Monday, January 09, 2006

crazy riots in sachnin

here i am tucked up in bed in jerusalem, but it all could have been so different.
last night i saw first hand the ugly side of israeli football. i was asked to travel to the arab town of Sachnin to cover the Bnei Sachnin Vs Betar Jerusalem game for the Jerusalem Post.
its fair to say that the fans of the two teams dont get on. Betar are the right wingest club in israel and the only team to never field an arab player; while sachnin are the only arab team in the israeli top division.
tensions were clearly high during the game, but when it finished, as i was sitting in the vip area furiously typing up my match report, things got out of hand.
i saw the 500 or so betar fans running on to the pitch. as they got near the halfwayline they were surronded by police and local security.
i have since been told the sakhnin fans started the problems by pelting the israelis with stones, forcing them on to thepitch.
the minor scuffles which followed were on thingm but i needed a rde home.
i had travelled to sachnin on egged, via haia with no way of getting back. finally i found out there were caoches taking people to jerusalem, bt when i dound the coach in the car park some of the windows had been smashed by crazy sakhnin fans.
in the end i got back to jerusalem safely, albeit in a cold bus with a window missing.
this is just not the way it should be. im worried someone is going to get killed or seruously injured in the next game.
and ive got a really bad cold!
j.

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