An ex-pat former regional journalist now plying his trade in the Middle East has been helping drum up support for one of the minnows of the footballing world.

Stan Szecowka, former deputy editor of the Bristol Evening Post, is now editing Gulf Weekly, the biggest-selling English language newspaper in Bahrain.

Last weekend the tiny kingdom took on mighty neighbour Saudi Arabia in a World-Cup play-off, with the second leg due to be played in Riyadh today.

And never one to miss a marketing opportunity, Stan joined thousands of fans on the terraces holding up copies of a Gulf Wekly poster proclaiming “Yalla Ya Shabab” which roughly translates as “Come on you lads.”

Saturday’s first leg ended in a goalless draw and Stan will be reporting on tonight’s return leg at the King Fahd International Stadium in front of 70,000 fanatical Saudi fans.

Stan told HTFP it will be the first soccer match he has covered since his days as a sports writer for the Milton Keynes Mirror in the early 1980s when his beloved Luton Town sent Manchester City tumbling down to the old Second Division.

Gulf Weekly editor Stan Szecowka with the barmy army of Bahrain

Comments

ricky (18/09/2009 14:06:14)
still barmy