The South African police and other trained security companies have been placed on high alert in the past few days owing to numerous death threats that have been made towards Nigerian player Sani Kaita during the Soccer World Cup 2010. Over one thousand emails related threats have been made towards the midfielder after he was given a red card for injuring Greece player Vasileios Torosidis during their World Cup clash.
Police and various security units were kept on high alert for the World Cup game that Nigeria played against Korea yesterday and they were happy to announce that there were no physical threats to Kaita or the Nigerian World Cup team. The World Cup organisers will however continue to implore extensive security for the rest of the teams and extra security will be made available to the Nigerian team as they make way to their home country in the next few days.
This has not been the first time that soccer stars have been threatened during a World Cup match. Back in 1930, Monti, an Argentinean player, received death threats on the eve of his game but continued to play and since then there have been one or two more isolated World Cup threats but fortunately no tragic results at any of the Cups.
World Cup soccer fans take the game seriously and out of the millions of fans who watch, there are a handful who’s obsession becomes a serious problem. World Cup soccer teams, just like celebrities and politicians need extra security when travelling owing to the fact that there is the possibility that they could be unfortunately hurt when doing what they love.