Issam Khalidi
After World War I, the number of Palestinian
social clubs, including charitable societies, women’s groups and young people’s
organizations such as the Scouts, grew exponentially. Their appearance as
social institutions reflected the growing advancement of nationalist sentiments
by elites in light of the British Mandate and Zionist expansion. In the 1920's,
most of these clubs assumed a civic social character, and incorporating
football into their programs began to be viewed as an element of social consciousness
and nationalist culture. The Dajani Sports Club of Jerusalem and some of the
Orthodox clubs that grew out of church affiliation are prime examples of this
theme. Still other teams were established as athletic organizations, and later
incorporated social and cultural activities. As “sport” took its place among
cultural and social activities, city and village football teams transformed
into athletic clubs, changing their names accordingly. By the start of the
1930's, Arab social athletic clubs numbered about 20 in Palestine.[1]
Among these clubs was al-Nadi al-Riyadi al-Arabi the Arab Sports Club in Jerusalem which started as a
football team in 1927, and was officially established in 1928.
In
1955, Arab SC and Qarawi Club in Jerusalem joined together to form Nadi
al-Mowazzafin (Employees Club). Immediately after its establishment Muslim and
Christian youth submitted their applications for joining it. Since 1920’s until
1948, the majority of clubs’ members and leaders usually put a statute that demonstrated
the goals and the mission of their clubs, and regulated their activities. The
statute of the Arab SC was based on democracy, and gave the possibility of each
individual to highlight his energies, and express his opinion and ambitions. The
main purpose of this club, as it was pointed out in its statute was the
strengthening of the bodies of the Arab youth by means of sports (a healthy mind in a healthy body), and raising their literary level. One of the statute's articles included that the club admits
members regardless of their religious affiliation.[2]
Among the founders were Fuad Khadra, Nizar
Estanbouli, Fawzi Mohyi Addin al-Nashashibi (treasurer), Khaled al-Duzdar (head
of the sports team), Ibrahim Nusseibeh (secretary). As the newspaper Filastin
reported that at the opening of this club its members swore to serve this
club and to adhere with its resolutions and regulations. Also, they publicly
promised not to discriminate between religions.[3]
Arab SC was able to prove itself immediately in sports field. It competed with British and Jewish teams such as Maccabi
- one of the strongest teams in Palestine at the time. In early 1930s, Filastin
reported that two committees were formed at this club. A sports committee
to promote sport, and a literary committee (lajnah Adabia) intended to expand the club library; to invite the
Palestinian people to give lectures in the club and to encourage arts such as
acting.
In April 1933, an agreement was reached between the Youth Congress and
the APSF that the Youth Congress would present a trophy to the winner of the
Youth Conference tournament. In November 1933, the following teams took part in
this tournament: the Arab SC and Rawda Club from Jerusalem; the Islamic Sports
Club and the Orthodox Club from Jaffa; and the Salesian Club, the Islamic Sports
Club, and al-Nijma al-Baida’ from Haifa. The institutionalized relationship
between football and politics was further solidified through another tournament
organized by the APSF and the Youth Congress, the “Tournament of the Armor of
King Ghazi.”[4]
The
Arab Palestinian Youth Congress (Mu’tamaral-Shabab al- ‘Arabi al-Filastini)
was established in
Jerusalem in 1931. It was active in youth,
scouts,
sports and political activities, and was
famous
for its nationalistic trends. It had its first
conference
in 1932, the second in 1935. [5]
In March 1932, a match between the AUB team
and the Arab Sports Club in Jerusalem took place. At this meeting, the
newspaper Filastin reported “The second team [the Arab Sports Club] was
composed of: Ibrahim Nusseibeh, Bishara Tannous, Nael Nashashibi, Abdelqader
Abu Al-Saud, Daoud Betouni, Fawzi Ma’touq, Ribhi Al-Husseini, Daod Al-Bitar,
Nasri Al-Gozn, Nizar Estambuli, Rajai Nimer.
The stadium was crowded with sports fans - men and women - which we had
not seen in the last few days. The match started at 3:30 p.m. American
University team won 4:1. Both teams showed great performance and good sportsmanship.” [6]
In July 1933, the Arab
Sports Club of Jerusalem and the Islamic Sports Club of Jaffa formed a joint
team to compete with Al Ittihad of Alexandria. The match resulted in a win of
4:1 in favor of the Egyptian team.
Table tennis was popular among the members
of this club. In March 1938, Al-Difa’ reported: "A championship in table tennis was held
at Al-Nadi
al-Qawmi (National Club) in Jaffa [between
1938 and 1942, the name of Islamic SC has been changed to Qawmi Club]. Qawmi SC
in Jaffa won the Arab Scout Club in
Haifa in the first round. The Arab SC won the Scouts Club in Haifa. In the
afternoon that day in the second round the Arab SC won Qawmi Club in Jaffa. Arab SC won the championship and received a cup
from Jawdat al-Bibi the chief of the Arab Bank in Jaffa and a member of the
Palestine Sports Association. The referee was Atalla Iqdis a famous athlete and
activist.” [7]
The Zionist leadership viewed establishing
athletic federations and committees as a means of achieving overall Zionist
goals of establishing and legitimating Zionist claims to Palestine. These
official organizations helped represent Palestine as “Jewish,” both regionally
and internationally, and were seen as instrumental in achieving the
leadership’s national and political goals. For example, in 1924, the
leadership of the Jewish Maccabi athletic organization attempted to gain
membership in the International Amateur Athletic Federation. This initiative
ended in failure as it was determined that Maccabi did not represent Arab,
British and Jewish sportsmen in Palestine equally. However, this
unsuccessful attempt did not discourage Maccabi leader Josef Yekutieli, who in
the beginning of 1925 attempted to gain Maccabi membership in the Federation
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Yekutieli decided to employ a
different tactic this time: he first established the Palestine Football
Federation. In order to reveal for the FIFA that the Arabs were taking part in
the founding of PFA, Yekutieli invited Ibrahim Nuseibeh from the Arab Sports
Club – as an Arab representative - to take part in the meetings. The
federation’s inaugural meeting was convened in the summer of 1928. Immediately,
after being accepted in FIFA, the Jewish leadership started to dominate the
Palestine Football Association by marginalizing the Arabs and ensuring that
Jews were the majority in it. This was accomplished by such strategies as
imposing the Hebrew language and incorporating the Jewish flag in the
federation’s logo. Later, Arabs teams in neighboring Arab counties were
forced to get permissions from the Jewish-dominated PFA in order to compete
with Arab teams in Palestine.
