No to foreign players

Perhaps the most widely read news in the local sports papers at any time are reports relating to contracts being signed and then canceled with foreign players. As soon as a club announces plans to bring in a player from abroad, the media rush to speculate on who the player might be, how much money he will get, the terms of the contract and whether or not the new player will be able to take the club to the finals.

After the standard warm welcome at the airport, the much publicized signing of the multi-million contract and a great deal of pampering, the new player is put to the real test. And what do we get? Someone whose performance is so disappointing it makes club officials regret the day they agreed to bring him to the Kingdom. The media then begin the process of lynching. The player on whom high hopes were pinned is blamed for failing the team and calls are soon heard for his dismissal.

The problem with club managers is that they insist on a policy of shortsightedness that prevents them from looking beyond the most immediate future. Instead of building a strong team for the future, all they hope for is to win a tournament at any cost, even if it means stretching the club’s budget to its limit by bringing in a foreign player who may never make it to the finals.

Despite their weak performances, foreign players continue to receive special treatment while their local colleagues who perform much better are barely paid on time. Some are penalized for no apparent reason while others are sidelined by being put on the reserve.

One continues to wonder why our clubs insist on spending so much money on someone who may be here only a few months without doing what they were brought here to do.

That amount of money could have been spent building a strong local team from scratch by grooming young players from an early age and taking full advantage of the expertise of foreign trainers. This would benefit both the local club and the national team.

Arab News From the Local Press 25 January 2003