Considering the fact that footballers are humans, I thought that it is not so easy to withstand certain intimidations inside the field at times.
No doubt that professionalism is an indispensable attribute of any 'quality' player, but when you find out that some fans, who are part of the game, completely lack this aspect, it becomes too difficult.
What causes a supporter to swear viciously at a player from his own team, despite the fact that the team is winning?
And why do some fans heap opposition players with insults, just because they are playing against their team?
The difference between angry fans in Egypt and anywhere else, is that supporters abroad are sometimes hostile against opponents, but in Egypt, everyone takes a beating!
Player vs. supporter incidents are countless in Egyptian football, regardless of the nature of the clash, but Zamalek's season could provide us with enough proof.
Examples
1-Captain and former fans favorite Hazem Emam was on the verge of retirement after being subjected to taunts by Zamalek fans, following his performance against Ismaili in the 'first game of the season'.
2-Even though Shikabala was definitely mistaken when he raised his boots towards Ahli fans in an infamous confrontation last year, but to be honest, the situation was not easy to deal with.
"It is too difficult for a 21-year-old kid to bear up continuous insults from more than 50,000 supporters throughout 90 minutes," said football analyst Essam Abdul-Monem.
3-Aboul-Ella's clash with his own-club fans in the Contractors game was not the first. The 28-year-old refused to celebrate his goal against Africa Sports, obviously because he was frustrated by the fans' inexplicable attack on him.
Solution
In my opinion, football authorities should consider the idea of punishing fans in an equivalent way to that of a player's sanction.
For example, in the aftermath of the Shikabala vs. Ahli fans incident, both club fans were banned from attending their respective team's next home game.
However, the problem remains unsolved in my opinion, because when we look from both perspectives, we can see that players received most of the damage.
Fans will watch one game on TV, no problem, but players will be missing support, despite not being guilty of anything.
I think a fair solution would be imposing lengthy bans on supporters who are found guilty of disorder, but this requires accurate surveillance in order to avoid punishing innocent fans.