Comrades in arms
Regardless of who is to blame for the gang fight in Zamalek, the sporting club's illustrious history is the victim.
Nashwa Abdel-Tawab gets the reaction
Stormy Tuesday, 12 July. A date described in local newspapers as a black day for sports in Egypt and specifically for Zamalek.
"I can't forget the terror I felt," 62-year-old Afaf Saad told Al-Ahram Weekly. "I was in the gym in the club. I had left my grandchildren, nine-year-old Lana and seven-year-old Mohamed in the children's corner, thinking they would be safe anywhere inside the club, when I heard there was a fight. I heard that hooligans had started damaging the club's property and attacking people with umbrella sticks." Saad rushed out of the gym along with others to their kids.
"I didn't see any hooligans or fighting but I saw the aftermath. Tables were turned upside down. Umbrellas and chairs were broken. People gathered to talk about the fight. Thank God the kids were fine but panicked because of the shouting."
Afaf, as well as others, decided to stop going to the club at least temporarily.
More than a week following the unprecedented incident, a prosecution investigation continues. Mamdouh El-Biltagui, the minister of youth, said he will leave the case for the courts to decide even though all clubs are under the supervision of the ministry.
"What we are facing is a real disgrace," said Abdel-Aziz El-Shafei, former head of the Sports Body, in the aftermath. "The minister is cautious in his decisions. He had the right to dissolve the board and I think he will do it at the right moment for fear of more violence."
El-Shafei felt, however, that dissolving the board was not the right solution. "The problem is not solved. It's really hard to decide."
The violence on 12 July began at 3pm when Zamalek's Vice-President Ismail Selim tried to enter the club by force along with his relatives and some 40 men. They fought with several groundspeople, injuring some of them. Selim had been prevented from entering the club after his membership had been cancelled by the board in his absence two months earlier after objecting to the way of leadership of club president Mortada Mansour.
Selim and his men then headed to Mansour's office. One put a gun to his head while others vandalised his office. Mansour was in his office at the time signing a contract with the Portuguese player Soza. Other club officials were at the ceremony. He immediately called the police but not after the attackers hit him and stole $30,000 and a cellular phone from his office.
Mansour, who told the Weekly he would rather not speak about the incident, went to court. He is accusing Selim of attempted murder and theft.
Selim has denied Mansour's version of the story. "The board had no right to cancel my membership," Selim said. "I was undercut by Mansour. He stripped me of my responsibilities in the club. I am not invited to meetings. I don't have an office. I complained to the minister and I received oral and written support but Mansour did not respond."
Selim claimed that he went to the club with a formal document and an appeal from the Ministry of Youth that he had the right to enter the club, being a member of the board. "Security personnel prevented me from entering and hit me instead, injuring me," Selim told the Weekly. "I called members of my family and waited until Mansour agreed to let me in. I went inside and addressed him [Mansour]. He called me names and hit me with something iron. I was knocked down. When I got up I headed at once to the Ministry of Youth, then to the hospital for treatment. I didn't go to the police because the ministry should solve the problem, not the police."
The bad blood between the president and his deputy dates from 1996 when the board, with Selim in it, froze Mansour's membership when he accused Selim of theft. Mansour, who was then a member of the board, abided by the rules and resigned. He stayed away from the club for four years until Alieddin Hilal, former minister of youth, allowed him to enter the club. The rules at that time gave the right to the board to abrogate the membership of another member.
Hilal changed the rule in 2000 and stripped the club's right to freeze any member of the board without going through legal channels. It is up to the minister to freeze a membership according to a demand from two-third of the club board of directors. A final decision is taken by an extraordinary general assembly of the club during a maximum 45-day period with the agreement of one-quarter of the members.
Selim apparently believed it was his right to enter the club with the permission of the Ministry of Youth. He said the board should be dissolved and re-elections in a general assembly held.
Aziz Sami, a veteran Zamalek member, says what happened was a farce. "We hear of Selim's great history in the club and of Mansour's fight against evil," Sami said. "What we need now is to salvage our reputation as a great club that once had pride in a beautiful age long ago."
"The whole board should be dissolved," Ibrahim Hegazi, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Riadi magazine, said. "If there is no civilised dialogue between people, then they should be disbanded."
Essam Abdel-Moneim, ex-president of the Egyptian Football Association and sports critic at Al-Ahram, said their names should be "crossed out from sports itself. Severe punishment should be meted out as an example. What happened has nothing to do with sports principles."
Hassan El-Mistikawi, head of the sports section in Al-Ahram, wrote, "I wanted the board to be dissolved but the minister and his ministry left the issue to the law although they can be the law as well. I'm really disappointed by such weak action."
"The members of the club brought both Mansour and Selim and must choose," Mahmoud Marouf, a veteran sports writer in Al-Gomhuriya, said. "They have their say because the club belongs to the members and not to Selim or Mansour and no one should interfere especially after the delay in the minister's intervention. If he had intervened when the problems were brought up long ago, things would have changed."
Mansour and Selim are currently battling for what they perceive to be their rights without regard for the club they head and its long and fabled history. They perhaps see themselves as the victims whereas the real loser is Zamalek and the club's diehard supporters.
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