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Outlook: The Omani football nerd who went from player to pundit

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Rumaitha Al Busaidi

03/08/2021 GMT

The Omani football nerd who went from player to pundit

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Omani football nerd who went from player to pundit

How Rumaitha Al Busaidi became the first female football commentator in the Arab world

Rumaitha Al Busaidi has commentated on international football for over ten years but when she was younger she had to lie about playing football because her family didn't approve.

Rumaitha Al Busaidi is credited with being the first female football analyst in the Arab world, but she started as a footballer in the first national women's team of Oman. When their funding was cut, the team refused to give up and took to the radio where Rumaitha confronted callers who told her women didn't have a place in football. Determined to prove them wrong, she turned that experience into a career as a commentator and after a bet with her grandfather Rumaitha's persistence even led her to trek across the South Pole.

Award-winning British actor Timothy Spall is well-known for his roles as Wormtail in the Harry Potter films and as Winston Churchill in The King's Speech but he's recently turned his hand to painting. It was only after playing two famous artists on the big screen - William Turner and LS Lowry - that Timothy realised his childhood dream of becoming a painter. He spoke to Outlook's Anna Bailey at his solo exhibition at the Pontone Gallery in London.

Picture: Rumaitha Al Busaidi
Credit: Courtesy of Rumaitha Al Busaidi

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