By Heba Elkayal
CAIRO: If the first rule of Fight Club is to not talk about Fight Club, the same is to be said of the Ultras White Knights. Maintaining secrecy about the group’s order and activities is second only to their first rule of football above all. Though the fictional movie “Fight Club” was about a group of men who held intense game fights secretly, the Ultras as a general movement share a similar spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood for a collective common cause: the pure enjoyment of football games.
Ultras as a movement is not about football hooliganism, but the pursuit of bringing back football to its primary aim of entertainment for football fans and to battle the commercialization of the game, explains Mohamed Beshir, a football journalist and expert on the Ultras movement.
The Ultras as a general movement aims to support football teams. Each chapter of the Ultras supports its favored team by attending all games both home and away, dedicating their time, effort and personal money to funding their support for the team.
Beshir is currently writing a book on the history of the Ultras. Both his journalistic and personal activities are directed towards the support of the White Knights, even when their activities take a slightly political tone.
As news broke out about the altercations between football fans and central security forces at a football match between Ahly Club and Kima Aswan on Sept. 6, it was made clear by both media and Twitter users that this was an altercation between the Ahly Ultras and not Zamalek Ultras White Knights. It then became publicly clear that the term “Ultras” has become not only a household term, but that the public now recognizes the formation and activities of this social group. In addition, questions were raised about why the fight took place, and what the Ultras as a movement aim to do.
Socially, they are becoming quite significant for a number of reasons. “They don’t simply stop at football,” says the widely read blogger and political pundit Mahmoud Salem of Sandmonkey.org. “They actually have a philosophy and stand for a number of values and are not just simply football hooligans. Theirs is a way of life, a subculture, with its own rules, music and art. That makes them very unique.”
Beshir explains that hooliganism, particularly in countries such as England, developed when fans were forced out of the stadiums and forced into bars to watch the games. With the additional factor of alcohol, and the forceful separation of fans’ proximity to the stadiums and teams, hooliganism culture mutated from team support to its current form.
On ONTV’s show Baladna Bel Masry last Wednesday, hosted by TV presenter Reem Magued, questions were raised: is the Ultras movement simply a football movement about team support or is it one based on trying to provoke the police for preventing the Ultras from cheering with hand held flares — when legally the Egyptian Football Federation allows the limited use of flares inside the stadium — or is it a question of settling scores and a vendetta between the police authorities and the Ultras movement?
Curva nord, curva sud
The Ultras was first established in Italy by a group of workers to denounce the commercialization of football in the 1950s. As ticket prices increased by football clubs to selectively eliminate the presence of a certain demographic of people, fans retaliated by selecting the worst seats in the stadium behind the goalkeeper to maintain their presence at the games and thus, a social movement and cause was born.
Today the terms curva nord or curva sud (north or south curve) refer to more than simply the placement of fans in the seats but a reminder of what the Ultras movement stands for and how it was born.
“The term ‘Ultras’ in its analysis means ‘beyond normal’: extreme in your love and allegiance to the team and your love for freedom of organization and presence at the game. Ultimately it’s about the art of football support and cheering,” says Beshir.
This “art” entails logistical, artistic and financial organization amongst the fans to create banners and posters, arrange choreographed chanting, cheers and the use of flare guns, in addition to printing shirts and sweaters for all members. Banners created can oftentimes reach sizes that span entire sections of the stadium.
There is no formal manifesto of the Ultras, but a general one based on a universal code of conduct has organically formed through practice and time.
“The core idea of Ultras is about the Ultras mentality. Without any one of these key points, you cease becoming an Ultras chapter,” says Beshir. “By pledging allegiance to one curva in the stadium, peoples’ placement in one section joined them in a common cause, and this placement in the blind side meant they weren’t necessarily watching the game but in essence, becoming player number 12 of the team through their cheering and chanting for 90 minutes each game.”
Ultras believe that this cheering is imperative for the success of their players’ games not only helping them to play better, but that support by fans is at the crux of the team’s ultimate success.
Although they have been offered financial support and sponsorships — the Ultras have consistently rejected any such funding, choosing to stay in the placements in which they had initially been forced by economic necessity. In doing so, they maintain the purity of their commitment to both the sport and to their team. They offer more to their clubs then they might receive in return, helping in some cases to revive support for a team such as the Ultras White Knights and Zamalek Club.
