How Egypt’s Ramadan Tournaments Can Save Soccer From Its Corporate Overlords

-Essay-

CAIRO — A year ago, I wrote an article mourning Egyptian soccer as we knew it. I described how it has become something hateful, devoid of fans and enjoyment, a stage for clowns, a center for money laundering. This bourgeois, pretentious sport dominated by soccer academies and corrupt youth sectors wound up as a kind of humiliation for those of us who loved it — because we were forced to adapt to its ugly habits and boring viewing.

A few days ago, I was watching a promotional video for a soccer tournament during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — set to start on March 1 — that will be organized by the Youth Center of al-Baalwa al-Sughra village in Suez Canal’s Ismailia province.

The video restored my memory; Egyptians, narrow streets, street vendors, and children playing and competing. The flags of Palestine and the Ismaili club, the flags of Palestine again and with a conscious repetition that carries a clear message, then a minute of silence for the soul of Ihab Galal, a soccer coach who died a few months ago.

The video shows people who want their own soccer, say what they want, define their symbols and enjoyment and write their messages. Egyptians love soccer, but those who rule the sport hate it — and hate its fans. The people had to find their own solution, and they found it in their liberated lands, remote villages and youth centers.

Dirt field and drones

I stopped watching local official games except occasional matches of the national team. But my interest in watching the recorded Ramadan tournaments and the fierce local competitions has revived my connection to the game. I enjoy good and familiar raw skills and a happy crowd of onlookers. Most people just want a touch of joy with the permission of their majesties, presidents and sovereigns.

Soccer is a sport, not a holy book. So it is subject to mutation and change. The public creates their own versions— realizing the impossibility of joining its “corporate” version. The street and tournaments are no longer incubators for club players, who are now manufactured in sports academies like the children of the Mamluks in the Middle Ages.

I see the enjoyment of a new version of the sport that I loved and practiced.

Another sport is mutating with different rules, a different audience, a coordinated dirt field and a goal larger than a handball goal and smaller than an “official” soccer goal. Matches are filmed by drones and local cameras, and a broadcaster comments on them live from inside a stadium whose members he might even know personally.

Reviving local sports

There is nothing more beautiful than a happy audience that is pleased with what they see. When I watch these videos, I am filled with true happiness. I see the enjoyment of a new version of the sport that I loved and practiced. I see pride in villages and areas that have wrested their freedom, and established their own practices.

It is very beautiful for the practice to regain itself, develop and transform into something independent. The experience of Ramadan tournaments is now unique. In the liberated countryside by its people, it is a practice that unites with its owners and the elements of their lives.

Big Egyptian teams like Al-Ahly and Zamalek gained their popularity in the early 20th century when there was no radio or television, or young people buying official branded sportswear. It was popular, and the fame and stories were popular: Al-Ahly in the Madbah area, and Zamalek in Meet Okba. People loved their clubs because they were their clubs in terms of practice, not viewership.

 Elite domination

These clubs, like soccer, are not sacred buildings, nor are they indefinable “entities” that may one day end or transform into something else.

Everyone is free to do what he wants, but I like a version of soccer that no longer exists in Egypt on the official level. As for advanced professional soccer, it is enough for us to watch the Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, and the Champions League.

At a time when capitalism is becoming increasingly monopolistic — we saw a quarter of the world’s wealth in a single frame during a U.S. President Donald Trump‘s inauguration ceremony. Soccer is being transformed, toward a similar fate: very centralized European competitions, which will become a European Super League for elite clubs. The rules are modified and Americanized, making the game more exciting and fast — violent, breathless and focused. Soccer may ultimately turn into something resembling the Roman arenas, where slaves fought and killed one another.