Issue No. 598
Sports
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8 - 14 August 2002 Issue No. 598 Sports |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Dribbling with the facts
By Inas Mazhar
Once again, the Egyptian media and sports authorities have proven that they will continue to be unprofessional in dealing with serious issues. Two weeks ago, the football community was stunned when a news wire release reported that Egypt's Olympic team had been deceived in a series of friendly matches with Romania; thinking they were playing against the Romanian Olympic team, when in reality, they were competing against a second division team cloaked in the national Romanian jerseys.
For two full weeks, the media has critiqued and attacked the Egyptian Federation's policy. Some critics slammed the Federation for wasting the Federation's budget in a feeble attempt to look good in the public eye. Others, accused them of allegedly conspiring with the event's organiser -- Romania Sports Academy -- hence ruining Egypt's reputation abroad. And a small handful of the press took pity, writing that the Egyptians were so naive and clean-minded, that they fell victim to the Academy's deceptive ploy.
The attack on the Federation and its officials has sent the public into a mixed frenzy of frustration and fury. In an effort to dampen this uproar, both the Ministry of Youth and the People's Assembly (PA) were forced to take prompt action. Investigation committees were formed, and officials of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) were summoned to respond to the accusations being hurled on them. The local newspapers, of course, followed the issue meticulously day-by-day, meeting-by-meeting, taking the time to do a bit of investigative reporting of their own. The issue escalated, and led to friction between the Ministry of Youth and the PA's Youth and Sports Committee -- a chemistry heightened when the Minister of Youth Alieddin Hilal, and the officials of the EFA failed to show-up at the PA's committee meeting last week.
In a sudden, swift move, Hilal decided to shift the whole case to the general prosecutor, and the PA's committee canceled its meeting scheduled for Sunday. Not an unheard of occurrence. What was odd, however, was the response of the press. It was a response of no response. Even the writers and outlets who had been the harshest of critics reacted to the cancelation by not publishing a word.
The rumours -- which are starting to spread from the headquarters of the Ministry and the EFA -- is that the minister of youth has thrown the ball into the hands of the general prosecutor, who has summoned Talaat Sheta -- president of the Romania Arab Sports Academy and the main culprit amidst the mess. The rumours are based on a story of their own, which goes as follows: the EFA will prove that they did not lose a penny on the Romania trip, and Sheta, in turn, will present documents to prove that the "Romanian" team did in fact include players from the country's Olympic team.
This sudden turn of events, and the uncharacteristic response of the press leaves the nation grappling with one too many question marks. Is the case actually being left entirely in the hands of the general prosecutor? Will there be any further investigations? Or will the case fizzle, conveniently, and fade? Why did the accusations and corresponding interrogations have to occur if the case was to end this way? And if the news agency Reuters had not broken the story, would the nation's sports officials and governing football entities have ever brought it to light?
Once again in this peculiar scenario, we can do nothing else but wait. This time, however, we hope that the general prosecutor will break the cycle of lack of professionalism, respect the peoples' right to know, and answer at least some of the public's questions.
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