Obsession with World Cup allows Omanis to forget domestic football woes

By Emad Blake in Muscat
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-07-08

[MOHAMMED MAJOUB/Al-Shorfa] Omani and Arab youth watch the World Cup at a café in Muscat.

Although the Omani team did not qualify for the World Cup, Omanis are eagerly following the matches and spend long hours debating who will win the Cup.

Omanis love football immensely, practicing the sport in the afternoon on grassy areas in cities and towns.

Before the World Cup became the main focus of sport's fans, Omanis were obsessed with the European Leagues, especially in Italy, England and Spain. The Spanish Barcelona team is among the most famous, and locals love to wear the team's jersey.

Omanis gather nightly at cafés throughout Muscat, whether the World Cup is on or not. Customers are drawn to the big screens inside cafés to watch local and international football matches throughout the year.

Rising interest in the World Cup, however, has led to a marked increase in the number of café customers, contributing to greater sales of food and shisha.

Local youth radio stations Hala and Shabab Wisal carry news of the Cup between Arab and foreign songs. Programmes end the night with competitions offering prizes to listeners who pick the winner of the midnight match, Muscat time. Telecommunication companies in particular have tried to out-do each other, offering prizes such as modems for high-speed Internet access.

In newspapers, auto companies have vied with each other, with some offering the prize of traveling to attend Cup matches at the stadium.

Early in the tournament, enthusiasm was high. Locals paraded in processions of cars after their favourite team won. Once Brazil and then Argentina were eliminated, some of the fervour died down. But this did not end Omani citizens' obsession with the Cup.

Omani Salam Riyami, who was disappointed Argentina did not win, said, "I'm not interested in who will win after that. But I will continue to follow the event."

Nasser Darwish, a sports journalist, said he will not root for anyone other than the Omani team, making an angry reference to his beloved team bowing out of the tournament. He rooted for Brazil, "the Magic Team", as many call it.

The World Cup came at a time when the local soccer federation is in financial difficulty, which Darwish attributes not to limited resources, but rather to the absence of competent management.

"The state showered the federation with lots of money, but [its] use is not sound," he said.

But the federation's crisis does not concern the public now, as they will next be paying attention to the Gulf Cup competition or the Asian competitions of the Omani team.

In a country such as Oman, where there are communities from various countries, young Arabs, Omanis and Asians sit in cafés as one people. At night, Omanis take off their traditional dress consisting of a turban and robes—considered mandatory during the official working hours—in order to cheer on teams with enthusiasm.

Fawzi Younis Hadid, a Tunisian and an imam at a mosque, said, "Soccer can unite people. It has become a global phenomenon that can do what no politician can. Despite the difference between fans, soccer losses are less than any war going on in a smaller part of the world."

Fawzi said with a big smile, "It's crazy, but it's a beloved crazy in any case."

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