Sporty Pants

The other night, one of the teachers mentioned that there was a free soccer game going on in Abu Dhabi.  It was Syria Aleppo vs. Al Jazira Club (Abu Dhabi’s team).  We were all very excited about this and decided to check it out.  The Al Jazira Club stadium was little closer than we thought, so we got there about 45 minutes early (like a good teacher should, wink, wink).  Upon entering the stadium, we noticed that we were the only people there, with the exception of the players warming up on the field.  It was a beautiful stadium.  You could tell that it was new, sparkling, waiting to be shown and, like so many places in Abu Dhabi, had the Sheik’s portrait up on both sides of the stadium walls.

Needless to say we stayed and watched the players warm up, which was a fun experience, and being that no one had kicked us out yet, we enjoyed the stillness of the stadium.  As people starting trickling in (and it was a trickle), the music started and the players began to retreat into the players box.  A local man came out and said a few words, everyone cheered (including the six of us) and the games began.  As I mentioned, the two teams playing were the Syrian Aleppo team and the local soccer team, Al Jazira (no, not named after the Middle Eastern TV station). While the game was going on, I looked around the stadium to people watch and quickly took notice of the fans in the stands.  Well, maybe I should rephrase that and say, I quickly took notice of the men in the stands.  Up until about the last 20 minutes of the game, we were not only the only ‘Western looking’ people in the entire stadium, but I, and the three girls I was with, were the only women in the stadium.  That was kind of interesting.  We definitely got the looks, especially from a few of the players (which we didn’t mind too much – hee hee).

It was a fun evening, the stadium was beautiful and one of the girls even managed to sneak a couple shots in of a few of the cute players.  Though one of them caught us and ending up posing for the pictures (subtlety); so I guess it can’t be considered ‘sneaking’.  Whenever a goal was made, they would stand up and cheer, chant Arabic phrases (I think) and sing.  It was neat seeing this take place.  It was so very different from back home.  There was no one chucking snowballs at Santa, painting their chests, getting drunk and onry, etc.  On the other hand though, I laughed a little too loud at a friend’s joke and got a few stares (damn women and their giggling).  Half way through the game a nice Syrian gentleman (or at least he was rooting for the Syrian team) who was sitting in front of us even brought us ladies some water.  Oh, and I will not bore you with the ‘sticky’ details, but yes, it was freakin’ hot.  Even at 10pm in the evening.  I mean, really?  I am bringing a towel next time I go!