Euroscene: "The Jerusalem police, not used to seeing Arabs celebrate in good humour in the capital, tried to subdue them with excessive force that led to several arrests".
The above is an extract from a Jerusalem Post report on last Saturday's Israeli Premier league tie between Betar Jerusalem and the Israeli-Arab club Bnei Sakhnin. For the record, we should point out that Betar (a club oftimes supported by fans with extremist Israeli nationalist views) for the second time this season lost to Bnei Sakhnin, going down 2-0.
On the eve of the game, Sakhnin chairman Mazen Ghnaim, a man who clearly does not need to be told what way the wind might blow on a cold Jerusalem Saturday afternoon, had requested a special police escort for both the team bus and that of the 600 Sakhnin travelling fans who made the perilous journey to the Israeli capital.
That request had been summarily dismissed by the Betar owner, Meir Fenigel, who commented: "Whenever they arrive, we will treat them with respect, they will lose and then be on their way home".
Problem was that Bnei Sakhnin did not lose. In the morning, the team went to pray at the Al Aksa mosque in Jerusalem and in the afternoon striker Agoye Olumide scored goals in either half, prompting not only singing and dancing celebrations from the Sakhnin fans but also the waving of Islamic flags.
Inevitably, these "celebrations", did not go down well with either the police who "used excessive force" or with the local Betar Jerusalem "hard men" who after the game set to work on the nearby Maiha shopping centre. At the end of the day, 15 fans had been arrested, one car burned out and a small number of policemen injured - Happy New Footballing Year from Jersualem.
We move on to Athens where Panionios played host to cross-town rivals and current Greek league leaders, Olympiakos, in a Saturday derby game. Here, too, it would seem, the "hard men" had the better of the day. Little love is lost between the two clubs as evidenced by the fact that visitors Olympiakos were given just 322 tickets for the game.
When more than 2,500 Olympiakos fans turned up trouble was clearly on the way. Sure enough, the fans attempted to force their way into the stadium, finding their way blocked not only by police but also by Panionios fans; scuffles and running riots inevitably ensued.
Worse still, however, was the fact that about 1,000 of the Olympiakos "fans" managed to get into the Panionios ground, attacking both police and Panionios fans with ripped up stadium seats. In the end, match referee Socratis Tsikinis was obliged to abandon the game even before it started after being informed by police that they could not guarantee the players' safety.
In the end, two Olympiakos fans were arrested whilst nine policemen ended up in hospital. Such events, though, were not without recent precedent since a water polo match between the two clubs in December ended with Panionios player Zahos Anastasiadis being taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a chair thrown by an Olympiakos supporter. Ah well, Happy New Year from Athens.
Over the next 12 months, we will doubtless find ourselves dealing with plenty more of the same, violent situations in which tribal loyalties and social tensions that have their roots in society at large spill over into football. We don't much look forward to these stories.
One story, however, that is destined to fascinate in the coming year concerns the recently appointed Odd Couple currently running the mighty Real Madrid, namely former Brazil coach Wanderley Luxemburgo and former AC Milan and Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi.
Given what we know about Luxemburgo's almost manic determination and Sacchi's obsession with fitness and discipline, we can cheerfully expect 21-carat sparks to fly as Figo, Raul, Beckham, Ronaldo et al come face to face with the dolce, dolce, Italo-Brazilian sergeant-major approach. Watch this space.
