In Goal: Still Waiting for 'Bayd Al-Saww'

In recent days, news and rumors with no clear source have resurfaced, claiming that a new law to regulate sports activities in Kuwait is imminent. These reports have revived the long-standing discourse on this legislation, which I have written about on multiple occasions. Most recently, in December last year, I published an article titled “The Sports Law... The Expected ‘Saw’ Egg,” alluding to something we hear about frequently and which officials and observers constantly discuss, yet which remains invisible in practice. I wrote that piece more than a year after official discussions began regarding the readiness of the aforementioned law.

With each new rumor about the law’s imminent issuance, hopes are rekindled, only to return to the waiting room, as if we are facing a project with endless episodes and no known end date. However, the issue is not merely about the law’s issuance date, but rather its content and the mechanism of its implementation. We should not celebrate its mere promulgation and declare that Kuwaiti sports have entered an era of reform and development, while the same gaps and problems persist, perhaps even taking new forms under a legal guise.

The law must be robust and comprehensive, leaving no backdoors for the influential or the weak-willed to exploit for their own agendas. It must not become a tool for settling scores, imposing control, or circumventing existing regulations. Past experiences have taught us that legal texts, however ideal on paper, can become worthless if poorly drafted or if their implementation mechanisms are not properly regulated. Furthermore, the law must clearly define the relationship between sports institutions and the government, ensuring the autonomy of sports activities and preventing unjustified interference, without allowing that autonomy to become an excuse for evading oversight and accountability. Neighboring countries have managed to regulate this balance more clearly, whereas we still treat it as if it were a discovery requiring committees, conferences, and statements.

Finally, reform should not be confined to financial and administrative aspects. While these are undoubtedly important, the technical dimension is no less crucial. We want a law that opens doors to development and grants sports institutions the flexibility to design their plans and programs, rather than one that adds more restrictions and complexities, making technical expertise hostage to procedures and approvals. In other words, we want a law that brings about genuine, not merely cosmetic, reform, so that we do not discover years later that we have simply replaced one wait with a longer wait to fix what time and those who lived through it have corrupted.

Until the law is published, we will continue to hear about its imminent issuance, its meetings, debates, and proponents, with some even treating it as if it were already an accomplished achievement. “The problem is that the ‘Saw’ egg has one advantage over this law: at least, no one has yet come out demanding applause for it before we see it.”