It will be a heck of a note if a football match succeeds where a year’s worth of protests and sit-ins have failed.

Not even 24 hours have passed since the Port Said Stadium riot and stampede that killed more than 70 people, and already the dead are being referred to as “martyrs.”

As I type this, members of Parliament are slinging blame on everyone from the security guards to the head of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), along with our old friends the “invisible hands” and “foreign entities.” Among those in the political grandstand, the tragic and senseless deaths in Port Said is a glaring example of why power needs to shift to a civilian government immediately. I have yet to hear anyone question the actions of the fans themselves or a culture of sports rivalry that glorifies violence.

Ahmed Ghaffar, perhaps better known by his Twitter handle @Heemalization posted an eyewitness account on the blog The Art of Chaos.
An Ahly Ultra, Ghaffar started his account with the trip out to Port Said, describing how people threw rocks at the train they were on as it passed through Ismailia.  “It is the norm for the train or bus to be attacked when it is on its way from one province to another,” he wrote. The Ultras left the train and took buses to Port Said, “because we knew that they prepared an ambush for us at the train station.”

Ghaffar continued, “We got to Port Said […] and the rock throwing [at] the buses hasn’t stopped all the way to the stadium. All of this was still very normal and happens whenever we travel.”

The first half of the match was marked by shouting, fireworks and fans throwing things. What Ghaffar found most shocking though, was at the end of the game.
“The pitch was attacked in a very bizarre way from two sides; one towards the players to hit them and the other towards the Ahly fans in the bleachers,” he wrote. “At this very same moment the lights went off and the stadium turned black, at that time there were two [Central Security Forces] CSF security cordons along the Ahly bleachers and all of a sudden the cordon was opened for the Masry fans to go up the bleachers and attack the Ahly fans.

AP

Team players of the Egyptian Al-Ahly club run for safety during clashes following their soccer match against Al-Masry club at the soccer stadium in Port Said, Egypt Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Dozens of Egyptians were killed Wednesday in violence following a soccer match in Port Said, when fans flooded the field seconds after a match against a rival team was over, Egypt's Health ministry said.

He claimed that the attackers came after them with batons, knives, and other weapons: “We were in shock that the police let them do that very easily and that such large numbers are attacking us! Usually it would be swearing, fireworks and rock-throwing; it is what we do in football, but that is it!”

It’s what we do in football? It is “normal” for rival sports fans to throw rocks at each other?

Sadly, it is, as Pharaohs ultra fans proved in 2010 by attacking the Algerian national team bus on their way to the World Cup qualifiers. The passions post-revolution seem even more inflamed, and last year the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) had to punish several clubs with fines and closed-door matches because of fans’ illegal use of fireworks.

"We tried to prevent riots, but supporters considered the punishments provocative," EFA Chairman Samir Zaher told media in November after angry Zamalek fans stormed Cairo Stadium because they were banned from watching their team play.

The Ultras paint their actions as a revolutionary struggle. "We thought justice and freedom would come after our revolution,” the Zamalek Ultras posted on their Facebook page after their November clashes with stadium security. “We will continue in our defence of freedom even with our blood.”

I hate to break it to the sports fans, but watching a sports match is not considered a human right. I even checked the UN declaration on the subject.

It’s time to question why it is normal for rival sports fans to throw rocks or shoot fireworks at each other.

One of the first things I heard in the office about the stadium deaths was, “It happens everywhere.” Yes, that’s true. I was at university when some of the students rioted because our basketball team lost a championship; there have been riots when a sports team win. Most recently, hockey fans in Vancouver, Canada, rioted because their team lost in the Stanley Cup.

The difference is, these communities responded with outrage and embarrassment at the behavior of the fans. And this business of attacking rival fans or team buses before the game isn’t even in the playbook.

There are a lot of really good reasons why many Egyptians do not trust the government right now, but Port Said's football riot is not one of them.  With any luck, a full investigation will determine all the factors that contributed to the deaths at Port Said stadium. If the security failed to confiscate weapons, if people locked exit doors, if policemen abandoned their posts in panic — they should all be held accountable.
That accountability, however starts with the fans. It’s time to stop glorifying the “Ultras” as heroes — football is a game, not a war.et