Sour Grapes.....

The sour losing dramatis personae that included the USA, Australia and their overconfident entourage of media, speculators and sports fans, are definitely having a laugh at the dismal portrayal of the “football” scene here during the ASIAN CUP 2011. They thought they had the World Cup it in the bag, (Qatar who? what? No way it’s ours!)Do not get me wrong here, I am more oriented to the fact that they would indeed provide a more credible hosting stage, but that is old news! Little did they know and including us that indeed it does not mean that if you are an immense country with almost bountiful resources that are not restricted to just money, that you will be granted hosting rights, but not so because this is the complexity of politics and oh yes a theory that I would like to call “sugar-coating the reality”. Catchy words of the like, “Middle East world cup”, “Center of the World”, “Prime Time Heaven” etc:

Yes, I agree that football by far here is the most preferred subject of discussion and also viewership, but does that mean it is in tandem with a rich and strong “football culture”? Does the fact that being blessed with world class sports facilities and even deeper pockets per capita entitle the honor of the world football organization to an almost NOW synthetic and soul-less fervor limited to home and café viewing crowds? Qatar’s history in football WAS indeed strong not too long ago, but now? I would like to quote what a game commentator on AlKass had said on the match with China when he said “…..and now here he comes, ooooh that was a strong tackle with Lawrence ..oops I mean Anas Mubarak…!”

This is a clear and depressing and heartbreaking depiction to the almost contractual nature of almost EVERYTHING here. Nothing is “natural” here! For crying out sake even the people bearing the national colors have to be bought and “contracted” with! Weight lifters, football players, sprinters, long distance runners, etc: I believe there are people who deserve that type of recognition even though the notion of being a second class citizen is almost certain.

Your “football passion” has to be so bad that even you would have a “rival” country (Iranian Coach) actually advising and warning you that indeed the world is watching so yeah get your act together and get some people to watch your games. Um no thanks we won’t because simply we don’t care and we are too lazy!

In other countries organizing committees are trying ways to provide maximum benefit for the maximum people, while here it’s getting the maximum crowd! Mind you the crowd has to be and ONLY INCLUDE “Families”! Hmmm crowds of families*although easily attainable, but families that are preferred are the ones that they would find in their dictionary!

* (Definition of “FAMILY”:- Any group of people unless they are NOT a group of south Asian or African males. “Families” SHOULD be well dressed AND SHOULD have at least one of any members either a locally dressed male or a western individual. Women groups or groups that include at least one female member of any nationality are taken as “family”.)

For those of you newbie’s and “wanna-be” football fans reveling in the glory of the world cup win, here’s a bit of insider info before you bash on me about the fact that the past Qatar matches have been sell-outs in the Asian Cup.

There are various organizations that are employed in bringing in fans and people to stadiums and in due course provide “incentives” for those who do make it. No, they don’t bribe them with money to come and see the games, but they have their ways! Each sports club has its own fan supporter’s base that is linked to the club. These clubs are then in turn contacted and “rewarded” in order to bring their fans. Many and many calls later, each club would have a substantial amount of “fans” that would show up for these games. Now of course I have no idea what these “incentives” are. Also to mention the various voluntary organizations who deploy their “armies” of volunteers not just for the organizing committee but for also creating this sort of giving a local flavor to the “pseudo-camera friendly spectator atmosphere”! Schools both public and private are contacted for a slice of these “incentives”. My niece got a brand new shiny mobile phone when the Asian games were done 4 years ago, to which she proudly quipped she gathered it by attending the various games through the school. She told me that every time she passed the entrance an official would pass her an envelope with some amount of money after counting the number of students and the head teacher producing their school ID’s! Desperate!

Not to mention the “contracts” that is awarded to companies by bringing their labor force for different games. I kind of liked the style of the coordinator of the last Emir Cup. Towards the last games of the quarter-final, there were two teams namely “Um-salaal” and “Ahli” that were playing together. I happen to have been near the Qatar sports club stadium for the fact that I was invited to a café nearby. So I and my friend decided to take a look at the match. On the practice pitches side we saw a huge number of busses the ones used to haul laborers to their work sites being parked all around. And as we went inside the stadium my thoughts were right! There were rows and rows of these poor laborers some of them still in their work gear, “supporting” teams that they don’t know, care or want to know about! A large number of them were even given “thobes” and Arabic head-gear “ghutras” to make it look like from far that they were genuine supporters, as long as the camera-men do not zoom towards them!

I mean come on I am not a globe trotter but I have not seen or heard anything like this anywhere else! I might write and bewail about it all, and it would fall on deaf years. I might even deviate from it so I might as well stop right here for you all to digest and comment on what I have just said.

World Cup Woes!

On the light of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup Football or for those of you who call it soccer.... i just thought i would let out what i really felt like..............

It's a funny thing that some people in and around Qatar...as in neighbouring countries and also expats and citizens in the country... are such blind ardent supporters of the World Cup bid without weighing in the cons and pros!! Those sweet words and songs abt them saying that hosting a WORLD CUP is a much deserved RIGHT and an attainable ABILITY filled my ears and my threshold of patience!!! This does not mean that I am against the country for God knows it that I love it and I solemnly from the bottom of my heart wish the country excels and develops to become a more developed and advanced nation .

