The Asian Football Confederation has been embarrassed by revelations its official video history of the Asian Cup omits any mention of Israel, a former host and winner of the tournament. A three-minute video posted on the AFC’s official website stirringly recounts the history of the cup, beginning with South Korea’s 1956 victory, up to Japan’s 1-0 defeat of Australia in the 2011 final in Qatar. But one tournament is conspicuously missing. “September 1956 saw Korea Republic crowned the inaugural champions,” the video goes. “The Koreans went on to defend their title in 1960 on home soil. The power in Asian football then shifted to west Asia, the Islamic Republic of Iran capturing the title in 1968.” Israel hosted and won the Asian Cup in 1964, the only piece of silverware in the country’s football cabinet, during a golden age in which it finished runner-up in the previous two tournaments and third in 1968 (albeit against much weaker competition than today – only six other countries entered in 1964). Many Arab and Muslim countries refused to play the Jewish state, and in 1974 the confederation adopted a Kuwaiti motion to expel Israel from the AFC. It wandered in the footballing wilderness until it was accepted into the European confederation in 1994. AFC officials told Guardian Australia they were baffled by the omission, and would be seeking answers. It is understood the video was produced by an external agency. Israel does appear in a table on the tournament’s website listing all past winners. A spokesman for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alexander Ryvchin, said the omission was “highly conspicuous in a film showing extensive footage of every single Asian Cup tournament”. “There are countries in the AFC which wish that Israel didn’t exist and that the Jewish people’s sovereignty in its homeland was brought to an end,” he said. “It would bring great shame to the world game, which should unite and inspire, if the omission of Israel from the film was an act of politically motivated historical revisionism.” He called on the Football Federation of Australia to raise the issue with the AFC president, Bahraini royal Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, if no “satisfactory explanation” was given.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:32:59 +0000
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