Al-Rayyan, Qatar – A bunch of family and friends collect day by day on the majlis in a constructing that’s strolling distance from their houses in Al-Rayyan, simply west of Doha.
It’s a practice that has been occurring for years and is a part of day by day life right here in Qatar. A majlis is an space in a home or a separate constructing used for all kinds of gatherings, from day by day lounging to extra vital occasions.
However now, with the World Cup on the town, it has taken on a distinct theme: a soccer watch social gathering.
The largely middle-aged and older attendees on the majlis have been there to look at Sunday’s opening match of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar v Ecuador.
In Qatar, they’ve been ready for this second for years. All throughout the nation, in majlis similar to this, Qataris tuned in to see themselves on the world stage.
Not that everybody was right here for the sport.
“Actually, I’m not into soccer,” mentioned Nasser Al Thani, who’s right here most days. “They’re all right here for the sport, however I’m right here for the opening ceremony.”
The opening ceremony, with its show of Qatari historical past, took the company again to their childhood. One second, specifically, took them again when a video was proven of Qatar’s former Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani taking part in soccer within the desert in what the company estimated to be the early Nineteen Seventies.
“We used to play within the sands like this,” mentioned Al Thani. “Barefoot, toes bleeding. After I see these outdated pictures, it jogs my memory of the outdated days. Individuals have been less complicated and nicer then.”
Al Thani and the opposite company reminisced about their journeys to the desert of their youth.
One in every of them, Mubarak al-Naeemi, used to play for the Qatari soccer groups Al-Rayyan and Al-Gharafa within the Nineteen Eighties. He mentioned that considered one of his teammates on the time was Hassan Afif, the daddy of the present star of the Qatari group, Akram Afif.
“I’d play on the left wing; I used to be good, however Hassan might get the ball to anybody, wherever they have been on the sphere,” al-Naeemi instructed Al Jazeera.
Distracted from the sport
Qatar conceded a aim early, setting the sport’s tone.
So, as a substitute of losing their time by paying an excessive amount of consideration to what was a poor efficiency from the Qataris, the majlis company returned to fascinated with the modifications they’ve seen within the final 20 years in Qatar, significantly for the reason that World Cup was awarded to the Gulf nation in 2010.
It’s well-known that Doha has modified quickly since then. However listening to the company right here, who noticed that change, it’s clear how radically various things are.
“Take a look at these metro stations,” mentioned one of many company, Sultan Johar. “4 flooring underground. It’s wonderful. We acquired the World Cup out of it, however even when we hadn’t, these modifications would have been sufficient. If you get off at every cease, you see one thing new.”
Al Thani factors out that the change has gone past the infrastructure and unfold to the folks.
“Let’s be trustworthy, we didn’t have a powerful sense of nationalism or nationwide id earlier than,” mentioned Al Thani. “The World Cup, this mission, has helped construct this. Now you even hear the opposite Arabs who’ve been raised right here, they communicate with a Qatari accent. They’ve began to really feel that delight in dwelling in Qatar.”
However that doesn’t imply that this group welcomes all of the modifications.
They recalled that the Qatar of their childhood and adolescence was much less developed, however folks have been hardier and will survive on their very own.
And never simply that, the climate was cooler, and rainfall was nonetheless uncommon however extra plentiful than in the present day, they mentioned.
Now, as many World Cup company have discovered, the temperatures are hotter than they was.
“It’s local weather change, and it makes us fear concerning the future,” mentioned Johar. “We by no means understood issues like conservation or defending the setting. Now we go on journeys to the desert and decide up the litter. We get it now however have a look at the timber. They’ve disappeared in some areas due to the shortage of rainfall. And the animals we used to hunt, it’s important to go deep into the desert to seek out them now.”
On the tv, Qatar conceded a second after which confirmed little within the second half, with the sport finally ending 2-0 for Ecuador.
A lot of the company on the majlis had left lengthy earlier than the top of the video games, and the jokes have been already rolling into everybody’s telephones, commiserating over the loss.
On the finish of the day, the end result was not too vital for the company right here, however the symbolism of the arrival of such a major occasion to their doorstep was. And but, as soon as this match is over, the majlis will stick with it, and these mates will nonetheless collect, questioning how far more they’ll see their nation change within the years to return.