Football in Iraq suffers
Bring in the army, the tanks, the paratroopers, and the artillery or may be another battalion but you can never put an end to the sports activity and the game surely goes on!
It is surprisingly very odd that a country which has been under siege for several years, where people run for their lives, every minute, every second there is a sound of explosion coupled with the screams and cries of people, yet there is group of people that is willing to put their lives at risk and work for the development of football.
What a great fancy!
Recently in the news, it has been reported that the soldiers attacked the headquarters of Iraqi Football Association (IFA) last Sunday, on July 18th, 2010.
According to IFA’s official, the International Federation of Association Football which is commonly known as FIFA, due to its French name, was willing to administer the IFA elections in Iraq this year. The purpose of these elections was to elect the new governing board for IFA. In this regard, FIFA sent two of its representatives to Iraq who were supposed to watch the elections for the new executive board. The elections were planned to be organised in the Iraqi city of Arbil, on Saturday, 24th July 2010. But the government wanted to organise them in Baghdad. It was less than a week before the elections when such an unpleasant thing occurred, which instantly put a hold to the whole activity.
The soldiers had arrest warrants for the head of IFA, Hussain Said and three other high-ranking officials on account of corruption. Somehow, none of the wanted personals were present there and soldiers had to leave after half-an-hour.
The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) is the central body of football in Iraq which controls the national team and supervises the Iraq Super League. It has the membership of FIFA since 1950 and has done a lot of work to promote the game of football in Iraq.
Football has been quite popular in Iraq. The Iraqi team participated in the AFC Asian Cup in 2007 and managed to reach the final. Iraq defeated Saudi-Arabia by scoring the only goal of the match. It was the very first victory of Iraq in the AFC Asian Cup. Iraq also participated in the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup and represented AFC.
It shows the passion and love Iraqi people have for the game and that is what is keeping the game alive in that part of the world. Although in the recent years, the game has suffered a lot due to foreign military invasions.
In November 2009, a similar incident took place when Iraqi police grabbed hold of IFA offices and FIFA had to finally suspend the association. The governing board was also liquefied as it was connected with former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussain.
Last year, the ban was up-lifted in the month of March and the national team was allowed to take part in the football tournaments.
Due to the current attacks, the federation has again disallowed the players to take part in any domestic football activity. The Iraqi Federation Association is very much concerned about the safety of players, so it has announced an indefinite suspension of the championship.
The federation has demanded the authorities for an investigation into the incident.
On the other hand, FIFA has asked for re-establishment of the executive committee of IFA but the authorities have been trying to arrest Hussain Said and drive him out because of his connection with the old regime.
Iraq really needs some help and attention from FIFA and other supporting countries for the existence of football in the state. The restoration of IFA will bring a positive change.
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