The unjust world of soccer
My nephew Amir, a diehard football fan, watched the match between Egypt and Argentina and was devastated when Egypt lost. He watched the interview with the Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan afterward and explained to me at length what the complaint was all about. As I listened, he asked me, "What does it mean when the Egyptian coach says, 'We have suffered injustice'?"
"chim dayee - eyes of uncle - 'injustice' could mean many things, but I think the coach meant there was a double standard in how the game was refereed," I responded.
"What is a double standard?" he asks.
"A double standard is rooted in prejudices and biases, applying rules and laws differently based on someone's background, color, religion, or ethnicity," I respond as simply as I can.
"That sounds like racism," he says, pausing to stare at me through the WhatsApp screen, a cubical world that connects us from thousands of miles away.
And then he asks: "Is that racism?"
"Yes, azizam - yes my dear -" I respond with a sigh.
"I am as angry as you are," I tell him. "I wish your favorite player, Salah, and his team had won the match, but you know, the world is unjust. The French referee, François Letexier, and his team of VAR assistants turned a blind eye to two penalties on Egyptian players, and a second goal was controversially disallowed. So yes, there is racism and corruption in the soccer world as well."
"But, you know, there is hope. More African nations are now competing in the World Cup. The future belongs to them, not Europeans," I end with an assurance.
Soccer is a total social phenomenon. To the outside world, non-engaged observers, this match was just "a game", but anthropologically speaking, for many football diehard fans in Egypt, this was a battlefield of national honor.
I accidentally saw a video today; I can't remember exactly where, but on one of the social media platforms, where Messi's jersey number 10 was being burned by a father and his children. In the background, the Egyptian flag, carried by a child running around the fire, was being waved in the wind as smoke rose and jerseys in red and blue, and light blue and white, crumbled to ashes.
The Egypt vs Argentina battlefield in a way occurred in post-colonial power dynamics, and Egyptian soccer authorities' official complaint was in a way against the double standard that is fed by hegemonic whiteness on the global stage.
