JEDDAH, 7 May 2008 — The Ministry of Culture and Information yesterday suspended until further notice the popular daily sports newspaper Arreyadi, the newspaper’s editor in chief Abdul Aziz Al-Sharqi said.
“We were not notified. They (the ministry) directly informed the distribution office. We have not yet been told of the reasons behind the suspension,” Al-Sharqi told Arab News. Sources attributed the suspension to the paper’s criticism of the Presidency of Youth Welfare’s decision to suspend Al-Ittihad defender Osama Al-Muwallad for two matches.
Monday’s edition of the paper, which is perceived as being pro-Ittihad, carried a number of articles and cartoons attacking the decision by the presidency’s disciplinary committee. Articles alleged that the presidency had favored Al-Ittihad’s archrivals, the Riyadh-based Al-Hilal, referring to them as “the spoiled son.”
Al-Muwallad was suspended for allegedly choking Al-Hilal striker Yasser Al-Qahtani in Thursday night’s first leg semifinals match in the King’s Cup for Champions, which Al-Ittihad won 4-1.
Spanish referee Bernardino Gonzalez, who saw the incident, gave Al-Muwallad a verbal caution, thinking the incident did not merit a yellow card. Photos showed the defender’s hand holding the Saudi national captain back with a loose hold on the neck.
Former referee Saad Bakheet, who writes a column on referees’ performance in Arab News’ sister publication Arriyadiah, had written that Al-Muwallad deserved a yellow card. But, these feelings were not shared by Al-Hilal’s fans, who waged a campaign for Al-Muwallad’s suspension and accused the referee of bias resulting in their team’s big loss on Thursday.
The suspension upset Al-Ittihad’s fans, especially since the team have a key return-leg tie against Al-Hilal without three of their defenders — who include Hammed Al-Muntashri, who received his second yellow card in the same match, and Rida Tukar, who was injured.
Al-Ittihad’s fans also complained that in the last season, Al-Hilal midfielder Khaled Aziz choked Mohammed Noor and was not suspended despite being caught on camera. This year, photos showed Al-Ahli midfielder Ibrahim Hazazi pinching Noor’s nostrils and pulling him downward, but again Hazazi was not suspended.
Fans further questioned the timing of the suspension.
In Monday’s edition, one headline of the Arreyadi newspaper read, “The demands of the pampered are orders to every committee.” The article, which oozed metaphor, likened Al-Hilal to a pampered brother and spoke how his other brothers (referring to other teams) demand justice from the Kingdom’s courts (referring to the presidency) only to be laughed at and told that they were nobodies.
Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad have engaged in ongoing rivalry, both on and off the field, for a number of years.
Arreyadi is owned by Salah Al-Balawi, brother of prominent Saudi businessman and former Al-Ittihad President Mansour Al-Balawi, who resigned from his post amid controversy involving the transfer of Sierra Leone’s Muhammad Kallon, who was in talks with Al-Hilal at that time.
