicial sources said. Egypt's football federation indefinitely delayed premier league matches after the violence, state television reported. Egypt's parliament would hold an emergency session on Thursday, according to state media reports.

(Reporting by Sherine El Madany and Ali Abdelatti)

 

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Wow. 73 fans dead. That's absolutely insane.

[Michiganball]

Yea I've never heard of death on this scale even by soccer standards. Still cant quite figure out why such a finesse oriented game has so many violent supporters world wide. It is international so there can be lots of bad blood there and the stakes are higher then in our sports, but this sort of violence occurs like in this case in local matches. Maybe it starts with the International matches and the "culture" of the sports is affected locally. I'd be afraid to take kids to a game in some of the international leagues, yet I would have no worries taking them to a much more physical game of football.

[HoustonSker]

I'll second that Mich, the match between the Pharoahs (Egypt) and Desert Foxes (Algeria) is known to be one of the most intense, and often violent games among soccer rivalries. I think last time around, Egyptian fans were throwing stones at the Algerian team bus as they left the stadium. You're probably spot when you say this mentality carries over to the national level.

 

I would also conjecture that this was more likely to happen because...well, it's the ME/Arab world, a place not known for stability and rational thinking. I'm not suggesting other countries don't have fan violence, but 73 dead is extreme.

[adam1994]

Wow soccer is intense...in Europe.

Here we don't give a rat's ass about it.