At the end of a home game against Al-Alhy from Cairo, Al-Marsy had won by a soccer of 3-1 and the team was satisfied with the victory. Fans from the home team stormed the field and began to attack visiting fans and players. The fans fought with knives, guns and numerous other weapons. Somehow the weapons were taken into the stadium without security problems. The violence took to the streets and later turned into a riot. There were over 14,000 people involved. Police stations were burned, transportation to the city was shut down, and the president cancelled foreign meetings to meet with the National Defense Council. People could not leave their homes and watched in horror as blood was drawn. Gunshots could be heard everywhere and by the end of the night there were 74 dead and over 1,000 injured. The hospitals were overwhelmed and had no room for all of the injured to be treated. Parts of the city were destroyed and bodies were laying on curbs. After the riot, surveillance cameras captured the faces of 21 suspects who began the uprising. These 21 were hanged in a town square. "We believe this is something that has been well-organized. "I'm sure there are some hidden hands behind this, but we cannot really see, or we cannot really confirm, who is behind all that," said Khaled Mortagy, a member of Al-Ahly's governing board.(Famhy and Lee, 2012)
Incidents like this makes society lose trust in the fans of Egypt and could label sporting events as being dangerous. The reason these people rampaged across the field was because they wanted to bring attention to the transition of presidents and the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood. The people in Egypt are under huge pressure to try and keep these events as just a sports match and nothing more.
The green and white jerseys of the Al-Marsy soccer club file into the blaring stadium that amplifies every bit of noise. Al-Marsy is known for their rabid fans packed into the tight environment. The legendary Egyptian soccer team is ranked number one in their league and was the defending champion going into 2013. Soccer in Africa is well known for it's ancient history of the sport.
Al-Marsy was founded in 1920 and since then has won twenty titles in their Premier League. Al-Marsy which means "Egyptian" is known for its large number of fans and loud stadium. They are considered the most popular soccer team in all of Egypt. The team, based in the City of Port, a three hour train ride to the capital Cairo, attracts many fans to their small stadium which is always sold out. Due to the fact there are so many fans, situations often get out of control.