SME-Written by/ Mohammed Al-Joker
I don’t know why I remembered the veteran Kuwaiti sports commentator Khaled Al-Harban before the launch of the 26th Gulf Cup in Kuwait in a few days, as he is a school in commentary, and has influenced the path of the Gulf media, since the sixties, and many sports media professionals graduated at his hands, including “Al-Abdullah”, as I learned a lot from him by listening to him on Kuwait Radio during the second Gulf Cup in Riyadh in 1972, where I took a small radio with me that I carried with me wherever I went to enjoy the voices of the commentators, headed by Al-Harban, who is one of the most prominent athletes whose name is associated with the Gulf Cups through his keeping pace with the path of these tournaments, and he also participated with Kuwaiti football through administrative and supervisory activities, whether at the level of Al-Arabi Club and the Kuwait Football Association, and his first launch can be considered in 1968, and Al-Abdullah was nine years old at the time, in the match that brought together Al-Arabi Club and Ismaili of Egypt, and he became famous and his fame spread, after he commented on the Gulf Cup tournaments and excelled with the World Cup matches in Spain and the Olympics in Moscow.
Bouyousef’s voice also reminds me of the glories of the golden generation, the golden age of the Blues, and what the Kuwait national team achieved in the seventies and eighties, winning all the Gulf and Asian championships, and soaring in the international sky by reaching the 1982 World Cup in Spain as the first Gulf and Arab team in Asia. Al-Harban, with his spontaneity, was able to win the love of the people, during a career that exceeded 50 years, as a talented commentator, who has a special place in my heart. He officially started commentating in the first Gulf Cup in 1970 in Manama. He was preceded in commentating by Abdulaziz Al-Khatib, and he worked alongside Jassim Majli, who was a former referee. He benefited from the experience of the great Egyptian commentator Mohamed Latif. While he was in school, an Egyptian teacher predicted that he would become a sports commentator in the future. I previously wrote about the role of Egyptian teachers in teaching us football commentary. We had a successful experience in the Emirates in the early seventies, such as Abdel Moneim Radwan, Farouk Rashid and Murad Refaat. Al-Harban played a major role in the history of Gulf and Arab sports. He used to commentate on matches abroad, and all his family members would listen to his voice on the radio at his grandmother’s house. The funny thing is that his grandmother used to “shorten” the volume of the radio so that her grandson’s voice would not bark and get tired. Also, my grandmother, may God have mercy on her, who was the one who had the most influence on me after God, used to encourage me and knew most of my colleagues in the profession. They even used to visit my grandmother at home! It is difficult to forget the one who made us love football and commentary. The Gulf Cup in Kuwait is just around the corner. The event is only a few days away, so I say it remains for the Gulf commentators and its people!! God is behind the intention.
