Saudi footballers shun media at Gulf Cup due to presence of Qatar TV channels
This year’s Gulf Cup, which was supposed to take place in Qatar but which the country graciously passed on to Kuwait following FIFA’s lifting of sanctions against it, is set to kick off today.
However, politics seems to have overshadowed football on the eve of the tournament as Saudi Arabia’s team refused to talk to the Press due to presence of Qatar-based news channels, including Al Jazeera, reported Al Jazeera.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — as well as Egypt — cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of financing terrorism and maintaining close ties with their regional rival Iran. Doha denies the allegations.
On Thursday, the Saudi team arrived at a Press conference in Kuwait City 40 minutes later than scheduled. After a short photo session, the players left the room without taking questions from the waiting reporters, reported Gulf Times.
Al Jazeera’s Sana Hamouche, who was present at the Press briefing, said everything seemed normal until Saudi officials took to the stage.
“The Saudi team came in, had photos taken and stormed out of the conference room,” said Hamouche. “When journalists asked the Kuwaiti media official for the reason, he couldn't give anyone an answer. I spoke to him later, and he said the Saudi officials requested microphones of the Qatar-based channels to be removed, including that of Al Jazeera.”
Kuwait’s football association later issued a statement saying that ‘a suitable solution has been reached for the upcoming press conference that will appease all parties.’
While the organisation did not specify the ‘solution’ in the statement, Al Jazeera understands that a single microphone will be used in all upcoming Press conferences — instead of individual ones for all news channels.
Picture courtesy: Gulf Times
