Football: A Global Language

A Bahrain national football team match. Good turn out

Football in Bahrain is just a big a deal as it is in the UK. There are plenty of budding Ronaldos and Rooneys, they're just hiding at the moment.

A national team leaflet

Now I’ve seen a few matches and done a bit of filming. Below is a video mash up of those matches. I must warn you however that the filming is appalling as it was done on a rubbish camera. You get the idea though.

Going to watch a Bahrain national football team match is always great (unless you go when it’s hot… just don’t). The crowd is buzzing and it is one of those experiences that allow you to see the real side of a country, and make you feel a part of it. If, as in my case, you’re a blonde white girl, you do stick out like a sore thumb but luckily no one really cares because they’re too busy singing, eating and screaming. It is still a good idea to either be with some male friends or some Bahrainis though.

Guys and gals enjoy the match together

Now Bahrain is definitely not known for its exquisite football skills and when you’re watching it can be rather frustrating even if you are a football dunce like me. They’re not bad at intercepting and keeping the ball but when it comes to finishing… ARGH! They do manage to pop a few in though, and when they do everyone starts chanting OLE OLE OLE OLE (you can hear this at one point near the end of the video). It’s a pretty catchy tune actually (if you listen very carefully you can hear me singing along).I have to say the best bit has to be the food (shawarmas!) and awesome souvenirs (flags etc).

Friends of mine getting in the spirit

So I watched them play Oman, Thailand, Japan and Australia in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup. They were doing really well and managed to get to the last match in their group, which was against Australia in Aus but they fell at the last hurdle (watched this one on TV unfortunately). If they had have won that match though, they would have gotten into the World Cup and been in the same group as England!

This was the second time they got that close.

Third time lucky guys??







                                                  


This post was written by Katy Gillett. Images and video are her own. You can contact Katy at kgillett@uclan.ac.uk