Palestine Football Team, starring player refused UK visa, play World Cup game

Monday October 08, 2007 15:00

by Press Relase - Palestine Solidarity Campaign NEWS

Palestine play Singapore on Monday 8th in Doha Qatar in the first leg of a 2 legged knockout preliminary qualifier for the 2010 World Cup. They play a rapidly improving Singapore team that has beaten Asian Cup Winners Iraq recently, and are earning the fruits of a settled player academy system and copious funding by the Singapore authorities, who pulled out of the Malaysian League where they had previously competed to set up their own internal League with the Express intent of developing a World Class Team.

As usual, Palestine are suffering a multitude of problems even arriving at the fixture, do not have any league because of Israeli Movement restrictions imposed on their occupied country, have virtually no funding and have a temporary coach who has agreed to work for these two games against Singapore – home and away – for nothing.

Constrained by poverty the Palestinian FA relies on the hospitality of the Qataris to pay for their stay in the country and provide a stadium, and on the Egyptians to pay for the week long training camp in Cairo beforehand. However this largess does not extend to paying the air-fares of the Chilean contingent of the Palestinian Diaspora (450,000 of them), so they expect only 2 – those who can pay their own fare. These two players, Roberto, and Edguardo were turned back at the Qatar airport and spent 2 nights in Berlin before finally flying on today, less than 24hours before the KO. They were further delayed when they did not have enough money to pay for their Berlin Hotel, and had to wait while the bill was settled long distance.

None of the Argentineans hoped for can attend, and two Croatian brothers, one playing in his National League and the other playing for Al Wahada in the Emirates say they received Death threats over the phone, and have refused to play.

Of the 16 players selected from the Occupied Territory that is Palestine , 3 are from the West Bank and 13 are from Gaza . However, as is now customary, 3 of the Gaza players were detained by the Israelis and prevented from traveling. It was a similar situation that saw Palestine lose to Uzbekistan in the last World Cup, and another that forced them to cancel an Asian Cup game – also against Singapore – last November. Although 3 players is a relatively small proportion compared with these previous episodes, it does include the Team Captain, Saeb Bamiyeh, a defensive player who, just as John Terry in an England Team, will be sorely missed.

The Captain’s armband is therefore handed to veteran Goalkeeper Ramzi Selah, also from Gaza . Ramzi, who along with Saeb and Lebanese Palestinian Rami was the star of the film Goal Dreams which documented their last World Cup bid, had a trial for Sheffield United when Warnock was manager there, but he was defeated by the UK ’s arcane work permit rules again, and had to return home to the Gaza Strip.

Chilean Coach Nelson Selim Dogmac-Morris only speaks Spanish fluently, and so must work through two translators – Spanish to Arabic, then Arabic to English, to talk to his new discovery, USA citizen Omar Majaroun. The following quote is similarly strained through two languages, but the meaning is still clear: ‘Even when players arrive, they have no time to integrate, and we must put great reliance on Natural Skill. Although those that were able to, including Omar, trained for a week in Egypt before the coming to Doha, this is no substitute for a settled development programme at a younger age – an academy programme like you have in England and they have here for the National side in Qatar’ And he could have added Singapore, the current opponents.

Majid Balawi, the team’s fixer and scout, said ‘the coach is doing these two games for nothing, he is not paid. He was the National Youth Team Coach in Chile , and he has also played for the First Division clubs New Espanyol and Palestrino. Palestrino is a club in Chile that was founded in 1920, and has been playing in the colours of Palestine ever since then. They have carried the banner of Palestine even when there was no Palestine allowed’.

Majid, an American, was the first to spot 24 year old defender Omar, who must now take on the role of detained Captain Saeb, but he also was the first to spot the other new star of the Palestine team - 18 year old Hamad Sherie. Whereas Omar was playing for US League Team the Atlanta Silverbacks, a highly rated outfit who made it to the final of the US Cup, Hamad was spotted playing in the dirt in the Palestine Refugee camp Al Yarmulke, just outside Damascus in Syria . Along with four others he was given a few days trial, but he was the only one to make the fairy tale jump from playing in a street team to playing for the National side.

Comparison’s with Wayne Rooney make the fairy tale even less likely, because Rooney, although prodigiously talented at an even earlier age, had been spotted years earlier and was the product of that academy system that Coach Nelson Morris so admires and craves. Hamad, however, is that raw natural talent that the Coach concedes he has to rely on to get a result in this World Cup.

“Why did the Government stop the Training Camp set up for them in England ?’ said Team Captain and Goalkeeper Ramzi? ‘Why do they say that Palestinian Footballers will not return to Palestine?’ he said referring to the refusal of the Government to issue visas to the entire U19 Palestine Team scheduled for three weeks of training and matches in England last August. ‘We all play internationals everywhere, before Hamas, after Hamas, we all want to live in our home which is Palestine , not in England . We go out and we come back, there is no trouble’

The loss of that visit, which may well have seen the appearance of the talented young Hamad may prove to be the UK ’s loss, he should have no difficulty attracting attention from more local clubs. His coach struggled to find words to describe his position behind the two strikers that Palestine will play against Singapore , ‘like Wayne Rooney’ he said. ‘Especial’.

Hamad was mainly concerned, however with the Blackburn Rovers’ shirt, signed by the entire first team, that they had donated to the U19 side that they had been scheduled to play if the visas had been granted. It had been presented to visiting Palestinian International Morad Fareed at Ewood Park , and it was now due to be presented to the President of the Palestine FA, and a representative of the U19 Team, Hamad, at the Stadium before the match, but he was getting a sneak preview. ‘David Beckham is Number One and Wayne Rooney number 2, but Bentley and Pedersen (of Blackburn ) are the best after that’ he said.

‘Perhaps we will support Blackburn instead of Manchester United’, said another team member, ‘we always support Manchester till now, but we hope that we will still be able to play Blackburn one day soon, and we ought to study them”

Contact for interviews or further info: Rod Cox +447921040817 (In Qatar with the Team)

Rod Cox

www.palestinefootball.myzen.co.uk

rod@palestinefootball.myzen.co.uk

CAPE (Chester and Palestine Exchanges Ltd, reg no. 6285461)

1City Walls, Chester CH1 2JG

Fax:+441244400414