Posted on 03/17/2009 7:54:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi soccer fan shot dead a player of the opposing team as he tried to score an equalizing goal in the final minutes of a match, police said on Monday.
The shooting on Saturday in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, during a match between local teams, underscored the country's propensity to lawlessness even as violence by militant groups falls to lows not seen since mid-2003.
"As soon as Haider Kadhim (the player) was alone in front of the goalkeeper and close to equalizing, a fan in the crowd fired a pistol at him," a senior police officer in Hilla, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
"We arrested this fan immediately but unfortunately the player died."
Iraqis love soccer and have often expressed hope the game would help reconcile warring ethnic groups and sects.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
1995 I was working in Algeria.We had camps along the right-of-way where we stayed.One afternoon I walked into the recreation room where there were 8 to 10 guys watching a high profile soccer game.They were really into it man!
I walked over in front of the TV and said “let’s turn this sissy game off and watch a real man’s game of Football”.My God...I was lucky to get outa there alive...I thought they were gonna string me up!
C’mon. Let’s not give the Brits any ideas. They already take soccer wayyyyyy too seriously. Drunken riots are bad enough but if the crowds bring guns, this could get really ugly.
Well of course it's not, Soccer has been around for over a thousand years!
Neither is Golf (Scottish), or Tennis (English) or Athletics (Greek)
But the US Soccer Federation is older than both the NFL and the NBA
So what's your point?
I hate Soccer. (Hate)
Then you are nuts.
It's a game, just a game, and the most popular one in the world.
It's been played in America for over 100 years.
If you have no interest in it, that's fine, feel free!
But HATE?
What has it ever done to you?
Soccer is as American as Pizza, Hot Dogs, and Beer.
Hahahahahahaha.
My uncle payed soccer for the national team IRRC what my dad told me when I was a kid. It’s hard for me to picture him an athlete.
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