We haven’t heard much of Egyptian soccer since Bob Bradley took over as manager of the national team. Guess there was also the matter of last year’s riot in Port Said that resulted in almost 80 deaths, over 1000 injuries and the shutdown of club soccer in the country.

Soccer in many countries is affected by more than what happens on the field or club boardroom. Politics, ethnicity, geography, religion and stupidity often affect players and fans when they collide with the game. Egypt is no exception to this as seen with the riot as well as the political fallout. Check this episode of Inside Story on the politicization and future of Egyptian club soccer if you have 25 minutes to kill. What? Oh stop.

The Jim Romes and Michael Wilbons of the world may love to insult soccer as soft but it’s a matter of life and death to millions around the world regardless of our opinions on matters they hold most dear. Let’s see them go to a derby in Glasgow (might have to wait on that), Belgrade or Cali and talk shit. Just ask Liverpool fans who are still waiting for answers and accountability for the Hillsborough disaster which happened over 20 years ago. Marouane Chamakh and Samir Nasri found out the hard way when they went to see Man City take on Arsenal at Emirates Stadium yesterday.

The former Arsenal players were accosted by fans who are still hurt as if player departures are the true source of their current plight. Video of them walking to the new Library was posted online and you can see it HERE (Language NSFW).

Those fans are just mad because Nasri and Chamakh want to get paid and win trophies. Well maybe definitely not Chamakh. Imagine if their beef was sectarian or political.

Incidents in Port Said, Glasgow, St. Petersburg and other places that use soccer as a proxy for fighting larger societal issues are what makes soccer so interesting and at the same time incredibly frustrating. Then again they sometimes just come down to sporting rivalries that get out of hand which make even less sense.

Tuesday brought upsets as well as some expected results. Turkey fell 1-0 to Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland only managed to draw 1-1 with the Faroe Islands. England failed miserably as expected against Montenegro and staggered to a 0-0 result. Meanwhile in Genoa, it was business as usual for Serbia. What’s that mean? Italy-Serbia was called off due to Serbian rioting that was predictable whether you listen to the Kaiser Chiefs or not.

The good times kicked off after Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojkovic withdrew from the match due to abuse suffered from Serbian supporters on his way to the stadium. It’s suspected that he was being abused for currently being a Partizan Belgrade player after plying his trade with Red Star Belgrade. Remember how well Figo’s switch from Barcelona to Real Madrid went?

The match started 30 minutes late as Serbian fans led by a guy wearing a ski mask climbed a fence, tore a hole in it and started throwing flares on the pitch and at Italian fans.

Some footage has finally hit YouTube. Enjoy!

Play was halted after several minutes as police tried to control the crowd. A flare appeared to hit Italian keeper Emiliano Viviano. Meanwhile Italian fans cursed the Serbs and the guy in the ski mask kept the Serbian contingent hyped up until the team came over to ask them to calm down.

At this point, Serbia should charged with a forfeit and Italy will granted three points. Italian fans should be grateful the way they’ve been playing the past year.

You have to love how the Guardian refers to Serbian supporters as “traditionally combustible”. How cute.

UPDATE: Here’s the best YouTube footage we’ve seen so far courtesy of @Paolo_Bandini. Ski Mask Guy is really making things happen.

Smooth on you if you got the Peabo Bryson reference.

The Euro may be going down the toilet but at least Europeans still know how to bring it when it comes to a riot. Soccer no longer has a monopoly on destruction and mayhem in the stands. It’s no longer a surprise when flares and chairs start flying at basketball games. Enter the new hotness. Handball riots.

Fans from Greek handball teams PAOK Salonika and AEK Athens threw a riot and everyone came. The BBC reports that PAOK attacked an AEK fan club before a match and things set off from there.

PAOK fans apparently attacked a local fan club of AEK in the central town of Lamia, where they were due to play a cup match.

AEK fans responded, and battles ensued in the streets and the venue.

Residents said the situation was out of control throughout the morning.

“The fans were throwing Molotov cocktails, bricks and chairs at each other,” a resident told local TV.

Let’s go to the tape.

Inside

Outside

Now that’s how you riot! From now on, that’s how you riot!

Correspondents say violence between sports fans in Greece is relatively common. All team sports were cancelled for two weeks in 2007 after a brawl between rival women’s volleyball fans left one man dead.

The Greeks will fight over anything. I once saw a riot break out over a calamari race. Greektown burned for four days like a tire fire.