Tunisian football league in Jeopardy
Following Tunis’ and Egypt’s revolutions, both found themselves forced to consider whether to continue domestic games amidst fans so riled-up they turn violent, not to mention lack of personnel ready to fend them off.
While Egypt decided to resume their games the Tunisian Football Association will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future of their domestic competitions after riots and violence threatens the sport scene.
A case in point is Egypt’s bout of violence, specifically, the dramatic Cairo Stadium pitch invasion scene by Zamalek supporters during the last Sunday CAF Champions League match against Club Africain. But Egypt doesn’t have a monopoly on anarchy.
The Tunis meeting’s agenda includes discussions over the anarchy that broke out during their previous games as a result of a lack of security during the country’s unrest.
“Some of the league games were marred by violence, anarchy and riots and fans invaded other pitches, which led to the matches’ cancelations,” according to the Tunisian daily Assabah.
The Tunisian FA is likely to follow the footsteps of their Egyptian counterparts of resuming football activities in order to cut the heavy losses endured by the clubs and sport’ entities who have been frozen for almost three months.
“Resuming sport activities in Tunisia and Egypt is very important for the economy to flourish. Many sectors have already been affected in both countries and we need at least sport to get back to business in order to return to normal,” Khaled Bayoumi, an Egyptian sport analyst told Ahram Online.
Bayoumi also slams security forces for not easing fears concerning the safety of these games.
“If you fail to secure 30 or 40 thousand in a football game don’t claim that you can assure the safety of millions in a country,” he added.
In spite of the insecurity, sport will get back to life in both countries as it’s an important part of the economy and a good indicator of the country’s stability after recovering from the revolution circumstances.
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