As expected, the soccer twins were punished only a bit Click to view caption Despite calls to put its foot down, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) trod gingerly when deciding what disciplinary action it would take against the twins of Zamalek football club, Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan, writes Inas Mazhar The punitive measures which were meted out were a far cry from the one-year suspension that was called for. Instead, the two were suspended for the rest of the league season -- which comes to three games. Hossam was also fined LE10,000 while Ibrahim will be LE20,000 poorer. The incidents which led to the verdicts came after the local derby two weeks ago in which Ahli drubbed Zamalek 6-1. As the 36-year-old pair, with a notorious history of trouble-making, were leaving the field, TV cameras caught Hossam waving his boot to Ahli supporters after he had taken it off; Ibrahim made an obscene hand gesture to the same crowd. The EFA decision did not go down well with the press, which charged that not for the first time had the association backed off from taking the twins to task. Ahli, too, was quick to criticise the EFA's timidity, citing their own player, Samir Kamouna, who was suspended for one year after making a similar gesture as that of Ibrahim in the FA Cup final last year. The suspension drove Kamouna to leave Egypt and play in Turkey. Mohamed El-Siagy, head of the competitions committee charged with football offenses, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Kamouna's case was different. "What Kamouna did was registered in the referee's report," El-Siagy said. "But neither the referee nor the match observer saw what Ibrahim and Hossam did because the game had ended and they had just about left the stadium." Defending the EFA decision with regard to the twins, El- Siagy added that Kamouna's display of unsportsmanlike conduct was totally uncalled for because his team had won the Cup final. "But Zamalek had just been crushed by Ahli and Hossam and Ibrahim were being sworn at by Ahli fans. It was apparently too much for them to take." The EFA also defended its actions, saying in a statement that the long list of accomplishments of the twins was taken into account, as was their age and the fact that their playing days are numbered. Hossam is not altogether out of the woods. Ahli, of which he is a former player, would like to question him about a phone-in TV sports talk show in which he called in to compare himself with Ahli club's former president Saleh Selim, who died last month. Hassan claimed he had achieved more for Ahli when he played for the club. So incensed was Ahli's board with what it considered an audacious statement by Hossam, made in poor taste and ill-timed, that it is thinking of cancelling the player's membership. Perhaps having had enough of Zamalek, Hossam and Ibrahim are reportedly negotiating with Goldi, another premier league club which is supposedly offering the twins a huge fee. Goldi is also reportedly going after Zamalek captain Khaled El-Ghandour as well as Ali Maher and Yasser Rayan of Ahli in the hopes of building a contender for next season.
