Picture from ClickSports
I just read on SportKello.com that 5 Lebanese Basketball teams (Riyadi, Byblos, Amchit, Hoops and Muttahed) in the first division have suspended their participation after being lied to prior to the Lebanese Federation elections.
What happened (According to the article) was that all teams agreed on a list of candidates to head the new federation, only to see this accord changed on elections day by Jihad Salameh, who’s in charge of the sports section in a prominent Lebanese political party. Honestly, I have no idea about what’s happening but when you have 5 teams out of 10 suspending their participation, with 4 of them ranked in the top 6, whomever came up with this federation is obviously doing a bad job.
I’ve said it and repeat it a zillion times, politics should be strictly forbidden in sports events and Lebanese Federations should not be influenced by members of political parties at all. In fact, I don’t understand how you can mess up the elections of a Lebanese Basketball Federation. If the aim is to encourage the teams, improve the sport and modernize it, then find someone competent and neutral having everyone’s consent to head the federation. How hard can it be?
Allah yer7am President Choueiri.
The way you introduced Jihad Salemeh showed that you decided to turn this into a political issue, you neglected the fact that Jihad is a key sport figure for decades and he cannot be the only protagonist behind such turn of events, he wouldn’t alone be able to do anything without the approval of the majority of the remaining clubs.
a little bit of objectivity helps sometimes your readers to understand the essence of the problem.
In case you missed it, I put (According to the article) and basically translated it what they said. I don’t know who this guy is. I know 50% of the teams in the league suspended their participation, which means something’s wrong.
I don’t know if it’s possible to be more objective than that. Let us stop justifying this and that. Both sides are wrong and they are destroying the sport, plain and simple.
… and one more thing, the clubs who decided to mix politics with sports are actually the ones who took the decision to stop playing in the championship, sad but true.
Again the clubs consist half the teams and are in the top 6 positions. If you still can’t see that something went wrong both sides, you are the one lacking objectivity.
Again Najib, you are missing the point. The point is the clubs who suspended their participation are the ones who were politically controlling the federation, now that the federation is neutral, they are not happy about it because their success fits better in politics (Jihad Salameh is one of the pillars of basket ball in Lebanon waaaaaay before Tony Baroud’s hoopppaaaa and especially inter-schools championships)
You’re totally right josef especially that I know the political influence done on these 5 clubs by very well known political parties and figures…
I have been reading here and there for a couple of days..
No proof of who is the one doing politics here, whether it is the 5 boycotting clubs, or the participating clubs, or both, or no one..
What I know for a fact is that we had a great season shaping up, and it seems that we are spoiling it again…
for the lebanese, everything is difficult. it’s made difficult by difficult people who have difficult brains that can’t understand simple concepts.
we’re difficult simpletons. 99% of us anyway.
sad sad sad , but the good part is we are getting closer to the American system the ” NBA ” by the all stars and getting a bit far of the politic things. I can only say that one day basketball will be a peaceful sports to have fun and enjoy unforgettable moments. We shouldnt forget the improtant fact of the “ted3im” for mouttahed and riyadi by important political persons. I cant say this is wrong but it isnt 100% right neither… Basketball doesnt count on players only but counts on the coach and the chemistry of the team. But i cant neglect the fact that basket here is very nice and fun to watch. GO LEBANON BOO politics