SME – Written by: Muhammad Al-Joker
I did not expect what I saw a few days ago during the match between Al-Qadisiyah and Al-Kuwait in the Kuwaiti League. The podium battle harmed Kuwaiti football and its good reputation. What happened is a departure from the sporting spirit. We hope it will not be repeated, and because the two clubs have a special place with us, as they played here in the Emirates at the beginning of the tournament. The seventies, and we have all our love and appreciation for them. We blame these behaviors that are alien to sports in general in the region, especially Kuwait.
The current events in Gaza remind me of the veteran Ahmed Al-Saadoun, the current speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, a heavyweight sports figure. He is a Kuwaiti success story and has initiatives that we, as Arab athletes, cannot forget. In addition to being one of the oldest Kuwaiti parliamentarians, since 1975, he has won every Elections organized by his country, and he was elected President of the Council for the first time in 1985, and was elected again to head the National Assembly in 1992, 1996, and 2023. He is a national figure with his Arab role, as he is one of the farthest Israel from competing in the Asian continent athletically, and Al-Saadoun is considered one of the founders of the Kazma Sports Club in 1964. He served as secretary of the club from its founding until 1968, when he left the secretariat and continued as a member of the club’s board of directors until 1982. He assumed the presidency of the Kuwait Football Association’s board of directors from 1968 to 1976.
He visited us with a FIFA delegation in 1974, headed by the late Brazilian Dr. Havelange. Al-Saadoun was at that time Vice President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) from 1974 to 1982, and at that time he was trying to ensure that the Gulf countries obtained their distinguished status. He was warmly appreciated and held a discussion session. This resulted in participation in the founding of the Arab Football Federation, in whose founding meeting we were represented by Qasim Sultan at the invitation of our Libyan brothers, and whose most prominent decisions were the establishment of the Palestine Football Cup.
