Last night I was able to attend the FINALS game of the U-17
FIFA World Cup in Abu Dhabi. What an experience! Those of you back home must
have thought that the tickets would have been ridiculously costly. I am sure
that they would have been. Let this be another amazing thing to bring back to
you about the cultural heritage here. The President wanted to bring football to
the masses, especially football from the world stage. Tickets to all games…were
free. Getting seats was a bit of a free for all, but I wouldn’t have changed it
for the world. This was my first live football match. What a time to check one
out!
There was a group of 4 of us. This was quite the eclectic
group. 3 Canadians and a Brit…and I was the only white girl…of our group and of
our entire half of the stadium. There may have been a few white fans on the
other side there to support Denmark in the ceremony at the end for their 3rd
place win, but I may have been mistaken. To be able to talk to the person next
to you was almost impossible. I looked around and texted “I feel so white!” to
my friend next to me. “It’s ok he said, I think it’s time you’ve become an “honorary
brown girl”. Ah, the racist jokes and puns. If only Russell Peters could be
around us some days!
The roars of the crowd were deafening at times. We weren’t
able to sit with the four of us together, but we found 2 sets of 2. Despite the
craziness, the crowd would happily move over for you if there was room in the
row. Our seats were reserved on the other side, but security was tight into
where they were letting people go no matter what your ticket was saying, so we
were just happy to sit at that point. I was surprised on the security. There
were personnel at every stairway and entrance to each section, and military were
walking around as well. Military here aren’t in a green camouflage, but blue.
Kinda neat. I was surprised, and the group was talking about this later on…it
was good that security was so tight. After all, I am sure Abu Dhabi wanted to
impress FIFA to have the U-17 back again.
Abu Dhabi is the perfect set up for professional tournaments
like this. I have seen a number of stadiums around town, but I hadn’t seen
Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium before, and I am sure there are plenty more. With so
many facilities in such a condensed area, scheduling and locations would have
been easy for organizers.
I love the married couple that I was with. They’re from
Scarborough and have actually been placed on my floor. The people you meet here
are simply amazing. We went to a popular place in town to eat afterward. We had
intended on eating at the stadium, but I wasn’t about to leave my coveted seat
once I sat down. We ate at the Lebanese Flower…a nice restaurant with a common
budget. We were able to sit upstairs. Funny when revelations can come to you. I
had been to this restaurant one other time, but not upstairs. The stairs seemed
to glitter with exotic plants from the area leading the way. Anything could be
up these stairs. I know, it was another dining room, but it was another passage
that I had to uncover. Every single corner, room, hallway, staircase, is
somewhere I’ve never been before. There have been more ‘firsts’ for me in the
last month and a half than there has been in 15 years. Everything has been a
sense of adventure…
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