SME – Written by / Abdullah Al-Harazi
Luxor, the land of ancient Egyptian civilization, witnessed in the past few days the re-election of my dear brother and colleague Ashraf Mahmoud as President of the Arab Federation for Sports Culture, for a third term. He is the one who drew the features of this path, and carried the torch of the message in a time of hateful fanaticism that fills the space of our Arab world from the ocean to the Gulf by establishing the Egyptian Sports Federation first about a decade ago from the same place. In this, Ashraf is loyal to the land to which he belongs before man. Then his giving expanded to include the Arab world, as a natural extension of blood and religion and embodying a message he carried more than three decades ago. He worked for many years in the Arab media through the Saudi city newspapers in the late eighties and early nineties of the last century, where our journey began together and I gained a generous brother, a loyal colleague, and a pure media professional, as he left a mark in the executive work of the sports section of Al-Madina newspaper before moving to London life, whose message was broader, then the Lebanese channels. He also worked as a correspondent for Al-Jazeera channels previously (beIN Sports). Currently.
Between this and that, Ashraf wanted his Arab message to reach quickly through an ambitious project to issue (Arab Football Magazine) after returning from the World Cup “America 94”, and I had the honor, along with brothers Fayez Abdul Hadi, Salem Al-Habsi, and Nabil Maaloul, to share this dream for which he sacrificed his work in the Al-Hayat office in Saudi Arabia and returned to Egypt to issue the magazine, but those who were lying in wait for it were many and feared for their interests with the Arab Football Federation, so they fought it until it stopped despite the honorable stance of Prince Faisal bin Fahd – may God have mercy on him, and after that Ashraf lived in financial hardship for years during which he suffered life while those lying in wait were assuming their Arab positions.!!
But Ashraf Al-Arabi’s dream did not stop, when he regained some of his economic balance and provided his family with some decent living, he started again with a larger project, “Sports Culture”, hoping to limit the many and varied projects that corrupt the morals and minds of Arab youth. Sports programs are based on the vastness of the Arab world, which number 100 channels that eat away at the minds and morals of Arab youth every night, seeking more views. There is no power or strength except with God Almighty. !!! Ashraf did not forget, along with a loyal colleague who shared the journey from the beginning and shared hope and work with him, the very cool colleague Ayman Badra, who had a long experience in Gulf sports media, from which he came out with a very rich experience. He did not forget the geographical, sports and pioneering extension of Egypt in Africa, so he spread this culture as an eternal message, believing that the media is a message of enlightenment for peoples, and that sports are a means of bringing them closer together, not distancing them, by forming the African Union for Sports Culture, which was active in the African arena.
