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by **JoeTerp** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:08 pm

Report: Congo soccer riot over 'witchcraft' leaves 11 dead
Reuters

KINSHASA , Congo -- At least 11 people were killed in a stadium riot in eastern Congo after a soccer player tried to use witchcraft to win a local match, U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported on Monday.

Nyuki club was losing to local rivals Socozaki on Sunday when Nyuki's goalkeeper advanced up the field and tried to use "fetishist" spells to turn the tide of the match, Okapi said, without giving more details.

When a police commander tried to break up an ensuing brawl between rival players, members of the crowd pelted him with rocks, the radio added.

Police fired teargas in response, causing a stampede to the exits in which 11 people were killed and several injured, Okapi said.

As elsewhere in Africa, many Congolese hold traditional animist beliefs and use spells, fetishes and charms to practise witchcraft, often combined with other religions like Christianity or Islam.

Sunday's riot happened in Butembo, in North Kivu province, where fighting between the army and rebels has raged on despite the official end of a 1998-2003 war that has killed an estimated 5.4 million people through violence, hunger and disease.

by **andy_g** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:37 am

i know perfectly well the difference between fetish in western culture and fetish in animist beliefs...

but i still can't remove the image from my head of the guy striding up the pitch wearing nothing but a pair of rubber stockings and a gas mask

by **Sabre** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:13 pm

Well perhaps the Africa case is more exotic and it's more of "news" because of the dead people which is sad.

But in Spain things like garlics, Mary the Virgin pictures and Crosses can be seen behind some goals. So we could say it's quite a human thing to mix football and religion

:laugh:

by **JoeTerp** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:35 pm

did you say garlics? as in the stuff that thins your blood and makes your breath smell bad?

by **Sabre** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:06 pm

Yes, and useful against vampires. Garlics.

I couldn't find an image for you, but IIRC in Betis stadium they have a permanent one. Other teams like Castellon use the "Garlics spell" when they feel bad luck is striking them too hard,

You have a report in newspaper here

In the south they are more fans of those icons and religious spells. In the north we're milder. Still, in a Catholic country you still find signs of a more religious past. Many teams do an official "starting of the season mass", and, for instance the RS stadium's first official act was the blessing by the priest. Yes, a priest in the middle of the pitch and 32000 people clapping (well about half of them taking the píss as many people are not religious).

But in the south, Andalucia and the stuff, it's easier to spot a fan with a picture of Mary in the chest and praying, garlics, and things like that.

Spain has a lot of folklore

by **JoeTerp** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:22 pm

Sabre wrote:Yes, and useful against vampires. Garlics.

I couldn't find an image for you, but IIRC in Betis stadium they have a permanent one. Other teams like Castellon use the "Garlics spell" when they feel bad luck is striking them too hard,

You have a report in newspaper here

In the south they are more fans of those icons and religious spells. In the north we're milder. Still, in a Catholic country you still find signs of a more religious past. Many teams do an official "starting of the season mass", and, for instance the RS stadium's first official act was the blessing by the priest. Yes, a priest in the middle of the pitch and 32000 people clapping (well about half of them taking the píss as many people are not religious).

But in the south, Andalucia and the stuff, it's easier to spot a fan with a picture of Mary in the chest and praying, garlics, and things like that.

Spain has a lot of folklore

that is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time. Maybe something similar is the rally cap that fans will use by contorting their baseball cap in cetain shapes depending on the number of outs in the inning in order to keep the rally going, but that is really just for little kids to have fun looking at how funny they look with their brims turned upside down or inside out. And I went to Catholic school and we used to pray before every game - an Our Father followed by our lady of Victory . . . PRAY FOR US! but this did not involve the school chaplain unlike at Notre Dame where that is a tradition.

Is there a real belief in the supernatural power of the Garlic or is it just more of a tradition of when you suck you have to use the garlic and its like a funny thing or something

by **Sabre** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:55 pm

It's folklore. The people who do that things most of the times are very serious about it, but there are not many fanatics. 90% of the people surrounding them, would take that with a

as in a funny thing but would never mock harshly or tell the man not to do that, if you see what I mean. It's accepted as a tradition.

It's like when you see those religious outbursts in Sevilla with hundreds of people in the streets, not that they're ultra catholics in their everyday life (that is they sin as anyone else) but some gestures and traditions are very rooted and accepted. A XV century Spaniard would have a picture of Mary in a vessel going to America and so do have many Spaniards in their cars nowadays. It's more "gestures and icons" than actual belief.

by **andy_g** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:44 am

there was a case 3 or 4 years ago where some english non-league team employed a witch to try and lift a curse on the ground after a bad losing streak. if i recall it was somewhere down in the south west - a bit like the english version of galicia, sabre. you know what i mean

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