My Favourite Football Team…whoops

I’ve long believed that football, the beautiful game, has the power to heal cultural differences, creating understanding and comradeship amongst avid followers across the world. No matter what your language, religion, gender, race or nationality, the moment two or more people begin to debate their love/hate relationships with Manchester United or the intricacies of the offside law, barriers come down and friendships are formed.

Or so I thought.

In the Arab world, nothing damages the male ego more than loss of respect. That moment when you, and everyone around you, realizes you’ve dropped a clanger. At work, at home, down the mosque – it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’ve done – mistakes are the fastest route to losing face.

Take a recent incident in Doha – the moment when it dawned on a guy who engaged me in a friendly football debate that he was on dodgy ground. Attempting to display an in-depth footie knowledge he didn’t possess, my acquaintance began our brief conversation by claiming his love of football, in particular English football. Not wanting to appear discourteous, I asked him the name of his favorite English football team. Suddenly a look of panic appeared on his bearded face. You see, by and large Arabs don’t react well when they’re put on the spot. Attempting to extricate himself from his predicament, my friend frantically searched his (small) football brain for something to demonstrate his avowed footie knowledge, before blurting out ‘Beckham…Beckham United.” Oh well, back to the camel racing.

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