PFDC - Al-Manama club of Bahrain recently announced that they will raise charges against the Al-Manama fans who raised the Iranian flag in one of the club matches in the Bahraini Premier League.

 

This happened in their previous game, and brought very undesirable reactions from general Bahraini sports fans and media.

A group of guys were seen raising an Iranian flag near the official flag of Al-Manama club, during a league match vs. Al-Muharraq, the defending champions of the Bahraini league.

 

An article was then written on this incident in Bahrain’s leading newspaper (Al-Ayam), and this brought a disastrous reaction from Bahraini fans throughout the country, which identified those who raised the flag Al-Manama supporters, and not Al-Muharraq supporters.

The Club’s management then held a conference with Bahraini Sports Minister, Fawaz Bin Mohammad Alee Khalifah, who supported Al-Manama by saying that its intentions are always for the country of Bahrain and no one else, and they’ve been an important factor in honouring Bahraini football.

An official in Al-Manama Club told newspaper “Al-Khaleej Al-Riyadiâ€� that they’ve decided to sue those fans who raised the flag, claiming that they’re a threat to the club’s image of patriotism to Bahrain. One of the fans involved told “The Persian Gulfâ€�  newspaper through a phone call, that what happened was because of their un-responsible behaviour, and that he and his friends never imagined that such a strong reaction would take place because of their actions during a match.

Despite Al-Manama being of the biggest and oldest clubs in Bahrain, people still have suspicions of its nationalism because of its organizers, and players, who mostly are from Persian origins. Despite these beliefs, Al-Manama’s basketball club is actually the main supplier for the national Bahraini basketball team.

This incident comes in a convenient timing also, which tempted Bahraini fans to accuse those fans responsible, which are of Persian origin, of raising the huge Iranian flags to indicate their support for the Iranian national team against their own country, Bahrain, in an upcoming match of Asian World Cup Qualifying, which will take place February 9, 2005, in Manama.