Upon his apology to Zamalek fans for the silencing gesture during the Ahli-Zamalek clash in the CAF Champions League, many Abu-Treka fans and lovers showed sighs of relief sensing that their footballing angel is back on the right track. Many people couldn't even imagine that Abou-Treika (well known for his professionalism, ethics and religiousness) would do a similar thing after scoring Ahli's second in the derby game played on Sunday. Some fans whether they're Ahli's or Zamalek's were outraged to see him do such behavior. But what really is all this fuss about? Silencing the opposition fans after scoring is a pattern adopted by many players whether in Egypt or anywhere else in the world's top leagues and competitions. We never heard any complaints about it before. It's very natural that in the heat of big games and when some players receive opposing chants they get a bit over enthusiastic. However the silencing gesture is a pretty much provocative but harmless one. It doesn't carry any more meaning than 'Here I am, the player or the team you've been chanting against and now I've scored'.
Abu-Treka's behavior wasn't that bad, peoples' furious reaction to it was a bit too much. The player shouldn't have apologized but unfortunately he loves to play that role of a Sheikh/footballer And why is it Abou-Treika in particular that got picked on and had to hurry with apology after doing this gesture? I recall in 2001 Zamalek defender Medhat Abdul-Hadi did the same after scoring against Ahli in a league decider and no one said anything about the incident. And that is how things should be. But bizarrely we somehow want to mix football with religion and fake ethics in the shape of Abou-Treika. He's our brilliant Ahli and Egypt star in his own right, he's very dedicated to his game and it's fair enough that millions adore him, but this is football, we don't need to create a heavenly picture out of the man. The bigger problem is that he's riding on this wave. Zamalek assistant coach Tarek Yehia wasn't happy that Abou-Treika did the gesture especially that we are in Ramadan. Ramadan?!!! What does Ramadan has to do with football? And does that mean if the player did the same in any other month it'd be acceptable? Why do we love mixing fake religiousness with everything including football? Abou-Treika's behavior wasn't that bad, peoples' furious reaction to it was a bit too much. The player shouldn't have apologized but unfortunately he loves to play that role of a Sheikh/footballer. I do not doubt the man's religiousness because I don't personally know him. But that role looks cliché sometimes, and this isn't football as we always knew it, it looks more like politics and trying to win over people in any possible way.
