Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Muscat: As one of the key mission of the Oman Football Association (OFA) and the AFC is to transfer knowledge among the locals, the volunteers being involved at the three stadiums currently used for the AFC U-22 Championship in Muscat are making most out of the opportunities they got by being involved in this competition.
With the Oman FA setting their sights of playing regularly in the finals of the AFC competitions as well as in the AFC Champions League, they revamped their local league last year and established Oman Premier League for which they need qualified manpower not only in the FA but in the clubs of different parts of this second biggest Gulf nation.
To identify the young and energetic candidates who could have potential to play a big part in the development of local football, Oman FA called for interested university graduates to apply for the volunteers and youths from all over the country showed their interest to enhance their experience and around 300 volunteers were selected.
“The moment I saw the advertisement in the national newspaper, it was a dream for me to work as volunteer in an international competition as big as AFC U-22 Championship,” said Saoud Hilal, a university graduate from Rustaq district which is around 200 kilometers south of Muscat.
His colleague from the same town Mubarak Talib stressed that the working experience is key for them in their future as they are fresh graduates and looking for jobs.
“Working here in this entire championship will add more weight to our CVs as we have studied public relations in our university,” he said.
Likewise, a digital media graduate Suleiman Saif has been assisting with media activities at the Seeb Stadium and he has already observed the impact of digital media in organising big competitions.
“Working here is more practical for me as I can see the roles of technology and digital media in these big events,” he said.
The event is also an opportunity for Ibrahim Saif, an Arabic teacher at nearby Barka, whom the LOC has recruited as the head of media operation at the Seeb Stadium.
“Besides teaching, I work as a media coordinator at Al Shabab Club of my town so I will be using lots of ideas that I am learning here in my club. We have to do it because we just started Oman Premier League and the standard should be higher in our local clubs and competitions,” he said.
Ruqaya Al Balushi and Afraa Al Balushi are university students in engineering and from nearby Barka. They come every day at the stadium and whatever jobs require from standing at the gate as security volunteer to printing materials for the officials, they are not shy. That is why one of the volunteers Qais Bader sums up saying: “We Omanis are not afraid of work, if we get opportunities we have all the abilities to compete with anyone in Asia…be it in football or other business.”