Reply #25: In Kadafi's Libya, even soccer was ruthless

[pinboy3niner]

In Benghazi, the beloved soccer club ran afoul of Moammar Kadafi and his soccer enthusiast son, Saadi. The result was the destruction of the team and its facilities more than a decade ago.


By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
May 14, 2011



Reporting from Benghazi, Libya— It is one of Libya's oldest and most venerable institutions, predating not only Moammar Kadafi's rule but independence in 1951, and boasting what is perhaps the country's most fervent fan base.

But in a police state where soccer served as a substitute for resistance, the lads from the Al Ahli sports club angered the wrong crowd: Kadafi and his soccer-besotted son, Saadi.

The club paid a steep price: Its grounds were demolished, its signature Al Ahli Benghazi soccer team was dissolved, its red-and-white colors were removed from public display. Dozens of supporters were sent to prison, with some sentenced to death for subversion.

...


On the edge of downtown Benghazi, the former grounds of the Al Ahli club remain a desolate expanse of battered grandstands, abandoned light posts and concrete rubble, a barren monument to the intersection of sports and politics in Moammar Kadafi's Libya.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-soccer-20110514,0,7398847,full.story

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad321