Egypt and Egyptian are living some extremely nervy days which has led to chaos across the country in different sectors among different segments of society. No doubt that these hard times are giving everyone inside the country something to worry about, and one of the worries is the cancellation of the Egyptian Premier League. Some people would argue that sports or football in specific is the last thing an Egyptian would think about in these complicated days. But others can argue that this is absolutely not true. Being one of those who went to Tahrir during the past week, it was a very common joke between Ahli and Zamalek fans or protesters that they want Mohamed Morsi, who was still president at the time, to leave so that the Egyptian Premier League can carry on again this season and see who'll win the league. Moreover, a protester had a big poster written on it “From Zamalek fans to Morsi: please leave now. We were about to win the league”. Of course not every protester in the street is talking about the return or the cancellation of the league but many Egyptians are keen about it coming back. One of those people is the former Egyptian sports minister Al- Amri Farouk. Farouk indicated several times before leaving his post that the return of the league was vital as it meant “something huge to the Egyptian people” as more than 70 per cent of people in the country watch the league regularly. The return of the league and return of fans to the stadiums were priorities and still priorities to the Sports Ministry in recent months as they seek to get back to normality. Just before leaving his post, on 24 June Farouk indicated that the league had been once again postponed due to security concerns. The Interior Ministry is claiming that it does not have enough manpower to secure sports events these days as they have more important things to worry about like the protests and demonstrations throughout the country. Moreover, they do not want to secure games as they went through several agonising incidents with football fans in recent months which are making them hated and unwanted in stadiums. However, at the same time the Egyptian football associations made it clear that it is too difficult to continue the league without security as they fear a repeat of the tragic incident at Port Said between Ahli and Masri fans that saw 74 die last year in a football riot which cancelled league play for one year. Whether the league will be continued or not is the question of many football fans in the streets but the problem is much bigger for the players themselves. The current situation concerning the league prompted the best player in Egypt in the last decade Mohamed Barakat to retire officially from the game. Barakat indicated that the current situation drove him to despair and killed the motivation and love for the game inside him. He said that playing week in and week out without fans – for security reasons -- made him forget about football. And as if that wasn't enough, now the league itself is postponed for no reason, according to Barakat. Many of Barakat's teammates stated that they agree with his decision as they feel the same way towards the game in recent months. Another huge problem facing the players and the clubs is that a big percentage of players' salaries is based on games played and points gained which means that the postponement of the league means very low incomes for football players in Egypt. The clubs will not be able to pay the players their salaries or the remaining money of their contracts if the league is cancelled or postponed as the clubs themselves are without income at the moment. Barakat was the first to retire but definitely not the last if the league does not return as soon as possible and with the attendance of fans. Even outside the green field, many people and many entities will suffer from the cancellation of the league as their work is related to the return of the league. Yes the country is passing through very difficult times but that doesn't mean that everything in the country should stop until this chaos ends. One last thing: everyone in the Arab world should salute the Iraqi U20 national team as they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time ever. Even though they have their own problems back home they managed to overcome all the difficulties and make people in Iraq proud of them. Congratulations to Iraq and to all Arabs.
