There’s this general dismissiveness over the past decade or so over the plight of the Al-Arabi football club and as a life long fan, it has been morally paralyzing to witness. If you’re a foreigner living in Qatar and have been following our league and you also wondering why..

..Al-Arabi fans are so angry and depressed most of the time, I will attempt to answer that the best way possible. No, it is not just because we can’t seem to have a successful season for over 20 years. It’s more than that. First some information you need to know:

1. At one big portion of Qatari football history, Al-Arabi has violently dominated football championships for over a decade. In fact there was a year when Al-Arabi has won every trophy possible in every sport available.(personal theory this is the root of big people hated that).

2. The year 1997 was the last year Al-Arabi won a championship in football. After that a lot of shady things happened against the club from both outside and within. Here’s where the root of our anger comes from:

KHALFAN BEING SOLD TO SADD.

I can’t say I know all the facts behind this deal, but it is known by every fan that how the deal happened is shady as hell. It wasn’t a normal transfer. There was tons of dirty politics behind it. Al-Arabi lost their most important youth player ever.

ANOUAR DIBA

During a live Al-Majlis program, Anouar Diba, one of the best foreign players at the time, calls in and says that he wants to join Al-Arabi club but then Lekhawiya (now Duhail) club specifically stipulated to him that he can join any other club except Al-Arabi.

KHOKHI BU ALAM

Did you know that the last time Al-Arabi played in the ACL Khokhi was in the team as a foreign player. Al-Arabi management tried to register him as a National since he fits the criteria. QFA decided he can play in the ACL as National but in the league as foreigner

ALI FREYDOON

Al-Arabi tried to sign him when he was in 2nd division as the top scorer at the time. QFA denied the transfer stating he’s a “black card” player, meaning a foreign player playing as a National. Only specific clubs were allowed to have that, and Al-Arabi wasn’t it.

SALAAM SHAKER

Al-Arabi tried to sign the great Iraqi defender from Al-Khor at the time. However, outside forces swept in like vultures and stopped that from happening. A host in the famous Al-Majliss show walked off the air after getting this piece of news and saying it live.

CABORE

Arguably one of the best strikers in the history of the club. Unfortunately management decided to sell him to the Emirati club Al-Nasr. The bizarre thing was minutes after this announcement Umm Salal signs Cabore from Al-Nasr. Again shady parties got involved with that.

FABIO CESAR

Initially played in Al-Arabi. Great player. Suddenly out of the blue Umm Salal signs him and gets to at as a National the moment he joined the team. Why hasn’t that happen in Al-Arabi?

Imagine, as an Al-Arabi fan, you see all these events unfold and at the same time other clubs get treated better. Imagine you see how fast a skillful player gets nationalized in one specific team while Al-Arabi has been trying for years but being hurled obstacles against even..

..in international competitions? Imagine seeing a few chosen clubs get to have all the “black card” players it can while Al-Arabi gets denied to sign one? Imagine you see this article from one of the European press and see that one of the biggest figures in the country was..

..involved in getting a big superstar of a player to Al-Sadd? As a fan I ask myself why can’t we get half the attention other clubs get even though we are still one of the biggest clubs in the country even with the championship drought? Why isn’t all this getting the attention it

Rightfully should? I am not going to deny that Al-Arabi management made some disastrous mistakes but when you have the decision makers actively sidelining the club and go as far as stopping it from progressing, we can’t pretend that’s not a factor.

My theory as stated earlier is that all this is happening simply because the fans from other clubs who grew up during the Al-Arabi championship dominance are now the major decision makers and influencers in Qatari football, and they don’t want to go through that ever again.

As a fan myself, I hope the grudge ends. Having Al-Arabi competing for titles is good for Qatari football. No one denies that.