The wave of terrorism certainly
hit Europe in 2016 at large. And, game events as well as sports fans were particularly
targeted by terrorists as a planned strategy to infuse dreads and maximise the
damages as much as possible. As a
matter of fact with the terrorist attack outside
Beskitas football stadium in Istanbul -- killing 38 people and left
155 as wounded -- the 2016 before sees off the world of sports and games dismally reminds us all the tragidies happened during these 12 months. That's
why Europe that contributed a sizable chunk in global sports in terms of both
events and business traded in fear throughout this year.
Sports terrorism is a global
phenomenon now, as terror attacks in sports venues and game events were
witnessed to be in gradual rise since the last two decades. The attack in
Pakistan on Sri Lanka' cricket team in 2009 , the Boston Marathon explosions in
2013, bombings in the Atlanta Olympics
1996, suicide blast in the Sri Lankan marathon race in 2008, bombs explosions
outside Real Madrid stadium in 2002 and ambush
firing in Angola on the Togo national football team in 2010 are few events
where terrorist deliberately used the stage of sports to attain maximum attention
and notoriety.
However in 2016, the phantom of
sports terrorism has harshly and horribly haunted the whole world, specially Europe in
terms of number of tragic incidents and casualties as results, making game
events, players and fans the unfortunate victims of sports terrorism. Sports
events that were affected, cancelled or marred in 2016 were seen largely in the context of two main terror events and
they are Brussels bombings in March and the lorry attack in Nice, held in July.
But before going through above incidents, it is significant to mention here the
Paris terror attacks held in late 2015 outside Stade de France, where more
than 130 people were killed and 350 injured.
Cautiously speaking the perpetrators of Paris attack 2015 not only
had connections with the masterminds involved in 2016 terror activities, the event
also had tentatively insinuated the things to come in Europe for the next year
and perhaps signified the platform of European sporting culture as target. Also,
that was the first time that a major sports venue had
been targeted for a terrorist attack after the most notorious Munich massacre
in 1972. That's why safety and security in sports was always prioritised and given
tremendous importance throughout 2016 in Europe. Top authorities went for even to
cancel, postpone or shift the game events on numerous occasions around Europe
just for the sake of public safety.
Despite the security management, a major terror incident that affected
European sports in 2016 occurred on March 22 when three coordinated suicide bombings in a
series were carried out at Brussels airport and a metro station. These bombing
killed 32 civilians and injured more than 300 people. Later investigations
proved that the perpetrators of the attack had close link with the terrorists
cell which involved in the Paris attacks 2015.
The Brussels bombings 2016 infused a wave of fear in Belgium and
neighboring countries. The Bosnia football coach therefore called the UEFA to
scrap all the upcoming football friendly matches in the wake of attack. The
Belgium footballers also had to hold their training session in closed doors for
upcoming friendly against Portugal. While on the request of the Portugal Football
Federation the friendly match between Belgium and Portugal were shifted from Brussels
to Leiria city. It was the second football match of Belgium affected within six
months after the Belgium vs. Spain match which was also marred by Paris attacks
in 2015.
Both of these attacks in Paris and
Brussels threatened the staging of EURO 2016 in France, the most coveted sports
event of Europe. However, the way the French authorities responded against
these threats is laudable as with strict security and high tech surveillance
France managed to hold and conclude the event without any reported unwanted
incident. Yet, just days after the successful and peaceful finale of EURO 2016,
on July 14 in a severe yet
unconventional terror act a heavy cargo truck was deliberately driven into
crowds that was celebrating Bastile Day in Nice, resulting in the deaths of 86
people and injuring 434.
The Nice lorry attack 2016 shattered
the law and order and security situation of the country again therefore the
European Cycling Championship, which was planned from September 14 to 18 in
Nice was called off amid security reasons. The Mayor of the Nice city publicly excused
to provide required amount of police deployment for the event. As a result the
European Cycling Union moved the event from Nice to city of Plumelec. For
similar reason France also cancelled the Nice-Cote d'Azur triathlon race
scheduled for October 1 and 2. The French Triathlon Federation announced their
inability in a statement that security required for the event which would bring
together 1,200 people would require "too great a commitment of public
order forces already mobilised otherwise".
The conditions for staging sports
were also found unfavorable in other continents too, as the
international sporting event had now developed into a potential and prime
target for terrorists. Wary that reality, the security authorities of Rio 2016
admitted that the fears of terrorism during the event were more serious due to
recent series of attacks elsewhere. Their apprehensions got further boost with
a Twitter
post by French jihadist Maxime Hauchard, after the coordinated terror attacks
on Paris last November pointing out Brazil as the "next target".
Besides, arrest of a group of 10 militants in July who were attempting to contact
a weapons supplier in neighbouring Paraguay to get AK 47 assault rifles made
the security concerns highly and dreadfully prone. But like the Euro 2016, the
Rio Olympics also went peacefully through because of strict security and advanced
safety standards set by Brazil for the grand sports gala.
How
terrorists view sports as an ideal platform to flex their muscles can be gauged
through one minor example, happened in Asia. When the picture of Afghan kid Murtaza Ahmadi got viral in January 2016,
who as wearing a plastic bag shirt of naming Lionel Messi the whole world of sports had got awestruck.
Therefore when Lionel Messi sent his autographic shirt to the boy it hit the
headlines making the child one of the most beloved sporting kid of the world.
Unfortunately that also backfired for young Ahmadi because he belonged to a region which is marred by religious militancy and where
is no space left for sports activities. Constant threats, therefore, from militants
compelled his family to flee Afghanistan and settled in Quetta for safety
reasons.
His parents are now contemplating to leave Quetta too, because according to
reports their insecurity hasn't vanished yet.
Nevertheless on December 10,
twin bomb blasts outside the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium, popularly
known as Besiktas Stadium in Turkey after the home team, reportedly killed 38
peoples and left 155 wounded. In less than 20 months that was the second terror
attack on Turkish football. As in the first week of April 2015, several
gunshots were fired at a bus carrying Fenerbache FC team back from their
victory over Rizespor that injured the bus driver and fortunately leaving the
footballers unhurt. But the attack on Beskistas stadium left 38 people dead and
more than 150 injured. Turkey' President Tayyip Erodogon believed that the
blast shortly after the end of the match "sought to cause maximum loss of
life".
Reportedly all these above incidents
of sports terrorism were carried out by religious extremists, sectarian militants
or racial separatists just to using the platform of sports events to flex their
muscles by hitting maximum damage and injecting fears to society. This was the
first time that major sports venues had been targeted in a series for terrorist attacks in Europe and particularly France. And with so many major
sporting events occurring in stadiums around the world, it leaves the public
wondering ‘Could we be next?’.
By Muhammad Wasim
mwasim.370@gmail.com
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