Ivan Ooze had just been inadvertently unearthed from his egg-shaped Hyperlock chamber by a 20th century construction crew when he came face-to-face with the Power Rangers. Pack your bags, Mister, one Ranger fearlessly told the evil Ivan. You re going back where you came from.
Nothing much has changed in 6,000 years, sneered Ivan. A teenager with a big mouth.
We are reminded about Ivan Ooze, the fictional chief villain in the 1995 film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when we talk about Ultras. Football is not nearly as old as the eons in which Ivan Ooze was kept prisoner beneath the ground. The sport as we know it is only around 150 years old. But some things indeed never change. That goes for teenagers with big mouths and football supporters.
Ultras have been around for a fairly long time, appearing in Europe, first in Italy, during the late 1960s. The name has newly arrived on our shores but it describes a people we have known from the time of the gladiators: supporters of sport.
Though Ultras are not new, they are the new name of the Egyptian football fan. The Egyptian media are this season trying to pass off Mr Egyptian Ultra as if he had just stepped out of the Planet Zooger, and the unbeknownst public is buying into this hogwash (these days, we should say nonsense ).
Ultras in Latin means beyond, with the implication that their enthusiasm is beyond the normal. But what is so abnormal about their behavior? They are nothing more than sports team fans renowned for their support, which is at times fanatical.
So what s new?
They use flares and are vocal in their support in large groups. They may defy the authorities and display banners at football stadiums which are used to create an atmosphere which intimidates opposing players and supporters, as well as encouraging their own team. The actions of Ultra fan groups can occasionally be overly extreme. They can turn violent.
Not much different from hooligans who have been around for long.
Consistently rivals with opposing supporters, Ultras are often identified with their respective team. They supposedly never stop singing or chanting during a match, no matter what the result. They are not supposed to sit down during a match. They attend as many games as possible, whether home or away, regardless of cost or distance. And they are to evince utmost loyalty to the stand in which they are located.
So what s changed?
Why don t we call a spade a spade? Call Ultras what they are: hate to get beat spoilt brats, never admitting the opposing team was better. They at time spoil for a fight. They don t mind mixing it up with police and fans, and they can take out their frustrations on anything not anchored to concrete.
If there is anything unique about Egypt s so-called Ultras, it is that many supposedly come from good families. The other oddity is that most of them are followers of a consistent winner, Ahly. What would our Ultras do if Ahly were perennial losers?
Ultras are okay when united as one, which happens only once, when their country is playing. It s when they root for their respective clubs that things can get out of hand.
We used to have good Ultras. They used to sit side by side in the most volatile of our most famous derby. But then, Ahly crowd violence in a 1971 derby, after Zamalek scored a penalty to go ahead 2-1, prevented the season from being finished. The next season was not played at all because of the incident.
From then on, it was bad blood between Ahly and Zamalek supporters who ever since have been prevented by security from sitting next to each other.
But if they had been allowed to continue sitting with each other, the electric current running between them might have been short-circuited.
Whatever happened to good old fashioned cheering, when sports fans spent most of their time grousing about lousy teams, when we voiced our pleasure with a particular player or team or goal by clapping or shouting positive exclamations toward the field of play and ultimately, the favorable object? (Japanese are the best fans. They sit there politely clapping in unison. It doesn t matter who wins or loses. They re enjoying the game and their lives. And they pick up their trash before they leave the stadium).
Likewise, we showed our displeasure toward a particular play, player, referee or team with jeers, booing and the shouting of expletives – not very polite – but with little or no violence.
This year, local security has given Ultras a hard time, preventing thousands of them from entering stadiums for big games. When they do enter, they do so without flags or flares. Stadium security has become so tight, they can t smuggle so much as a sandwich inside.
As the league goes down to the wire in one of the tightest races in years, Ultras will no doubt be watched extra carefully by police.
After 6,000 years of imprisonment, Ivan Ooze was most upset by the boredom of his lengthy imprisonment, being forced to miss several disasters throughout Earth s history such as the Black Death and the Spanish Inquisition, and what really hurt – the 1981 reunion of the Brady Bunch.
But he didn t miss much in football. Call them what you like, but then and now, fans are fans.
