Football in UAE
I
interviewed my uncle; his name is Jaseim Abdulla; he's 50 years and he is married
and he have six children. He is from Abu Dhabi and he works in the Media
authority in the administration department.
Q.1 What is your favorite sport?
His favorite
sport is foot ball and he enjoys playing football.
Q .2 When do you start playing football? and why did you chose football
He started
playing foot ball in the early 70's in the last century when he was 10 years
old. Football was something new in Abu Dhabi and it was around in 1971. Also he
said that he remembers he was playing football on the beach in the corniche of
Abu Dhabi with his cousin and friends and also he said that it was fun and the
best thing he is doing that he is still playing football till now, but not
regularly, twice every month.
Q .3 Do you watch football; if yes what team league do you support ?
Q .3 Do you watch football; if yes what team league do you support ?
His
answer was yes, he watches both local
and international football. In local league he supports the national team and Al Wahda team. He mention about the best
moment of our national team when we got through to the World Cup in 1990. In
fact, the company he works for, are preparing a documentary about the World Cup
of the national team and their qualification in 1990 in Italy. He watches all
the European leagues and he supports two teams, one of them is Barcelona and
the other team is Manchester City, England.
Q.4 At this age do you still playing football
He said
that he is reaching the age where he will have to stop, but he is still playing
like he said before. He said that he is playing with his friend with the same
age just for enjoying and having fun and try to show them his skills because if
he play with younger people he will not enjoy and they will not enjoy also.
Also sometimes he plays with his sons.
Q.5 From the time the UAE football association was found until 2015 do you see any development?
He says
that there is a lot of development in our national team especially in those last
5 years with our national team getting better and developing very quickly and
he sees a bright future for our national team for the new generation. Also he
believes that our leadership is taking care of our national team and going along
the right path.
Q.6 What advice do you give for next generation?
He thinks
our next generation should always focus on their study and give time for what
they love to do. Also they should maintain a balance between those two because
studying is very important. They should always study and be educated. "You
can be educated and play football at the same time". Second, he noticed
that we have a lot of children playing in the street because it is a wrong
place to play foot ball and he hopes it will change in time and the next generation of kids will start using the football fields and they
are all around Abu Dhabi and they have to use them. For example Zayed Sport City
is one of the beautiful stadiums with a lot of football facilities that can be
used. He hopes that one day they will stop using the parking lots to avoid
injury and to get the best out of their football skills.
Analysis:
Sport is an amazing physical exercise for
everyone’s body and health; it improves muscles and gives a good fitness.
In
the past, everyone practiced sports, because some sports were like a hobby for
them, such as falconry, traditional boat-racing, equestrian sports, dhow racing, camel racing
and other sports. For example, “Falconry became a cultural symbol of the region
and the UAE's national emblem” (Arab Falconry, 2014); this means that
falconry became as something traditional in the UAE.
On
the other hand, some sports were in the past and are still continuing with
everyone, children and old people, men and women. For example, football; football
became a matter of the most important issues that gained sports community
attention at all levels due to the nature of this issue and its various
dimensions” (Al-Sherif, 2010), so nowadays we can
say that football is the most important sport in the world.
“Dubai
will never settle for anything less than first place” (Maktoum,
2006),
the UAE tried to be in the first place in every thing, so they built clubs, New
sporting councils and they try to import the best coaches from all over the
world to teach the national team and they try to do other specific things to
develop the sports. In addition, there are lots of new sports such as; sky
diving and surfing.
In
conclusion, the United Arab Emirates should improve the local sport skills
because this will have a good effect to attracts tourists “Sports play an
increasingly important role in the UAE’s efforts to develop tourism” (Sports, 2011).
Referencing
Al-Sherif,
A. S. (2010). Evaluate Some Success Factors of Applying the Professionalism
in Football in the UAE. World Journal of Sport Sciences .
Arab Falconry. (2014). Retrieved
from Your AbuDhabi Guide: http://www.yourabudhabiguide.com/arab-falconry.html
Maktoum, M. b.
(2006). My Vision. Dubai.
Sports. (2011). Retrieved
from UAE Interact:
https://www.uaeinteract.com/uaeint_misc/pdf_2008/English_2008/eyb10.pdf