As football clubs “selected” who was to attend and enjoy the games, over time, football today has become a sport reliant on corporate sponsorship, the ownership of club teams by oil tycoons and millionaires, and high profile football celebrities. When once the game was about pure sport, it has become about anything but, argues Beshir.
Thus, there’s a socialist essence to the Ultras movement.
In the Zamalek White Knights chapter in particular, no social or class distinction is made between the members unlike other Ultras’ chapters in Egypt, explains Beshir. He estimates that the current number of hardcore Ultras supporters is 5,000, and 25,000 members with various degrees of dedication across Egypt.
Ultras vs. CSF
Yet after the events of Sept. 6’s game during which 133 fans and security forces were injured, the question remains: why are members of the Ultras movement targeted by authorities?
“The battle we fought was against the tear gas and rubber bullets that they launched at us prior to the revolution when we were prevented from cheering and supporting our team with our banners, flares and tivo (choreographed cheering) activities. This was a battle we had to fight during the January revolution to end the war between the police and us. So it wasn’t about football, it was about fighting for freedom [of expression],” says Beshir.
There has been a limited amount of sympathy for the Ahly Ultras who have been accused of instigating the violence by some of the public, a debate which was led by talk show host Mona El Shazly on her show El ‘Ashera Masa’an and some sports TV commentators.
“This is another fight the Ultras have to put up with,” says the activist Tarek Shalaby. “By going against public pressure, potentially, a communiqué could be released by the military council as they did about the April 6 Youth Movement denouncing them as agitators, which could result in the public turning against them. When that happens, a minority will start doubting the credibility of SCAF in its accusations launched against political social movements, while the majority will still believe in what SCAF has to say.”
“We were the first graffiti movement to use graffiti to discuss police brutality, and freedom of expression and the spread of the Ultras movement before the revolution,” points out Beshir. The acronyms “UWK” and “ACAB” (All Cops Are Bastards) are spray-painted across Cairo and other governorates in Egypt. Images of the graffiti can be seen on their Facebook fan page, currently liked by 103, 768 users and updated constantly.
Referring to a now popular song penned by the Ultras White Knights starting off with the line “We Haven’t Forgotten Tahrir” and continuing with a few choice expletives aimed at the Central Security Forces, the White Knights are being recognized for both music and graffiti work across Egypt.
“Things escalated to the point when our song became the punch line to the revolution. Our video featuring the song from the stadium [when it was first sung] received the most Youtube hits — currently at 197,990 views — for an Ultras song in the Middle East. It was one of the most viewed videos [because of] the revolution,” says Beshir.
“The song came about as an expression by the protesters when they felt a break down of the revolution when the police authorities returned to their former behavior of oppression. Now for the first time an Ultras song is being sung by non-Ultras. I consider this one of the most important things that happened after the revolution for helping spread Ultras culture in Egypt and for changing the perspective of activists and intellectual that we are no longer simply crazy guys cheering with flags. People now recognize that we have a philosophy leading our movement.”
Though it might seem a bit strained to refer to the song as embodying a philosophy per se — it certainly does demonstrate a clear attitude towards the authorities from which a social philosophy could be inferred.
The White Knights were highlighted by activist Alaa Abdelfatah during an Al Jazeera interview for their strong loyalty and organized structure. Thus it prompts the question: with their strong organizational abilities and dedication to their cause, freedom and respect to their fellow Egyptians, what can be done when this energy is harnessed for political campaigning or community service projects? What can they offer Egyptian civil society in the long run?
“A people’s army [that’s] organized and efficient to keep our government in check,” states Salem.
Shalaby adds: “Post revolution we’ve discovered that the Ultras are a very good tool of political mobilization and they are willing to take on that role because they’re willing to take on the fight. We have to focus on the idea that they act as an independent labor union who refuse external funding. By staying financially independent and democratic, they make the best decisions for all the Ultras, retaining power and freedom to mobilize in the best way.”
Shalaby argues that media is responsible for painting any die-hard fan as a football hooligan, without distinguishing between stadium activities versus bar-related hooliganism.
Ultimately, it’s a question of loyalty to the football team. Ultras don’t follow the club, but they do follow the game.
