Sunk despite heroics

Bahrain’s budding football stars kicked for a cause at the Rotary Club Manama’s annual six-a-side charity football tournament last weekend, as joy met with heartbreak amid a day of revelry and feisty competition.

GulfWeekly was one of 18 teams participating in the footy fest at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club, although despite some spirited play and fearless goalkeeping from reporter Kristian Harrison, they couldn’t get out of a group containing NBB 2 and Friends of Zayani.

Overall, approximately BD18,000 was raised for good causes, with the goal of raising awareness of child-related conditions such as autism, diabetes and other disorders.

Rotary Club President Bob Thaker said: “The event has been a fantastic success. Our main focus was to highlight and raise awareness of these conditions, while raising funds to prevent them. I’d personally like to thank all of the teams, the referees and the volunteers for making the tournament happen once again.

“We’ve got plenty more planned throughout the year, with a Ramadan charity box collection soon to get underway. Stay tuned.”

GulfWeekly arrived with plenty of optimism, with goalkeeper Harrison, forward Zahid Balooshi and utility man Jalal Muradi complemented by a selection of Juventus Football Academy coaches and other friends.

However, their lack of practice showed in the first game as they succumbed 2-0 to NBB 2, despite a David De Gea-esque double save and a sprawling penalty stop from man-of-the-match Harrison.

The second game was much closer, with Balooshi left to rue missing a sitter as Friends of Zayani finally broke more dogged resistance from Harrison in the dying moments to secure a narrow 1-0 victory.

With elimination all but guaranteed, the GulfWeekly boys played their final two games against the same opponents with a more relaxed mindset and an attacking formation, with the message from captain Muradi simply being: “We may as well go for it, boys.”

In the rematch against NBB 2, a criminal refereeing decision disallowed a goal which should have seen GulfWeekly take a 4-3 lead. Even the opposition were stunned at the verdict, and things turned even worse as while the referee was still mid-conversation trying to explain his decision to the apoplectic GulfWeekly players, NBB took a quick free kick and slotted home into an empty net.

Amazingly, it was allowed to stand, causing more anger as several players were booked for dissent. Although abusing the referee is never acceptable, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

The team finally put the pieces of the jigsaw together in their final fixture, running out comfortable 2-1 winners despite missing a host of chances. The disappointment at not making the quarter-finals was tangible, but all agreed there was a solid base to progress in future tournaments.

The eventual winners were Al Bader, who came from two goals down in a thrilling final against Manama Tours to pull level and win on penalties in an epic contest.

Afterwards, incoming Rotary Club president Chetan Bhatia couldn’t hide his delight at how the day’s events unfolded.

He explained: “We’ve had a tremendous response this year, with 18 teams and plenty of supporters coming to cheer on their friends and family. This tournament has been going on for more than 20 years and it’s not going to stop any time soon!

“The rugby club has been fantastic too, I can’t complain at all. Raising this sum is beyond what we expected, and there are plenty more fundraisers to come.

“There is always more work to be done in Bahrain, and it’s good to give something back to the community.”