Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
IT was impressive to watch the way Spanish fans roared on their team against Germany in the final of the European Championships and the way they celebrated the victory.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of Bahraini fans, stayed up all night to watch the drama unfold.
I wish our local television stations would put in as much effort to broadcast the big matches that are staged in Bahrain.
I can understand why many parents would feel a little uneasy about letting their young children watch games live in the stadiums, what with all the violence and drama that sometimes unfolds, but putting that aside, it really is a shame that the local television channels often blame "technical faults" for the inconsistency over broadcasting local club matches for a football-loving audience waiting and wanting to be entertained.
It really is pitiful and quite embarrassing when you compare the kingdom's coverage to that of its neighbours in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, for example. You cannot compare Al Jazeera Sports to our local television channel's output.
I truly believe that if more local games were broadcast with style and consistency on our local channels it would raise the profile of the game in Bahrain and bring in more fans and advertising revenue for the clubs.
Perhaps this lack of coverage results in the owners of our leading local clubs taking the easy option of purchasing players from abroad and giving them citizenship as a way of broadening the appeal.
It's a tactic to lure and attract more fans to the stadiums but if the media started broadcasting local matches we could create our own "home grown" stars to support and cheer on.
Perhaps the local channels could seek help from the General Organisation of Youth and Sports (GOYS) in order to find better and advanced methods of scheduling and broadcasting live matches.
