An unprecedented winter World Cup gracing the Middle East for the first time was always going to be a leap into uncharted territory.
Well before a football was even kicked in Doha, there were concerns that this might not even feel like a World Cup at all.
Of course there would be state-of-the-art stadiums, a plethora of superstar players and no shortage of on-pitch drama.
But what about the fans? Would the intrepid travellers who provide the vibrant colour and atmosphere of any international tournament turn up in large numbers and make this a sporting spectacle to remember?
My experience on the ground was that fans were genuinely having a good time and excited to be at a tournament brought to a new part of the world.
Politics aside, whenever I got chatting to anyone in a team shirt, the overall sentiment was the same.
“Yeah it’s all right, actually, had no problems so far.”
Perhaps people were expecting the police presence to be much higher than it was, providing an air of tension and intimidation, but there really was nothing like that.
Of course there was security going into stadiums and fan zones, and maybe it could have been handled a little smoother, but I couldn’t see it being a flawless system in many countries.
While sitting in the fan village I got talking to a few people staying in the portacabins, and again it was the organisation that caused some frustration, not the local laws or customs.
Sure, many will have been unhappy with the dry nature of the camp, but it was no great surprise.
This may be a first World Cup in the Middle East, but fans were not too fussed about the geography. They were here for the football.
Fans bring Doha to life
Showpiece events such as the World Cup or the Olympics see people of all backgrounds and nationalities brought together by a love of sport.
It was no different in Qatar — and there was no shortage of quirky characters on display.
Outside Lusail Stadium, one woman from Argentina, draped in her national flag and clutching a replica trophy, told me how she had travelled alone to the tournament, and that her family had been saving up for five years to allow her to make the trip.
At a fan village, a red-haired man in a Boston cap named Pablo, who was born in Mexico and spoke fluent Spanish, told me about how he couldn’t afford to save much but what he did had gone towards funding this trip.
On the subject of Spanish speakers, there were thousands of them, many without good English. If I were to have personally given organisers any advice, it would have been to cater to the fans of six teams all of which speak Spanish as a first language. It was a comment made to me by more than one South American fan in the few days I was there.
Elsewhere on a bus some Welsh fans from Wrexham shrugged their shoulders when asked if they’d had any problems so far, and a couple of Canadians waiting outside a fan festival suggested more water vendors would probably have been a good idea.
But the odd moan and groan was not a sign of deeper disgruntlement.
On song on the metro
The activity on the metro at night was something Doha will likely never see again. Fans banging drums and chanting national songs on the trains, audible from the platform for a few seconds when the doors opened, seemed to lift the spirits of everyone.
Only on that first sleepy Sunday when I boarded a train with rowdy Ecuadorians did an attendant ask if I wanted to move to another carriage. From the second day onwards it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Even the men working on the platform managing crowd flow were amazed at what they were seeing. One decked out in a high-vis vest told me the scenes were “incredible” as he directed passengers towards the right exit.
Outside shopping malls and on streets, international fans came together to sing and dance.
My favourite moment was a casual passing fist bump between a Japan and a Germany fan, both decked out in team colours, in a busy nearby mall after Japan's shock win. This was the beautiful game shown in its best light.
A low point was definitely sitting on the metro during a game thanks to the lack of seating outside the stadium or in the metro station.
The whole experience was infectious and, although I had never been to a World Cup before, I enjoyed every exhausting moment of my visit.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Who is Tim-Berners Lee?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Profile
Company name: Marefa Digital
Based: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
Number of employees: seven
Sector: e-learning
Funding stage: Pre-seed funding of Dh1.5m in 2017 and an initial seed round of Dh2m in 2019
Investors: Friends and family
More from UAE Human Development Report:
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
