Muharraq Club this week won the Bahrain First Division soccer title again.

For the 28th time to be precise! It was also their second successive triumph and fifth in the new century.
These facts and figures are something Manchester United would be proud of. In individual sport, only Michael Schumacher and Lance Armstrong have dominated a sport in similar fashion in recent times.
Muharraq have certainly been the flavour of the soccer season in Bahrain. They have virtually been unstoppable, and by winning the biggest title in the kingdom with two matches to spare, Muharraq once again reduced the premier championship to a one-horse league.
But then one-horse leagues are not uncommon this season. Olympic Lyon have become the first team from one of the big five European leagues to win six French national championships in a row.
Gerard Houllier’s team had an unassailable lead of 17 points with six matches in hand when they won the title after second-placed Toulouse lost 3-2 to State Rennes last week.
In the scandal-tainted Italian League, Inter Milan are crowned champions when they beat Siena 2-1 and their nearest rival Roma lose 1-2 to Atlanta with five games left.
On the same day, Celtic won the Scottish Premier League title beating Kilmarnock 2-1 with Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura scoring with a brilliant stoppage-time free kick. The back-to-back title comes with four games left.
Thankfully, the English Premiership, Spanish and German leagues are still alive and throbbing with excitement as Manchester United and Chelsea and Baracelona, Seville and Real Madrid are locked in thrilling battles for supremacy as the leagues head into the final weeks.
Chelsea are just thee points behind Man United with four matches to go while two points separate the top three in Spain with Barcelona, who have only one win in 10 away from home games in the league, on 59, Sevilla on 58 and Real Madrid on 57 with seven games remaining.
In Germany, Schalke, Bremen and Stuttgart are hot on each other’s heels on 62, 60 and 58 points respectively with four matches left in the league.
At another level, the race to win berths in next season’s Champion’s League and Uefa Cup is shaping into another delightful dog-fight as each and every point becomes a matter of life and death.
Coming back to the Bahrain League … it is certainly not fair to compare it with any of the above elite championships. In size, style and substance they are seas apart. But what Bahrain can do is to infuse some life into its league.
Just one team/individual dominating a sport over extended periods of time can have the same effect that Manchester United had on English soccer a few years ago. It was the team everyone loved to hate and the competition itself became predictable, if not totally pedestrian.
Michael Schumacher and Ferrari had a similar effect on Formula One during their unbeatable stints at the beginning of the new century. Tour de France was saved a similar fate, thanks to Lance Armstrong’s personal charisma and his journey back to life (Armstrong’s autobiography in aptly titled: It’s Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life).
Muharraq’s victory, unfortunately, is threatening to have a similar effect in Bahrain. The only team to challenge Muharraq has been Riffa who have won the title three times in the last eight years, the last in 2005.
In fact, the only other team to win the Bahrain Premier League in recent times is Al Ahli and that was way back in 1996. Al Ahli are trailing in fifth place this season, a whopping 24 points behind the champions.
The Bahrain league certainly needs a new lease of life. The biggest Bahraini stars are plying their trade elsewhere leaving the likes of Brazil’s Rico (Leondeson De Silva) and Juliano Francisco to make the headlines back home.
Rico and Francisco have no doubt given Muharraq the decisive edge, both in attack and defence which was more than evident in the 6-0 title-clinching victory over Bahrain Club last week. Striker Rico scored a hat-trick and Francisco was again the fulcrum of the Muharraq defence. The pair is clearly Muharraq’s heart and motor. What a difference a Bahraini pair would have done in similar roles?
Something to mull about as soccer takes a break and the Asian Cup comes calling in July-August.

Where are the rivals?
Vijay Mruthyunjaya