The reasons both pros and cons, (I will not bore you out!) have already been discussed many a time and they are copious in a bazillion forums, blogs, websites and even channels. Be it in logistics or weather conditions or even the scale and strain on the economy. I am only pointing out to only ONE ISSUE! And I am not the one to judge whether the bid should go or not go, or if it is right or not! Through this, I will try to be as objective as possible! I am not a professional analyst in any discipline, yet from the vantage point of the common man it is not hard to fathom the task at hand. Positive attitude and optimism alone doesn’t deliver but it is careful and sure steps and watching over others mistakes and your seniors’ advice that might give you that wanted boost in which any individual would want to achieve in order to succeed.

I will try here to converse about a much ignored and lightly mentioned aspect about the ability to host the Football WORLD CUP vis-à-vis the attitude of the people towards it. I am pleased to mention that I am honored with actually befriending and making acquaintances with some of the “people”. But then there is that, umm what’s the word, yes…. “Bunch” who are in some way, preoccupied in their heaven of “Air-Headedness” and “Virtual Superiority” sadly the later one is almost made real!

There had been chaos and irregularity problems in various exhibition matches that lead up to the vote and trust  me they were anything but fun and cake walk....I had not been to some of these matches for instance the Brazil versus Argentina match. It is natural to expect such a scenario with the world’s two biggest national teams playing. And again I am not surprised! I am fully aware of what goes on and the fiasco of "crowd management" techniques that is usually employed by the authorities on the assumption that a “certain type of people” are uneducated and uncivilized and not of a “certain type of people”, thereby they constitute a lesser class of people. Funny it is that those same type of people that are the ones who have a pivotal role in the country. SADLY I fall into that category of “certain type of people” and as such I had to be assumed that I could be prodded like cattle and talked to quite rudely by the “men in charge”. The following is an account of a situation that I have faced not too long ago.

It was the final of the Emir Cup and anticipating a large crowd I had already bought my tickets in one of the malls and went early to the stadium. I went to the gate nearest to my seat after struggling for about 2 hours to find a parking and also not to mention getting into a heated argument with a “guy” in a huge SUV (NOTE He was behind me!) about the fact he first “eye-balled” the vacant parking spot before me even though I was before him (and yes I won the argument!). I was welcomed by a large gathering of people on the premises gate. And of course the riot horse that nearly ran down my friend! I joined the crowd in the hope that it was a queue waiting for the check-in. I noticed the line or rather the cluster of people was not getting any smaller on the contrary it was actually getting bigger....I went to the front of the line (of course by politely asking the people around me if they could excuse me!) and spoke to the one in charge of the gate. I asked him in English what the problem was and all he could respond me back in his limited English words was "Wait ya rafiiki!", I went back to my position and waited maybe thinking this was some kind of a small setback, and then all of a sudden I see this "bunch of guys" cutting the line, landing a few kisses to the cheeks of the one in charge and then with all ease let them in, I ignored and then moments later the scene was repeated with another "bunch of guys". I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to the front again and asked what that was that all about to the man in charge, when he responded me in the same response I had spoken to him in Arabic and let him have a piece of my mind (of course I wasn’t being offensive and even spoke softly without shouting at him!) and I asked if I could be provided with a reason as to why I am being held back for no reason. I believe because of my almost perfect Qatari accent I and my friend were let in, and I felt sad for those who were standing with me and wouldn’t able to converse in Arabic or just wait for an opportunity to enter.

Things got worse inside, a certain “bunch of guys” who had been sitting above us were spitting sunflower seeds and placing their feet on our seats. I politely asked them if they could remove their “lovely and honorable” feet off the seats so I and my friend could sit. But because we were of a certain “color” type we were hurled with insults and even bad mouthed with several “beautiful” phrases and terms thinking we never understood what they were saying. I spoke to the elder one of these “Guys” and told him to have a little dignity and respect and summoned the event police present in the stand. His reaction was almost priceless when he told me with the utmost ease to look for another seat!

I am fully aware of the apparent “special treatment” and also the societal attitude of the environs here, and I am sorry to say, that is never conducive for a multi-cultural setup that is the WORLD CUP! Yes, a meaningful debater might add by saying that, there are good and bad people everywhere, but it is not about good or bad, it’s about pushing your comfort zone in order to accommodate and compromise the exceptional hospitality norms here in the beautiful Middle Eastern culture. Mind you my topic ONLY elaborated on the attitudes and perception that is prevalent here and that many like me and others have to endure. I believe and know that it takes a lot of hard work in order to be honored with hosting such events, but despondently it seems like here the case is that it should encompass a divine miracle for the extravaganza that is the WORLD CUP to be executed smoothly here!

Howdy!

hey world....!!  i just wanna say...thanks for stopping by my blog..... as u can guess from the title i am guy who is in Doha...yup the capital of tiny lil Qatar....in the middle east.....i know i am a bit late on starting this blog...but better late than never......some time ago a friend of mine suggested me the idea of actually starting a blog...i don't know whether he was being politically correct of calling a blabber mouth ...but i took the idea into consideration and due to delays in my life on various personal issues ...i am starting it now.....through this blog i shall try my best to portray of whats going on here in the Qatar and of coarse about my experiences on all aspects as a whole....

of coarse guys, i mean if we just get outta school we don't hit the 120 mph mark on the highway....so i might have baby steps in the beginning and i am always open for any criticisms and also suggestions.... i hope u enjoy in what i will portray through this blog.....

peace out to y'all!!