These attempts to control the PFA motivated
local Muslims and Christians to establish the Arab Palestine Sports Federation (APSF)
[al-Ittihad al-Riyadi al-Arabial-Falastini]. That the APSF was born after the
1929 Revolt was no coincidence; new tactics were required to handle Zionist
expansion and control. In June 1931, Arab Palestine Sports Federation APSF was
born from a coalition of ten clubs at a meeting at the Orthodox Club in Jaffa.
Doctor Daoud al-Husseini, of the Islamic Sports Club in Jaffa, was elected
president (he later became secretary when the federation had no president), and
George Mousa from the Orthodox Club in Jaffa was elected secretary.
Despite the outbreak of the Revolt, the PSF
held a meeting in October 1937 to discuss the elections and the nomination of
its supreme committee; it also discussed the schedule of the 1937-1938
tournaments. Despite the offers to the Arab clubs to join the Palestine
Football Association, Arab clubs chose to remain within the PSF. However,
later, in late 1930s, few of these clubs decided to join PFA and take part in
the country’s championship. In 1943, all these clubs withdrew their membership,
and took part in re-establishing the Arab Palestine Sports Federation in
September 1944.
The Arab teams in Palestine had a great
desire to compete against teams in neighboring Arab countries. There was also a lack of satisfaction by the
Arabs with the conduct of the PFA and its “monopoly” on the sports arena. In a letter sent on November 18, 1937 to the
FIFA by Khader Kamal, Secretary of the Arab Sports Club in Jerusalem, it was
mentioned that:
Recognizing a Jewish team only, prejudice
the Arab love of sports and exchanging visits with neighboring countries. If it
is not possible to have our Club recognized by your association, we sincerely
request that permission be granted to the teams of neighboring countries to
play our team without the necessity of taking permission from the Palestine
Football Federation. We have, before the introduction of the present
regulations, often played against these teams, giving very good account of
ourselves. At the present, we are playing against various British regiment
teams in Palestine. In case you need any recommendation in evidence of our
ability and conduct in Sports, we will be very glad to produce such
certificates. [8]
Later,
a letter from FIFA was sent to the secretary of the PFA, J. Chalutz, on the 16th
of December 1937:
I have received from the Arab Sports Club
Secretary Mr. Khodder Alb.Kamal [Khader Abdallah Kamal] a letter in which Mr.
Kamal asks for a permission to play against teams of neighbor countries
specially Egypt and Lebanon [Lebanon]; he underlines that it is impossible for
them to join the Palestine Football Association under the present circumstances
and by this reason he asks the above permission. I will have to submit this matter
to my Committee but I beg you to let me have your opinion about this matter.
The only things which should be possible is that the Associations of Egypt and
Lebanon are informed by me that the Arab Sports Clubs with your permission is
entitled to play with the teams of Egypt and Lebanon and the each be subject to
a special permission of the F.I.F.A. [9]
At the same time, a letter was sent from
FIFA’s Secretary-General to Khader Kamal on 16th December 1937:
I
came in possession of your letter of November 19th contents of which
have been duly noted. I understand the difficult situation of your club and it
is quite clear that under the present circumstances it is impossible for you to
play for Palestine Football Association which is recognized by the F.I.F.A. as
the governing body for football in Palestine. I will have to submit your
request to my committee and I will give you further news as soon as possible.[10]
These letters from Khader Kamal as a representative of Arab SC to FIFA had a national dimension and historical importance. It came
during the 1936-1939 Revolt. Arab SC was
part of the Palestinian sports movement which was directly affected by the Jewish
immigration and the Zionist expansion in Palestine.
Arab SC became a member of the the Palestine Sports Federation which was re-established in 1944, and participated in its tournaments. Some of its officials became active in PSF's branch and regional committees.
Arab SC became a member of the the Palestine Sports Federation which was re-established in 1944, and participated in its tournaments. Some of its officials became active in PSF's branch and regional committees.
Endnotes
[1] Issam Khalidi, One
Hundred Years of Football in Palestine, (Amman: Dar al-Shorok, 2013) p 19.
[4] al-Difa‘, 30 May 1934
[5] See
‘Isaal-Sifri. Filastin al- ‘Arabiyya bayna al-Intidab wa-l-Sahyuniyya [Arab
Palestine between the Mandate and Zionism] (Jaffa: Maktabat Filastin al-Jadida,
1937), 194–201.
[6] Filastin, 29
August 1932
[7] Al-Difa’, 27 March
1938.
[9] FIFA Archive, Zurich, Switzerland
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