Football Terrorists
Football Terrorists
I had a conversation this morning with a mate who asked if I was tripping anywhere to watch “Soccer” again. I told him of the coming matches in June, which include away matches in Dubai and Qatar. His immediate answer was “F^%& that, I wouldn’t go there with all those terrorists, I’d be scared of being blown up.”
Now I know we live in a different world today and there is trouble in that region, but I personally can’t come at lumping all Muslims into the Terrorist basket. When I think about football or indeed any sport that is played at an international level, I think how great it is that people from different nations, race, religion etc can get together and “play a game”. At Aussies On Tour we have done this twice and are organising 2 more matches in Australia for June, one of them against a team of Iraqi supporters.
A mate of mine and his wife are traveling to the Middle East to follow the Socceroos and do some sight seeing along the way. I have not once had any conversation or hint from them that “the threat of terrorism” is even an issue.
The fact is we are not playing in Iraq or Afghanistan where the real threat to safety is. We are playing Iraq in Dubai, one of the most advanced Arab countries in the region and Qatar in Qatar. Most people have never heard of this.
I think the real football terrorists are people with narrow minds and the media who beat up tensions between nations where no tension needs to exist.
Cheers
Terry
April 30 2008 07:56 am | General
cbead on 03 May 2008 at 12:10 pm #
Great article Tezza!
I’m as equally worried about being hit by a bomb in Cairns as I am in Dubai/Doha/Cairo/Petra… One unfortunate symptom of the ‘war on terror’ is the narrow mindedness of many people (not helped by media sensationalism)… the fact is that your average Arab is a peace loving, friendly and genuine person who probably has more right to be aggrieved by the west than we are of him… I have travelled to the middle east before and am thoroughly looking forward to returning… The world would be a far better place if more people were open to travelling, meeting people and learning the truth
cbead on 03 May 2008 at 12:20 pm #
On that note (upon my high horse still)… At the Asian Cup, Australia played Oman and Iraq… we had a 1-1 draw against Oman and 1-3 loss to Iraq… we had the best interaction with the supporters of these two nations than probably any other international I’ve attended… Before the game they were colourful, friendly, only too happy to talk, joke, take group photos with us etc… after the games I was struck by their humbleness in victory (or drawing)… many of them gave us genuine apologies and there was no thought of trying to humiliate us in any way… the tractics of their football teams may be questionable at times, but I have a healthy respect for their supporters now.
Terry on 03 May 2008 at 7:08 pm #
Spot on CB. I really enjoyed meeting supporters from other nations. The Japanese were another bunch who were very open and humble after they beat us in Hanoi