SME-Written by/ Mohammed Al-Joker
As the world celebrates World Radio Day, let us pause for a moment to consider the role of radio in our sporting life and its coverage of events that used to take place on our sandy fields in the past, and how we learned and benefited from it in a way that changed our awareness, cultural and sporting path. The radio journey in the country began before television broadcasting, through individual and official attempts, and the first individual attempts were in 1958 in Dubai.
Radio was active in broadcasting sporting events, especially football, as it broadcast many important football events that the country witnessed, most notably the match between Brazilian Santos led by Pele against Al-Nasr in 1973, as well as other matches that took place between our local teams with Egyptian Ismaili and Al-Ahly in 1969 and 1974.
It was transmitted through the voice of the Egyptian commentator Abdel Moneim Radwan, who was a teacher in the morning at Dubai High School, and in the evening he was the secretary of the Dubai Football Association, and also Farouk Rashid in Sharjah, who was a teacher, referee, journalist and secretary of the Sharjah Football Association, and Murad Refaat, who moved from Kuwait, where he was a player in the Ahmadi Club of the Kuwait Oil Company in 1961, then became an assistant to Brosch, the coach of the Kuwaiti national team in 1963, participating in the first Arab Cup, then became the coach of Al-Fahaheel Club from 1964 until 1966. He was the reason for changing the Al-Fahaheel “T-shirt” from white to red in honor of the Al-Ahly Club in Egypt, after which he arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he worked as a secretary of the Football Association, and he used to comment on the matches via the radio, so the radio was dear to my heart, as I worked at Dubai Radio during the summer period during the suspension of studies, and this stage was characterized by the eagerness of students from my generation to work as collaborators in many local departments in Dubai; It increased our life experiences.
It was also a source of livelihood for us at the beginning of our lives, as we learned from it; therefore, we call on media academies to adopt high school students and train them on the basics of media so that we succeed in creating experienced media cadres.
I was associated with the radio with the second Arabian Gulf Cup competitions that took place in Riyadh in March 1972, so I was attached to the voices of the commentators, such as Abdulaziz Al-Khatib, the first Kuwaiti commentator, and Khaled Al-Harban, who imposed himself on us as old commentators.. These are unforgettable moments with the voice of the radio.. And God is behind the intention.
