I thought steroids were the biggest problem facing athletic competition today. I completely overlooked the use of witchcraft.That is, until I learned today that thirteen people, mostly children between the ages of 11 and 16, were killed this last Sunday when a riot broke out during a soccer match in Butembo, a city in eastern Congo.
It appears that the cause of the fracas was the goalkeeper of the losing team, who reportedly ran up the pitch chanting fetishist spells in an attempt to change the course of the match. Soon thereafter, the players began fighting on the field and fans joined in en masse, which forced the local police to start shooting tear gas in the stadium and hence, thirteen children died suffocated in the ensuing rush for the exits.
The use of charms and chants is common within the Congolese, who practice their own traditional animism --a belief system, much like voodoo, that attributes souls to objects, plants and animals in addition to humans.
Apparently, its use during a sporting match is seen as unsportsmanlike.
And rightly so. I mean, I can't count the times that my team's lost a match because the opposing team turned my striker into a horned toad right before a sure goal or shrank the goalkeeper to half his normal size during a penalty kick. It's so unfair. It's to be expected in a Quiddich match¹, but really, it should not be tolerated anywhere else.
¹Seriously, did I just use a Harry Potter reference?! I've never even read the books or seen any of the movies. What the fuck is wrong with me?! Never again. Never again.
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