| Description | Folder of presscuttings, telex reports, notes and other papers on sports in Iraq, including football, horseracing, bowling, athletics, tennis, weightlifting and sports colleges. Much of the material concerns Udai Saddam Hussein's role as chairman of both the Iraqi Olympic Committee and Iraqi Football Association from 1984 to 1988, when he was suspended after being convicted for murdering one of his father's servants. There are numerous Baghdad Observer reports of Iraq's performance at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic games, as well as the Iraqi football teams's victories in the Asian Cup (1985 and 1988), the Gulf Cup (1984 and 1988) and their qualification to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. In addition to discussion of the matches themselves there are reports of political issues underlying the games, such as Iraq's withdrawal from contests in protest at Syrian, UAE or Kuwaiti actions and the lifting of a FIFA ban in 1988, features on the famous Al Rasheed team, involvement in the International Federation for the Disabled, sports available on Baghdad's Tourist Island, plus coverage in The Independent and International Herald Tribune of the (short-lived) takeover bid for Sheffield United by Iraqi-born businessman Sam Hashimi and an alleged Saudi consortium (March 1990). |