1 - 7 March 2001
Issue No.523
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 1 - 7 March 2001 Issue No.523 |
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Courting trouble
The landmark decision by an ad-inistrative court in Egypt, which reversed Zamalek's 3-1 win against the Arab Con-ractors, could open a Pandora's box of how disputes are resolved, not just in football but in all other sports in the country.
To recap, on 21 November, a premier league match between Zamalek and the Contractors was cancelled mid-way after an injury to the referee. Reda El-Beltagi was struck and injured in the face by an object thrown from the stands in the Arab Contractors' stadium during the half-time break. El-Beltagi had just awarded the Contractors a penalty which it converted. The referee cancelled the match but in his report did not accuse anyone of throwing what appeared to be a stone. "I did not see who did it," said El-Beltagi, whose cut above the right eyebrow left him bloodied and in need of two stitches.
A replay was held, on 30 December, without spectators and Zamalek won 3-1.
This week, however, the court ruled that the scoreline should read 2-0 for the Contractors. In its ruling, which came in response to a lawsuit the Contractors filed shortly after the replay, the court adjudged the Contractors the victor on the assumption that since the club was leading at the time of the incident, the individual who threw the stone must have been a Zamalek supporter. The court said that according to Article 84 of the Competitions Committee of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), a team whose fans prevent a match from being completed is deemed the loser by a 2-0 score no matter what the score was at the time of stoppage.
The court did not go by the normal standards applied by FIFA, the world's governing body in football. Had the Zamalek-Contractors match been under FIFA's supervision, Zamalek would have come out the winner. FIFA stipulates that in matches which must be halted because of player or spectator violence, the home team is the loser 2-0 -- no questions asked. It says the responsibility for the security and safety of the spectators, players, referees and officials lies solely with the home team, no matter who is responsible for triggering the violence.
This is not the first time a game in Egypt has been disrupted by crowd trouble. An infamous stone-throwing case in the early 1980's led to the cancellation of further league matches altogether. In 1993, injuries to several Zimbabwean players in a World Cup qualifier with Egypt forced a replay which pushed Egypt out of contention. But this is the first time the courts have intervened to settle the score on behalf of an aggrieved club.
The winner is obviously the Contractors; it won the case and the match. The ruling also proves a bonus for Ahli, who overnight saw Zamalek's four-point lead in the race for the league title cut to one.
For the EFA, however, this can only further erode its already waning influence. For weeks following the initial match it dithered in search of a way out. Failing to lay the blame on anybody, it lamely decided the game be repeated and fined each team LE25,000.
But the biggest loser will be sports institutions. From now on, every Tom, Dick and Hani who seeks to reverse a score will bypass respective federations and head for the courts. That would be courting disaster.
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