IMRAAN LADAK finally got some of his way when Kettering v Fulham was scheduled for a TV showing this Saturday.
The Kettering chief executive was willing to waive the £160,000 fee that goes with being a live match in the FA Cup because he wanted the Poppies shirt logo of www.inter-pal.org to be seen around the world.
The fourth round tie will now go out at 7.30pm on Setanta - two hours plus after the finish - but that will do for Ladak.
As some will know,Interpal is a charitable organisation sending help to Palestinians - and boy, do the ordinary citizens of Gaza need it now.
On face value the Kettering shirt is laudable, especially bearing in mind one of the biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona, have Unicef emblazoned across their famous red-and-blue stripes. Why should one charity be more worthy than another? But, there's a bit of doubt nagging at the back of one's mind about some of the links Interpal have on their website. Log on, and apart from listing a clutch of more radical sites wanting the destruction of Israel, there's plenty of potential debate on Interpal about some 'facts' listed in the various sections.
One example called The Nakba is about the 'illegal Israeli occupation' and the 1948 division of Palestine in the first place. The word 'nakba' means 'catastrophe', by the way'.
Now the last thing I want anyone to believe is this column has gone political.
But there again, I think a charity should also be apolitical. More importantly,football and politics should be a definite no
no. Ladak has been recently quoted as saying that -"Palestine is the one that suffering most in the world right now" and that - "Palestine comes with lots of political debate - but that's not important."
On the second point, Fulham fans on a recent forum weren't so sure and made their feelings known in no uncertain way, and on the first, try telling that to the suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur.
