The media has depicted the Algerians as bullies for hitting the Egyptians in Sudan, but if the "real" Egyptian fans had been there, the Algerians would have been the ones screaming for help, writes Ahmed Abu Ghazala Ahmed Idris is a young man in his 20s, and what makes him different from any other young man his age is the fact that he is one of the founders of the Ultras Ahlawi, a group formed to support the Ahli club. Despite the fact that the Ultras are known for their involvement in riotous acts at Ahli matches, Idris is the real deal: a real fan and football lover. His passion led him to go to support the Egyptian team in the play-off between Algeria and Egypt in Sudan on 18 November. Very few real Egyptian fans who know how to encourage their team efficiently in the field and how to deal with violent circumstances like those that took place after this match had reserved tickets for the final qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup. As a veteran fan, Idris has seen it all, and he has a view on the latest incidents. "Those who went to support the team looked as if they were going on a trip to Al-Qanater Al-Khairiya or the amusement park Dream Park, not a football match," Idris told Al-Ahram Weekly. He believes this was the main reason for the Egyptian team's loss. "A player feels what's going on off the pitch. When I was watching, I felt that we were playing in Algeria. Some 15,000 Algerians were supporting their team, while we were less than 100 real supporters encouraging our team. As for the rest, they were just watching quietly." Idris added that when the Algerians insulted Egypt and Egyptians in the stadium, they had wanted to respond. However, when they did so, the other fans told them "shsh, that's impolite, don't say that." Such people don't know how to deal with dangerous supporters like the Algerians, Idris said, adding that their attacks on the Egyptian fans were mostly done for show anyway. All they did was throw stones at the Egyptian buses and raise weapons, hurting some fans, with the result that people who had never been to football matches before were scared and screamed out of fear. "Now everybody is saying that the Algerians beat the Egyptians in Sudan," lamented Idris. Had he and his friends been able to fight back, and had just a thousand real Egyptian fans been able to go to Sudan, "they would have been able to teach them a lesson they will never forget." Harbi Mahfouz, 53, head of the Ahli fans and a well-known third-class football supporter, has been a football devotee since childhood. He used to escape from his preparatory school, Amr Ibn Al-Aas, to get a seat in the stadium before the security arrived just to watch the match. He grew up to become one of Egypt's most famous fans, known to all the players, coaches, club managers and media. Mahfouz told the Weekly that a lot of actors, show-business people and members of the NDP had gone to Sudan to show off on TV as national figures, and many of them did not go to matches played in the Cairo Stadium. "The officials should have known from the beginning that this was one of the most important matches in the history of Egyptian football," he said. "We knew that the Algerians wanted to attack us there. It was obvious from their actions in Cairo." He said that Egyptian officials should have sent the real supporters of the Egyptian team, the third- class supporters, who have been encouraging the team for years. Mahfouz mocked people who have screamed about the attacks, describing what happened as shaming to Egypt's international image. "Now we are being depicted as having been beaten up by Algerians," he said. He added that unless an official apology is received from the Algerians, the Egyptians will not forget what happened in Sudan, and "they will respond very violently as soon as possible." Hosni El-Gabri, 40, another famous third-class fan, went to Sudan and told the Weekly that officials had contacted some fan groups, such as the Ultras, asking them to bring their supporters to Sudan. However, the groups had not been able to do so, because most members were too young or did not have the means to travel to Sudan on their own. Had he been contacted, or had any of the older fans like Harbi Mahfouz been contacted, they would have brought more than 3,000 supporters from low- income districts like Bab Al-She'riya and Boulaq Al-Dakrour, El-Gabri said. However, "because they only contacted the unions, only 150 real football supporters travelled." El-Gabri said that if the officials had consulted them as experts on football affairs, they would have told them from the beginning that it was important to transport fans in open buses, so that they could fight back against rock-throwing Algerians. He said that many of those who had travelled had done so in order to secure the electoral interests of some NDP members. "Many of them weren't strong enough when attacked by the Algerians. One of them was screaming, and I had to hit him to stop him panicking the others," El-Gabri said. El-Gabri said that had he had a group of real Egyptian fans from Boulaq, Matariya and other low- income areas, then he could have defended the Egyptians who were staying at the Al-Hasr camp from the Algerian fans. In addition to the fact that the real fans were not present in Sudan, even the weak encouragement given by those Egyptian fans who were there was due to the fact that the Sudanese came in large numbers and supported the Egyptian team, "though mostly they just watched," El-Gabri said. El-Gabri is angry at people who have depicted the Egyptians as being beaten up by the Algerians. "If they are such weaklings, why were they in Sudan?" he asked. The Algerians are not really tough anyway, he said. Whatever the case may be, it seems likely that the violent events in Sudan will now reduce the fashion among middle-class boys and girls to go to football matches. El-Gabri said that it was time that real fans went back to the stadiums. He added that further steps should also be taken, including reducing ticket prices, returning the third- class audience to its place in the middle of the stadium instead of behind the goals so that the fans' encouraging will be more effective, and shining the television lights on them, since they are the ones who have been supporting the football teams for 25 years or more.
