Al-Riyadh

During a football match last month between Saudi Arabia and Australia, the entire Saudi team refused to observe a minute’s silence held in memory of people who died in a terror attack in London.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation apologized to FIFA for the players’ behavior. This unprofessional attitude became an opportunity for both Western and Arab media to criticize and attack us. The footballers’ actions are at odds with our foreign policy, which condemns all terrorist attacks no matter where they occurred.

Observing silence is a small gesture, which could have played a huge role in strengthening bilateral relations and underscoring our sense of compassion. When the footballers refused to observe the silence, I was reminded of some people who refuse to stand for the national anthem.

History repeats itself. Some people need to learn the etiquette of behavior on formal occasions. People who do not stand for the national anthem should be punished. Society as a whole should be aware of how to behave in a civilized way. It is absolutely important that we represent our country as a civilized society, not anything else.

I truly hope that nothing similar ever takes place again. In order to ensure that it never happens again, we should look at the team’s managers. This team was representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a major football match; they should at least understand that such attitudes reflect negatively on the Kingdom as a whole. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation should have intervened and corrected the viewpoint of those players who believe that it is not their responsibility to respect other cultures and be sensitive to tragedies. Winning matches is the players’ responsibility. However, the attitude and behavior of the team should be controlled by its managers.

The players should have been made to understand that obeying Australia’s request was absolutely mandatory in order to portray a civilized image of the Kingdom to the international community.

It is crucial to question whether the footballers’ behavior was a result of their own mindset or was influenced by their managers.

Everyone should realize that they should represent the Kingdom in the best way possible when traveling abroad. This includes footballers, students, artists, diplomats, etc. They should realize that they are representing the Kingdom’s politics, religion, knowledge and economics. Those who go abroad need to think twice before taking any action because they are representing their country.