Dubai: The Dubai Cricket Council (DCC) and Dubai Sports Council have entered into a tie-up to promote the game in the emirate. For the first time in the history of Dubai cricket, a government body will thus support the game’s activities. Henceforth, the DCC banners will have the Dubai Sports Council logo announcing their partnership.
Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, chairman of DCC announced the tie-up while opening the DCC’s new office at Silicon Oasis. The colourful function was attended by Mohammad Redha Abbas, chief selector and vice chairman of DCC, David East, the Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Cricket Board, cricket promoter Shyam Bhatia with Amin Farouq, the DCC secretary.
Ghazi Al Madani, Sports Tourism Manager of the Dubai Sports Council was also present at the DCC function.
“We are entering into a tie-up with Dubai Sports Council. This is a positive step and now on we will be working together,” said Falaknaz.
Speaking to Gulf News after the function, Falaknaz remarked: “This setting up of the office is just a beginning. We will now have our own cricket grounds too very soon. I will be meeting Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality and we may soon have our grounds in the Dubai-Al Ain Road. With Dubai Sports Council too supporting us and with support from Saeed Harib, General Secretary of the Dubai Sports Council and Al Madani, we will present our case in securing a land for cricket. If we can get two to three grounds then we can have a turf wicket in around three months as we had created in the past when we had our own grounds in the Al Jadaf area which had to give way to the construction boom.”
Acknowledging the tie up with DCC, Al Madani said: “DCC will give permission to all cricket events, while Dubai Sports Council will give full support to the events to fulfill the government entity requirements.”
The tie-up comes up at a time when a few tournaments were being held in Dubai with the permission of only the Dubai Sports Council without seeking DCC’s permission.
East, speaking on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Council appreciated the DCC’s initiative to set up an office. “We are very pleased to see that Dubai has its own base now matching Sharjah and Abu Dhabi cricket Councils which have got beautiful offices. The work that Dubai council has been doing is stupendous and we rely heavily on the hard work of all our councils.”
DCC was once the most active among the councils in UAE staging over 700 matches a year before its grounds were taken away by the construction boom. This resulted in DCC losing even their office too. The team of DCC council members such as Shiva Pagarani, Shoeb Muljiani and Farrukh Siddiqui were responsible for locating and the creation of a new home for the DCC. The walls of the DCC office are filled with snaps of historical moments of DCC. “Soon we will have a wall of fame where top achievers and performers’ pictures will be stuck along with snap of our activities,” said Pagarani.
