(Image Source - CBS)
 

BY JOSHUA LANDER

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

Riots in Port Said, Egypt left 73 dead and hundreds more injured Wednesday morning.  It had nothing to do with politics.  It was all because of a soccer match.
 
Fans from home team Al-Masry stormed the field and began hurling stones and fireworks at fans and players of the opposing team from Cairo.  Many of the reported dead were security officers who were beaten to death while trying to bring order.

The New Zealand Herald quoted Al-Ahly player Mohamed Abo Treika as saying...

"This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. There [was] no movement and no security and no ambulances."

Another player said..

"The players' room has turned into a morgue." 

Soccer related violence has increased dramatically in Egypt since the country’s revolution last year.  One CNN expert says the riot was most likely not spontaneous. 

"There’s a small group of fanatical fans called the Ultras who often times go to these games with the specific intent of getting into fights with fans from the opposing team."

According to Voice of America, the riots have forced the hand of Egyptian officials. 

"Egypt's state prosecutor has ordered an immediate investigation into the violence and the country's football association called for an indefinite suspension of the annual championship."

While the riot does not appear to coincide with Egypt’s political unrest in the past year, it does raise the continued issue of the state police’s ability to deal with violent crowds.  CBS News recorded the incident as...

"...the deadliest incident of soccer violence since Oct. 16, 1996, when at least 78 people died and 180 others were injured in a stampede at a stadium in Guatemala City..."