An Egyptian man stands against a wall with the Al-Ahly logo painted on it in front of the Al-Ahly club in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012.
Most soccer supporters, which is almost every adult male and many females, have a local team that they support. So in Alexandria they may support the local Olympians (formerly, as the name suggests, a team supported by Greek-Egyptians and is now fully Egyptian) and then they will support one of the two big Cairo teams: al-Ahly or al-Zamalek.
There is a history to that rivalry. Al-Zamalek was the British team (named after the island of Zamalek in the middle of the Nile where many of the British resided in the early part of the last century) and al-Ahly was the local Egyptian team and the first soccer team in Egypt to play against foreign teams. A hangover from those days is that al-Zamalek is still associated in people's minds with the establishment and al-Ahly with populism. Former president Hosni Mubarak, it is said, was an al-Zamalek supporter.
As a school boy in Alexandria that was my profile: Olympics supporter for local and league matches, and Ahly supporter for the national cup – especially if they played al-Zamalek.
Whenever these two big teams meet for their match traffic stops, the streets empty and people stay home to watch. Cairo is never as dead as when the match is on. Generally the country grinds to a halt.
Both teams have huge fan clubs. Mr. Mubarak's government spent years trying to control these clubs because of their size and wealth, fixing elections for the club boards and chairmanships, etc.
Around 2004 (give or take a year), the al-Ahly fans staged a revolt and formed an independent grouping called the Ultras with a secret structure and leadership. This is the hard-core fan base. They plan their own events around matches, strategize how they will support their team and have their own slogans. Their members are sworn to secrecy. I have even heard supporters say, "Neither Christian nor Muslim, I am an Ultra Ahly supporter." In a religious country like Egypt that is, of course, blasphemous – but then this is a soccer-crazed country.
Al-Zamalek followed suit about year later as their supporters – also called Ultras – were being outmanoeuvred in standoffs that happened both in and out of the stadium.
A turning point in the revolution of 2011 happened on Jan. 28, when the Ahly Ultras marched to Tahrir Square painted red and white, their team colours. They were followed some days later by Zamalek Ultras painted white and blue. The joke became that it took Mr. Mubarak to bring the two teams' fans together.
The al-Ahly Ultras were very effective because they brought numbers, public sympathy and police-confrontation strategies to the square. After all, they were used to fighting the riot police on a regular basis after their matches. Nobody else in the country had that kind of extensive know-how developed over years of confrontation.
Since one of their leaders was killed by the police last November during the second uprising against military rule and the slow pace of reform, they have become even more anti-regime and pro-revolution, to the point of demanding complete change and the removal of all soldiers from positions of power. Their regular chant is, "Down, down with the rule of soldiers."
Another chant is "[Field Marshal Hussein]Tantawi [head of Egypt's military council]is Mubarak. Tantawi, your turn is coming." Meaning he too, will fall and be put on trial like Mr. Mubarak. They chant this at matches in the soccer stadium before and after the games. So they are seen and heard on TV across the country; some of these images are posted on YouTube.
Because of who they are, and their potential control over a mass movement, they scare the regime.
After the riots in Port Said, the al-Ahly Ultras put out a statement on Facebook saying that this was an organized assault on them by pro-regime thugs. They have produced pictures showing men in black coats organizing the attackers, many of whom are wielding white batons, which they say are Interior Ministry issue for riot police. Other pictures show the police standing and watching as Ahly supporters are being beaten. The Ultras say that they fell into a trap and are swearing revenge against the military. Their dead, they say, will not be forgotten.
Karim Alrawi is an Egyptian playwright and novelist currently based at UBC. He is also an al-Ahly team supporter.