A writer and blogger talks to Sama Maktabi about how he managed to document in one book all the information about the Ultras history, their role in the revolution and their constant battle for liberty The Ultras movement witnessed its own revolution long before 25 January. Their struggle against the security forces and the old regime was clear in many of their chants, cheers and graffiti all over the streets of Cairo. "The idea (to write) came to me in 2008," Mohamed Gamal Beshir, aka Gemyhood, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "I've always supported underground movements. There are lots of underground movements in Egypt that inspire anyone to write about them. I chose the Ultras because it's one of the many movements that have masses of supporters. If you ask any football fan about any club, he'll mention their Ultras support, and that's exactly what I wanted to share with people: the movements that are now linked in the mind of the fans with their own club. The Ultras is reportedly the first book published about the movement in the Middle East. "I consider the book a good example of many books about the underground movements in Egypt that have many fans but no-one writing about them." Digging up the information about the Ultras movements around the world including Egypt was no easy task. "You know there are no documented references for the Ultras movements other than stories you hear from Ultras leaders," Beshir said. "I travelled a lot and met with many Ultras leaders from all over the world and I was able to communicate with them and learn about their start and stories. I kept writing every single thing they told me." How did the Ultras movement start in Egypt? According to Beshir it began with a small group of people supporting Ahli. "They called themselves ALU (Ahli Lovers Union) and after they launched their first website online it started to gain the attention of many football fans. Then around 2005 the Zamalek fans also started their first group, ZLU (Zamalek Lovers Union) after which the idea spread to other fans of other teams. "There's something I wish people would understand: not all Ultras movements have to follow the same rules. Here in Egypt they added to idea of the Ultras and changed some things about it, too." The Ultras role in the Egyptian revolution was not necessarily black and white. "People," Beshir said, "need to understand that the Ultras movement is a part of the Egyptian community. It has people who only care about football and others who care about football and politics like any other differences in the community. There has always been a struggle between Ultras groups and the police force. On the night of 24 January the Facebook pages of Khalid Said and the 6 April youth movement said both Ultras groups will participate in the 25 January events after they received information from sources inside the two groups of Ultras. Hence, they are a part of the Egyptian community and their presence in the revolution is based on their loyal nature to their community." What about the Ultras underground music? "People are not familiar with the idea of having football songs with such strong terms as the Ultras use in their songs, but people must understand that this is the nature of football fans. Ultras get the inspiration for their songs from anything that happens around them, so it's not only football events. It's anything that happens in Egypt as they are a part of this community. The song Hourrya (Freedom) is constantly sung in every match till now." Though football teams are categorised in different leagues according to their standard of play, Beshir said he was against having too many military and police teams in the Egyptian football league. "The point is that they are trying to turn the sport from football to a military game. It's football and not for authority's organisations to participate in. Now we have two police teams and three military teams in the league. This is not right and the football fans of other clubs don't like the idea at all. Having a military team in the league means you play some of the matches in a military stadium, which might cause the arrest of football fans if something goes wrong, and that's one of the problems that might happen. People go to watch their teams for the love of the game and military teams getting involved into this mean more boundaries. Football is about the freedom of play and the freedom of expressing your love for your team through the Ultras groups." To involve his fans in the making of his book Beshir said the work respects online readers. "I started a fan page for the book when it was in the making to communicate with the people and my fans. I took their opinion about the things they wanted to read in the book. The cover of the book itself was made in accordance with the opinion of my readers. I also started a hash tag on Twitter to communicate more with readers and know their opinions in the book. I like to stay connected with my readers all the time. The next stage to promoting the book will be through the fans themselves. I asked my fans in other governorates to organise book-signing events. I want this book to be promoted by its own readers." Beshir's next book will be about a certain type of underground music that people love and perform in many parts of Egypt.
