Qatar’s resilience during the ongoing crisis will go down in history as a glorious chapter in geopolitics worthy of emulation. It has found enough admirers not just in the larger Arab and Muslim world but also in the West where sentiment against the blockading countries has reached a new high, leaving them desperate for a face-saving exit from the mess of their own making.
Qatar has shown remarkable patience, steadfastness and above all probity throughout the nearly seven-month blockade, proving that politics needn’t be always nasty. That bit has been left to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, and they have gleefully made it a habit of excelling in it.
The Gulf trio have dragged all human endeavour – be it commerce, sport or travel – into their Machiavellian scheme in a bid to pressure Qatar into submission. Against this backdrop, the question naturally arises whether the Gulf Cup can act as a balm, however temporary, and calm seething tensions.
Probably yes. For 15 days now, as far as football fans are concerned – and almost every Gulf citizen is one – it will be the game that takes precedence. The underlying issues will certainly not go away, but they would take a backseat at least as far as the fans are concerned. 
Ever since the tournament was launched in 1970, the Gulf Cup has become the embodiment of regional pride, maybe a powerful metaphor for success itself, even though it is still not a FIFA-recognised event.
But cut to the 23rd edition and much has changed. It’s precisely for this reason that when Qatar take on Yemen today in their opening match of the Gulf Cup in Kuwait, the players are likely to face a whole swirl of emotions they probably have never experienced before. 
Yemen, upon which much misery has been heaped by Saudi Arabia for almost three years now, is struggling to cope. In the midst of a crippling war, with hundreds of thousands at risk for cholera and other deadly diseases, its football team still finds the resolve to play the tournament– that in itself could be a measure of sport’s importance, or its insignificance, depending on one’s point of view.
Qatar should easily make the semi-finals where their opponents could be Saudi Arabia or the UAE. That would make things interesting. Would the players be their normal selves on the field and go about the game as it were just another match? Or would they let their thoughts be known to their rival players and engage them in a few verbal volleys laced with political overtones?
My experience as a journalist in Qatar for over 20 years is that most Qatari sportsmen are humble to the core, no matter how much success they have had. Be it the ace rally driver and shooter Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah or the all-conquering world champion high-jumper Mutaz Barshim, they are perfect ambassadors for the country, not just in their deeds but also in the way they present themselves. Polite and courteous almost to a fault, they are always accessible to the media, the perfect antithesis of a typical modern-day sportsman who makes you run around for interviews and plays hard to get.
It’s not as if they have been told to act in a certain manner by the authorities. It’s something that they have naturally imbibed, a manifestation of their upbringing and culture. Several years ago, I interviewed Younis Ahmed, the then Qatar goalkeeper, at a hotel. He had driven down there to meet me, and then, much to my surprise, also dropped me home in his swanky car.
Given such a background, Qatari players are unlikely to adopt a confrontational attitude. They will surely give it back if provoked, but one can be pretty much certain that they will not be the first ones to initiate something that might be deemed unsportsmanlike.
Talking of sportsmanship, it is apt to mention here that Qatar is already a winner. Having completed all preparations to host the Gulf Cup in Doha, it offered the event to Kuwait once its FIFA suspension was lifted. The logical thing now would be to defend the title they won in Saudi Arabia three years ago. But even if they don’t, it won’t dent Qatar’s pride in any way.


Related Story