Hamdan bin Rashid .. eternal fingerprints in the march of Emirati and international sports

Officials, stars and fans of Emirati, Arab and international sports received the news of the departure of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, founder and president of Al Nasr Club and Honorary President of Hatta Club today, with more sadness and sorrow, as the late was a symbol of Emirati and Arab sports and a source of inspiration for all its fans, and a pole of its leaders who influenced its career .

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum was a witness to the emergence and growth of sport in the country, and contributed to its development through his presidency of Al-Nasr Club, whose officials and players recommended, at their last reception in 2020, that they continue working so that Al-Nasr Club, called the "Dean" of Emirati clubs, is always in the top.

All those interested in Emirati sports are aware that the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the most important leaders of the sports movement in the country, and played a major role in spreading many sports in the Emirates, reviving and developing traditional or traditional ones, and provided support for many clubs, stars and heroes at the state and world level, Sports history will still mention that the late is the oldest club president in the world, as he chaired Al-Nasr Club since its inception in 1960 until now.

The late him is considered the spiritual father of Emirati sports in general, and Dubai in particular, so his credit did not stop when he established the oldest club in the country (Al-Nasr Club), one of the most important owners of purebred Arabian horse stables, and the owner of important initiatives in purebred Arabian horse races in Europe and the world to revive this The original heritage, but he is also credited with his great contributions in transforming Dubai clubs into model clubs through his position as mayor in Dubai for a long time, and he also gave great attention to the development of sports facilities and facilities in Dubai in general in the stages of their inception and stages of development. Al Maktoum Stadium into a wonderful architectural masterpiece and was inaugurated after the development in March of 2019, at a cost of 500 million dirhams.

The late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum - according to the Emirati sports media researcher and historian Mohammed Al-Joker, who devoted two versions of his books on Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid under the title “Hamdan and Victory” in 2015, and “The Brigadier .. History and Iraq” in 2019 - that it is He directed the Dubai Municipality to establish a new headquarters for the Football Association in Dubai in Al-Khawaneej, and this headquarters with its annexes is one of the best and most prestigious headquarters of the Football Association in the world, and he also ordered the construction of a new headquarters for the National Olympic Committee at a total cost of 45 million dirhams.

And through his presidency of the oldest club in the Emirates, Al-Nasr Club, may God rest his soul, he was the first to initiate the reception of the most prestigious international clubs of the Emirates, including Liverpool, Arsenal and Southampton, beginning in the seventies, and sponsored many important matches, most notably in February 1976 when Al-Nasr hosted the famous Brazilian Santos team. Many stars from outside Al-Nasr Club honored the owners of the titles and goals, most notably Adnan Taliani from Al-Sha`ab and Youssef Ateeq, the Al-Ahly player, when they crowned two goals for the league.

The late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum left luminous fingerprints in the history of marine sports in the country in general and the local heritage races in particular, since its establishment and the beginning of its bus career, which began in the seventies and spread after that to flourish at the end of the eighties after the establishment of the Dubai International Marine Sports Club In 1988, he contributed a lot to its development with his continuous and generous support, so that these races became one of the most important sporting events in the program of the marine sports season and attract a large number of segments of society.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum developed many ideas and the year 1991 was the date for the start of the largest and largest heritage marine race with the Locksmith event, which is one of the most famous and most important races in the Arab region and the world, and the aim of its establishment was to revive, preserve and develop heritage sports in the country.

The race was the beginning, which was followed by a number of initiatives, as the nucleus of development was through local sailing boats 43 feet, and his ideas included ship races and local sailing boats 60, 43 and 22 feet and local rowing boats 30 feet, which stood behind its success until it occupied the first place in terms of popularity and became practiced by many Of the people of the state.

The Al-Qaffal long-distance race from Sir Bu Nair Island to the beaches of Dubai, which was launched in 1991 with an idea from the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, remains in the minds always. For abundant livelihood in the sea.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum was keen that the "Al Qaffal" festival be a heritage and not just a race that carries with it many meanings that embody the association of the people of the Emirates with the cultural heritage and make the event turn into a carnival and an authentic heritage wedding that gathers more than 5,000 people in the Gulf water show to revive these The historical saga.

Since the event was established, he was keen to attend all the races that were held over the past years to the island of Sir Bu Nair one day before the departure to meet with the Nakhchids and shipowners and to negotiate with them about everything that matters to heritage and racing and the importance of reaching it to the best level in order to achieve the lofty message behind its establishment. The meeting in its enlarged council also became a platform for the media that dialogue with him every year in various aspects of sports affairs.

