Category: Sports

Targeted Paris stadium symbolizes pitfalls of war against the Islamic State

November 15, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M Dorsey Zouhair, a security guard of immigrant background, was one of several security officers, who on Friday prevented three of the Paris suicide bombers from entering the city’s Stade de France stadium. The bombers were forced to blow themselves up outside the stadium and at nearby McDonald’s. Little is publicly known about…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports, Syria

UAE chairman of Manchester City pressures UK to crack down on Muslim Brothers

November 7, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City, one of Britain’s most popular soccer clubs and a close business associate of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, has warned the UK that his country would block multi-billion dollar arms deals, halt investment in Britain and suspend intelligence cooperation if…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

AFC president’s FIFA presidential bid mired in abuse of human rights allegations

November 2, 2015November 2, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Assertions by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a candidate for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA, that he was not involved in the arrest and abuse of sports executives and athletes in his naïve Bahrain in 2011 raise more questions than answers. Sheikh Salman…

Arab World, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

Turkish soccer offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election

October 30, 2015February 10, 2017 James Dorsey No Comments

Turkish soccer offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election By James M. Dorsey Turkish soccer has offered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more headaches than likely votes as the Turkish leader battles to ensure that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will secure a majority in snap parliamentary elections on Sunday. Polls…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports

AFC Salman’s FIFA candidacy puts integrity checks to the test

October 25, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa’s candidacy for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA is likely to serve as a litmus test for newly introduced integrity checks on the group’s executives. Sheikh Salman, a former soccer player, has consistently like other members of his ruling…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

OECD holds FIFA responsible for Qatari World Cup-related labour conditions

October 17, 2015September 24, 2018 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey A Swiss government-sponsored unit of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has defined world soccer body FIFA as a multi-national bound by the group’s guidelines. As a result, the group concluded that FIFA is responsible for the upholding of the human and labour rights of workers employed in…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports

Israel suspends Israeli-Palestinian encounters on the pitch

October 17, 2015October 17, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey The Israel Football Association (IFA) acting on orders of the police has suspended what it calls ‘sensitive’ matches, a reference to professional and amateur games between Israeli Jewish and Israeli Palestinian squads. Police said the suspension on soccer pitches that have long signalled mounting tensions, violence, and racism in Israeli society…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Sports

Racist Israeli soccer fans in the firing line

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Israel’s most notorious soccer fan group, La Familia, known for its militant racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, has put itself in the firing line as Israeli-Palestinian confrontations threaten to spark a third Intifada or popular Palestinian uprising on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Members of La Familia,…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Sports

Team Palestine competes in Chicago Marathon

October 11, 2015September 24, 2018 rayhanania 3 Comments

Palestinian American Rush Darwish is leading a team of marathon runners this year in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a 26.2 mile race through the city of Chicago. It’s a growing American tradition. An American Arab has won the marathon four times and still holds the record for the fastest run By Ray Hanania The Bank of…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Palestine & Jordan, Sports

2022 World Cup sparks labour reform, just not in Qatar

October 6, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey The 2022 Qatar World Cup may be sparking social change in the Gulf, just not (yet) in Qatar. Qatar’s winning of the hosting rights for the World Cup gave human rights and trade union activists the leverage they needed to more effectively pressure the Gulf state for reform, if not abolition,…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

Middle Eastern conflicts spill onto Spanish soccer pitch

September 23, 2015September 23, 2015 James Dorsey 3 Comments

Inevitably, the mass exodus of refugees from conflict areas was going to provoke the spilling into Europe of multiple disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Spanish soccer is the first to feel the weight of the baggage that has turned vast numbers into destitute refugees. By James M. Dorsey Inevitably, the mass exodus…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Iraq, Sports, Syria, Turkey

Religious support for Qatari labour reforms puts Gulf states on the spot

September 14, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey 2 Comments

By James M. Dorsey A panel in Doha of religious scholars, officials of Qatar’s government-sponsored human rights committee, and international labour activists has called on Qatar to radically alter its controversial labour policies. The call serves to support Qatari government promises of labour reform in response to World Cup-related international criticism and increases moral pressures…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

Militant soccer fans are on a roll across Eurasia

September 13, 2015September 13, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Militant soccer fans are on a roll in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Fans in Turkey and Egypt have defeated legal efforts to criminalize them as terrorists while Malaysian ultras are tackling corruption in and mismanagement of their country’s soccer association. In Germany, the pitch anticipated the government’s shift…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports

Egypt throws the dice with partial lifting of stadia ban

September 10, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey The Egyptian interior ministry, in a potential signal that the country’s military-backed regime recognizes that its choking off of all public space could backfire, has agreed to allow fans to attend international matches played by the national team and Egyptian clubs. In doing so, the ministry de facto acknowledged that it…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, North Africa, Sports

Israel’s fault lines spill onto the soccer pitch

September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Israel’s multiple fault lines – secular vs religious, Jewish vs Palestine and controversial calls for a boycott of the Jewish state – are exploding on the soccer pitch. The spill over comes as President Reuven Rivlin warned in a recent speech that Israel was being fragmented by four tribes that view…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Sports

Turkish soccer supports Erdogan’s war against the Kurds

August 27, 2015August 28, 2015 James Dorsey 1 Comment

By James M. Dorsey The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), in a demonstration of the inseparable ties between sports and politics, has effectively declared its support for renewed Turkish-Kurdish hostilities designed to enhance the prospects of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party in forthcoming snap elections. With armed Kurdish youth effectively taking control of at least one…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports, Syria, Turkey

Militant soccer fans claim responsibility for Cairo bombing

August 19, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey A shadowy group of militant soccer fans that has largely lied low since it participated in mass anti-government protests in 2013 that led to the military overthrow of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has claimed responsibility for a car bomb near a Cairo security building that injured at least six policemen. Whether…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, North Africa, Sports

A Turkish stadium harbours a stark message for multiculturalism

August 16, 2015August 16, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey A condemned Turkish stadium harbours a dark warning of the long-term consequences of ethnic cleansing or what Turks euphemistically call the population exchange almost a century ago when Turkey and Greece expelled their respective Greek and Turkish minorities. It is a message that has not lost its urgency as Turkey fights…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports, Syria