Exclusive: Bahraini footballer Hubail backs Salman for FIFA job

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Category: FIFA

Published on Thursday, 12 November 2015 19:36
By Paul Nicholson in Manama, Bahrain
November 12 – Bahrain’s most famous footballer and the national team’s top scorer Ala’a Hubail, has told Insideworldfootball that he hopes “Shaikh Salman becomes president because he would be the first arab president and that makes me very proud.” He also said that the allegations swirling around Shaikh Salman’s candidacy are not true, “it is not in his character”.

Hubail (pictured) was speaking at his Bahraini club Manama before the resumption of the Bahraini Premier League programme in 9 days time. Before then Bahrain face Korea DPR in a World Cup qualifier next Tuesday.

As the country’s most recognised player, Hubail has been at the centre of a row over alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain and the arrest of athletes who participated in pro-democracy marches. Hubail himself spent three months in jail.

While there is no dispute that athletes were taken into custody the allegations of torture have not been substantiated and currently are coming exclusively from US based human rights organisation. Political focus of the accusations has been on Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa and his supposed role. Salman has always denied any role and there has been no significant evidence to prove his involvement.

FIFA ruled yesterday that Shaikh Salman had passed the Ad-hoc electoral committee’s integrity check and was cleared to stand for the FIFA presidency – human rights accusations were investigated as part of their decision-making process.

The accusations against Shaikh Salman all refer back to 2011 when the Arab Spring was in full flow and Bahrain itself experienced civil unrest. Hubail’s version of events in 2011 is important as this is the first time he has spoken to western media since he was arrested and spent three months in prison before being released.

“I am very proud to be a Bahraini and football has given me the opportunity to play abroad for six years of my career,” he said. Referring to 2011 and the arrests, he continued: “Everyone knows there were players arrested and now things have calmed down and are continuing to improve and progress.

“The media made me look like a traitor (after the arrest), this was how the media framed it…We wanted to see an improvement in sport. It is unfair to say I am a traitor. It is a normal thing for everyone to want their country to improve.”

Hubail said: “I never used to go to demonstrations or marches. I went to that one because it was about sport.”

“In 2011 there needed to be an improvement in the field of sports. There were basic things needed and we were marching for very specific things (for sports),” said Hubail. He was later identified from television footage of the march and was arrested.

“I felt I had lost my sense of freedom (in prison) but I couldn’t understand why I was there just because someone had seen me on TV and turned it into something…this was a march for sport.”

Following his release from prison Hubail and his brother Mohamed – also a national team player who was jailed – went to Oman to play, before returning to Bahraini clubs in 2013. In Oman Ala’a went to the Tahila club while Mohamed went to Fanja SC – both club’s play in the country’s top division.

Questioned about Salman’s supposed role in the 2011 arrests, Hubail is unequivocal and very comfortable in his response: “He has done nothing towards me. I know Salman and have travelled several times with him. I have known him a long time. It is not in his character to do anything like this. It is unfair to say that…

“Shaikh Salman was not involved in the political decisions. They (media and human rights organisations) are using 2011 because he is part of the (Bahraini) Royal family. I want to be completely honest. I have not encountered anything to believe these allegations are true.”

No sooner had FIFA announced Shaikh Salman as one of the candidates cleared to run for the governing body’s presidency than the US and UK pressure group BIRD (the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy) released an anti-Salman statement on its website headlined ‘FIFA Electoral Committee Betrays Tortured Bahraini Footballers’ and saying that Ala’a Hubail was tortured and on release fled to Oman.

Hubail tells it differently and clearly has never spoken to BIRD. He expressed frustration at being used as a political tool and unfairly so, and in a way that has impacted him and others. He certainly did join an Omani club on his release from prison but he has been back in Bahrain for more than two years and, remarkably, exhibits no signs of torture or of being repressed, indeed quite the opposite.

Hubail has played over 60 times for his country and scored over 20 goals. He feels that injuries permitting (playing injuries not torture ones) he will play out this season as probably his last season. He will also need to find some goals as his club currently lie at the bottom of Bahrain’s Premier League after the first three games of the season.

And when his playing career is over? He intimates that he may move into coaching in Bahrain and has already started taking his badges. It is unlikely he will move into sports politics.

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