In Algeria, last Thursday, August 28th, during a professional soccer (futbol) game a player was struck and killed by an object flung from the stands. His name is Albert Ebosse and he was the Algerian league’s top scorer last season notching 17 goals while playing for JS Kabylie based out of the Alergian city of Tizi Ouzou. Ebosse, who was 24, died from being hit in the head by piece of concrete thrown by his home crowd. Issa Hayatou who is the Cameroonian president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) gave a statement, “My thoughts go out to the family and friends of this young man who enjoyed his job peacefully and went further to pursue his passion for football abroad.” CAF president, Issa Hayatou, issued other statements as well but highlighted that, “African football cannot be the breeding ground for hooliganism whatsoever.” Hayatou also said he expects heavy sanctions to be produced for the Algerian league along with an investigation from the Algeria’s interior ministry. In Africa and throughout the surrounding area, soccer is a very important aspect of the community. This year in soccer (futbol), the Algerian team made the FIFA World Cup in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
During this time in Algeria during the summer the people were ambitious and were united while watching the team. A few months later in the same country a tragedy like this occurs in a area that had been so enthusiastic over their national team. This is important because there are some places in the world that let soccer (futbol) affect the community in such a way as this. In Africa, there are many situations where populations are affected by violence or war. I feel that the events that happened on Tuesday were a direct result of the events going on in Northern Africa. It may be go to far to say that just from soccer you can tell how violent a country is but you can see a small portion. Currently Algeria is is facing a lot of trouble that is going on in the surrounding countries. Morocco, Mali, Libya and although not bordering Egypt all play a role on Algeria. Egypt and Libya recently have had a lot of violence and Algeria in fact just reopened their borders to Libya. Although soccer is a very different topic then War, but in ‘vulnerable’ countries some events as little as soccer can play a much bigger role.
Throughout the article there is an emphasis on sadness and tragedy, as there should be. Typically when CNN reports a story on Africa it is related to violence, war, disease, overall sadness or perhaps a tourist destination. In this case it is violence and sadness, the article doesn’t give as many details as it could but it does a good job delivering the information. Personally I feel the issue is unsolved and happens to often in the soccer (futbol) community. Soccer (futbol) is commonly associated with large, intense and crazy crowds where such a tragedy is possible. I hope the CAF and Issa Hayatou can find a way to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. This topic isn’t as ‘mainstream’ as one would think about current events in Africa but it shows a topic that is usually uninvolved with sadness of this magnitude perhaps highlighting how events can shape an area.
(Previously posted to the wrong page)