And may God have mercy on him, he kept following the event with its start and standing on every small and large one and contributed a lot to its development. When experience revealed that the 43-foot boats that participated in the first three versions of the race age (1991, 1992 and 1993) were too young and too weak to withstand the long and arduous race, Sheikh Hamdan Bin asked. Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the owners and the boaters to have the bearings of the same size and strength as the ships in the past, to provide them with safer standards, so he ordered the transfer to the 60-foot class of ships in a trial race in 1993 to adopt the new class after that and the race is reserved only for ships 60 feet in the year 1994.

Despite the many attempts over the past years to include other types of boats and boats as well as local sailing ships in this race, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum stressed the importance of preserving originality, and not inserting anything that would change the milestones of history, and contenting themselves with introducing the manifestations of celebration By the way, related to the past and the heritage.

Throughout the course of the event, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum provided great and generous support for the development and continuation of the race by motivating the participants and raising the value of financial and in-kind prizes, as the total of financial prizes in copies between 1991-1993 amounted to 3 million dirhams and between 1994-2005 the amount of 4 Millions of dirhams, and in 2006 it reached 6 million dirhams, while between 2007-2015 it became 10 million dirhams, and three cars were added to the amount between 2016-2019, while it was decided to raise the prizes of the 29th edition in 2019 to 12 million dirhams in addition to three cars in appreciation of the increase. Continuous interest in the development of bearings by the Nakhudas and the Angel.

The memory of marine sports and the local heritage races preserves many of the stations that Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum contributed to the success of. After the launch of the Locksmith race in 1991, the local sailing ship class was declared 60 feet in 1993 in the third edition of the Locksmith race and then the local rowing boat competitions were launched 30 feet. For the first time on March 7, 1997, where the competitions of this category achieved great success, represented by the participation of 15 boats, and today they reached more than 50 boats competing in the Dubai championship every season .. Then the local 22-foot sailing boat races started in the Dubai International Marine Sports Club officially in the first From October 1999, with the blessing and idea of ​​Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as an academy for educating young people, to qualify a generation of youth and youth to take responsibility in the future and participate in the larger groups, where the event achieved great success at that time represented in the participation of 16 boats.

The late had an important annual event called "the annual Hamdan Parliament" when he was meeting with the press and media men on the Al Fahidi yacht during the locksmith race, during which he addressed all sports issues and expressed his opinion on all issues and questions raised to him. His Highness was not just a club president, but he was One of the wise and rare experts in the field of sports, and generations will never forget that he was the first to honor the heroes and hand over the cup of His Highness the President of the State of Football to the winning team (Al-Ahly) in 1974 after his victory over Al-Nasr (2 / zero) in the first edition of that tournament.

And before the declaration of the federation state in 1971, and specifically in December 1969, the deceased issued a decision to establish the Dubai Football Association, headed by the late Hamid Al Tayer, in order to prepare for the match between Dubai and the Egyptian Ismaili, the African champion in this year.

And the athletes in the UAE in general and in Dubai in particular will testify that Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum was keen to have a single club with multiple activities, meaning that there would be a difference in football, volleyball, basketball, hand, swimming, and various individual games, This is what contributed to the development, growth and improvement of the results of the national teams in the various games.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum used to support players who suffered injuries during their careers, and he reminded all athletes in the country that he had purchased a number of pacemakers and distributed them to clubs after the player Salem Saad suffered a cardiac arrest and died suddenly due to it.

And it will remain of the late legacy as a memory for generations that he used to follow up and order the annual governmental support for Dubai clubs, and he was one of the first initiators to establish a number of commercial and investment projects to support the revenues of Al-Nasr Club, and most of the state clubs followed suit.

Among the feats of the late also in the field of sports was his great support for hosting the Al-Nasr Club for the Arab Cups Championship in 1993, and his meeting with the leaders of Arab sports at this time, and he contributed to the revival of the idea of ​​the Olympic day to honor distinguished people in various sports in 2006.

The late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid was always keen to meet with Arab federations officials in various games and activities when they came to participate in any meetings in Dubai, during the seventies and eighties, and on more than one occasion he mentioned the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid that his interest in sports began with his love for scouts while studying, and therefore in In 1973, with his continued interest in this sport, he assumed the presidency of the Supreme Council of Scouts in the Emirates.

May God have mercy on him, he had important positions in caring for the player and the citizen sports cadre, as he was keen to receive the citizen coach Mahdi Ali after winning the Gulf Cup with the Emirati White in Bahrain, and the late President was keen to support all the former heads of the Football Association so he had meetings with them all, starting from His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, representative of the ruler in the Al Dhafra region at the end of the eighties and early nineties, passing through His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, representative of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Youssef Yaqoub Al Sarkal, and ending with HE Marwan bin Ghalita, former president of the Federation.

With regard to Arabian horse races, history will remember that the late had a long history in the Dubai World Cup races and all the external races that were held in various parts of the world, and his horses and stables won many titles in various continents, to be one of the most influential names in the global sports scene in horse racing His horses won the Dubai World Cup, the most expensive cup in the world.

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