Malaysia & the Middle East
Thousands of American dollars were now spread across the table. And he wasn’t finished as he then opened a side pouch in the briefcase and placed a solid gold ingot in the middle of the table.
“Coach, if you win the league the gold ingot is yours, and if you win the cup you can have the money.”
They duly prayed to Allah alongside the players of both teams and the Palestinian officials, Yasser Arafat included.
I was the only person amongst those thousands of Muslims to remain on my feet, a Christian Brit alienated by religion. I thought quickly and not to look conspicuous I strolled to the dressing room as I realised that as I was stood there erect I was presenting a sitting target for any trigger happy gunman!
Our journey started around 11pm on the Wednesday night. I took the front seat of the bus with the driver and his co-driver alongside each other, sitting directly in front of me. This was a near fatal decision as, when we had been on the road just five minutes, a large boulder crashed through the front window of the bus smashing the head of the co-driver. I did not to know it at the time but he died instantly.
The piece of granite then hit me a glancing blow to my cheek. I felt I had been shot. Apparently blood was pouring everywhere from both me and the co-driver.