By Mark Baber
October 17 – Libya’s most popular football club, Tripoli’s Al-Ahly, have withdrawn in protest from the newly relaunched Libyan Football League after their coach was shot at while at home, players were threatened and star player Mohamed Al-Maghrabi was shot in the arm.
Al-Ahly chairman Sasi Buown told the Libya Herald the club had pulled out of the league on a temporary basis, with a meeting of players, staff and board members scheduled for Friday.
On Saturday, the team’s Egyptian coach, Hossam Al Badri, who led Cairo’s Al Ahly to African Champions League glory last November and joined the Libyan club in May, was fired on from a car whilst at his home. He has since returned to Egypt.
On Monday, Mohamed Al-Maghrabi was shot in his right arm and had to have surgery to remove the bullet, whilst other players have received threatening text messages.
Buown complained: “What these people are doing, is attacking the whole game of football in Libya. They are targeting Al-Ahly after our good results in the league, which opened last month.”
An unnamed source at the Libyan Football Federation, told the Libya Herald: “As far as I know, we have received no official notification of Al-Ahly’s withdrawal from the league. But the situation is very tough right now. We are going to be pushing the interior ministry to provide more security for all the teams. Tripoli Al-Ahly is one of the best teams in the country. It will affect the league if they quit. We will try to convince them not to.”
Whilst Buown demanded the Tripoli Supreme Security Committee and the Criminal Investigation Department hold those responsible for the attacks to account, there is no effective rule of law in Libya and social order has broken down, with violent militia running free and eager to attack anything associated with the previous regime in any way, including Al-Ahly who traditionally play in green.
With fans having been banned from matches due to security concerns, Libyan football faces a bleak future and the chances of the country hosting the 2017 African Cup of Nations finals are rapidly fading to nothing.
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