As Al Ain's victory against Al Nasr ticked towards its conclusion on Sunday night, there seemed little unusual about a trio of bookings awarded to the visitors.
The champions had carefully nullified the threat of the side who last season proved their closest challengers, and, two goals to the good, appeared simply to be indulging in a spot of time wasting.
The Abdulrahmans – Omar and Khaled – each received a yellow card in injury time, as did Dawoud Sulaiman, the Al Ain goalkeeper. Nothing much to discuss, you would think, as it constitutes common practice at football grounds around the world.
Yet it has since been revealed Al Ain requested their players pick up a caution as, having collected two bookings in earlier matches, each were one card away from automatic suspension.
By finding themselves in the notebook of Mohammed Abdulkarim Al Zarouni, the referee at Al Maktoum Stadium that night, all three Emiratis will sit out tomorrow night's President's Cup match against Fujairah.
That is, miss what should be a relatively routine encounter with a Division One side, and be free for selection against Al Ahli, the third-place team in the UAE top flight, when the league resumes on January 21.
Etisalat Cup matches, of which Al Ain have three between their Fujairah and Ahli assignments, are not affected.
Reports surfaced this week that Mohammed Obaid Helal Al Dhaheri, the club's director, had ordered his players to be deliberately cautioned; Al Dhaheri was even quoted as defending the instruction as "normal".
What may be considered an exercise in football ordinary, the sport's governing bodies tend to take a rather dimmer view.
In 2010, Jose Mourinho and four of his players were reprimanded for "unsporting conduct" during Real Madrid's penultimate Champions League group game against Ajax. Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos were given second yellow cards for time wasting and promptly sent off, meaning both could not be included in the final match with Auxerre. The threat of suspension being transported to the knockout stages, therefore, was eradicated.
Uefa's Control and Disciplinary Body responded with fines for the players involved and for the club, while Mourinho initially received a two-game ban and a monetary penalty, too.
Players, though, have long dabbled in this dark art. In 2009, Lucas Neill, now with Al Wasl, admitted to purposely obtaining a yellow card while playing for Australia so as to get an immediate ban and be available for the start of the World Cup the following summer.
A year earlier, Cris and Juninho Pernambucano, the Lyon pair, were fined by Uefa for similar breaches of conduct. And in 2004, David Beckham conceded he had intentionally got cautioned in England's qualifier with Wales, prompting Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, to condemn it as "disappointing, because it is not the behaviour that befits an ambassador of football and fair play".
Disregard Blatter's subsequently questionable take on "fair play", and it is clear the authorities believe the players have not exactly acted in an altogether sporting manner.
However, the Pro League, unavailable for comment when approached on the issue, needs to decide if the deliberate attainment of a booking represents the breaking of any rule. The FA, under whose jurisdiction lays the President's Cup, should be heavily involved in any discussion.
Such practice, and it is not unique to Al Ain, jeopardises the integrity of the league, while it also somewhat devalues the President's Cup and, in this case, could be construed as belittling Fujairah.
The act, which appeared so trivial in those final stages at Nasr, should have grander consequences.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
