United States midfielder DaMarcus Beasley's BMW car has been set on fire outside his home in Glasgow.
Police in the Scottish city are continuing to investigate Monday night's incident, which it describes as "willful fire-raising."
"Someone blew up my car," Beasley wrote Wednesday on Twitter. "I'm doin ok, just glad no one got hurt."
-Associated Press
DaMarcus Beasley is a former US National Team standout who currently plays club ball for Rangers of Glasgow, Scotland. He has remained surprisingly calm for someone that just had his $80,000 vehicle torched. Beasley recently tweeted:
“Thanks again for ALL the messages and kind words.. But yea I'm doin ok and in the market for a new car! Lol..Gotta try to find some humor.”
Police are still searching for information on the fire-wielding pricks who did this, but it was most likely done by lunatic fans of Celtic, Rangers’ fiercest rival. If this is in fact the case, picture a Yankees fan setting fire to Terry Francona’s Escalade, and that’s about what you have going on here. The startling thing is that this is not an isolated incident. Beasley has been targeted before. In 2008, several Rangers players, including Beasley, were targeted and had their cars broken into. Beasley has also been the target of racial taunting, along with teammate Maurice Edu.
This incident is part of a disturbing trend of violence against international soccer players that has been going on for seemingly forever. The “willful fire-raising” (love that term) of DaMarcus Beasley’s BMW is just one of many violent attacks on soccer players in recent weeks. Last week, Paraguay’s top player, Salvador Cabanas, was shot in the head outside a Mexico City nightclub. Miraculously, he survived, but his status for the World Cup this summer remains in question. Cabanas was expected to be the leader and star of the Paraguayan National Team this June in soccer’s biggest tournament. In another violent attack, the Togo national team bus was attacked by gunmen upon entering Angola for the African Cup of Nations tournament last month. “We were machine-gunned like dogs,” said Togo player Thomas Dossevi. The bus driver, team doctor, and an assistant coach were all killed in the attack, while several players were injured. But violence against international soccer players is not just a recent trend.
Perhaps the most famous attack against a soccer player was the shocking murder of Andres Escobar in July 1994. Escobar was a defender for the Colombian national team during the 1994 World Cup. In a match against the United States, Escobar scored an own goal that gave the U.S. a 2-1 victory and eliminated Colombia from the World Cup. Upon return to his native Medellin, Colombia, Escobar was shot and killed outside a local bar. The murderer reportedly yelled “Goal!” after each of the twelve shots fired at Escobar. It is unclear if the killer was just an angry fan or if he was tied to a gambling syndicate that lost money on the game.
While brutal violence does occur against athletes in America (see Steve McNair and Sean Taylor), it is much more common in other parts of the world. Outside of the U.S., soccer is easily the world’s most popular sport. Fans follow their national and club teams religiously, with an unprecedented passion and loyalty. They live and die with every game to an extent that we Americans do not fully understand. (Green Street Hooligans is a great movie to illustrate this point. Highly recommend it. Even if you’re not a soccer fan).
It is absolutely crazy what some of these players go through on a regular basis. Racism is common, but all players can do is just try to block it out. On corner kicks, the visiting team often has to dodge flying batteries and bottles of piss. Violence among fans is all too common, with injuries and deaths pilling up at a much too consistent rate. Players receive death threats and have to fear for their own safety as well as the safety of their families. All for a game.
Every time an incident with fans occurs in American sports, the talk show hosts rattle on about how fans need to behave themselves and respect the players and each other. But in comparison to European/South American/African soccer fans, we do a damn good job.
-AFG
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