Al-Rayyan, Qatar – A group of friends and family gather daily at the majlis in a building within walking distance of their home in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha.
It is a tradition that has been going on for many years and is part of everyday life in Qatar. Majlis is an area within a house or a separate building used for all kinds of gatherings, from everyday relaxation to more important events.
But now, with World Cup in townit took on a different theme: a football watching party.
The mostly middle-aged and older attendees at the majlis were there to watch Sunday opening match of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar v Ecuador.
In Qatar, they have been waiting for this moment for years. Across the country, in grand parties like these, the people of Qatar have adjusted to see themselves on the world stage.
Not everyone was here for the game.
“Honestly, I don’t like football,” said Nasser Al Thani, who is here most days. “They’re all here for the game, but I’m here for the opening ceremony.”
The Opening ceremony, with a display of Qatari history, brought the guests back to their childhood. One moment in particular reminded them of when a video showed former Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani playing football in the desert, which guests estimated was in the early 1970s.
“We used to play in the sand like this,” said Al Thani. “Barefoot, toes bleeding. When I see these old pictures, it reminds me of the old days. People were simpler and kinder back then.”
Al Thani and other guests reminisce about trips to the desert in their youth.
One of them, Mubarak al-Naeemi, played for Qatari teams Al-Rayyan and Al-Gharafa in the 1980s. He said that one of his teammates at the time was Hassan Afif, his father. current star of the Qatar team, Akram Afif.
“I will play on the left wing; I’m good, but Hassan can give the ball to anyone, no matter where they are on the field,” al-Naeemi told Al Jazeera.
Distracted from the game
Qatar conceded an early goal, setting up the game.
So instead of wasting time paying too much attention to Qatar’s poor performance, the powerful guests turned to think about the changes they’ve seen over the past 20 years in Qatar, especially since since the World Cup was awarded to the Gulf nation in 2010.
Everyone knows that Doha has changed rapidly since then. But listening to the guests here, who have witnessed the change, makes it clear how radical the difference is.
“Look at these metro stations,” said one of the guests, Sultan Johar. “Four floors underground. Surprised. We won the World Cup, but even if we didn’t, these changes would be enough. As you get off at each stop, you see something new.”
Al Thani points out that the change has gone beyond infrastructure and spread to people.
“To be honest, we didn’t have a strong sense of nationalism or national identity before,” Al Thani said. “The World Cup, this project, helped build this. Now you even hear other Arabs who grew up here, they speak with a Qatari accent. They have started to feel proud to live in Qatar.”
But that doesn’t mean the team welcomes all the changes.
They recall that their childhood and adolescence Qatar were less developed, but people were more hardworking and were able to survive on their own.
And not only that, the weather was cooler, rainfall was still rare but more abundant than it is today, they said.
Now, as many World Cup guests have discovered, temperatures are warmer than before.
“It’s climate change and it makes us worry about the future,” says Johar. “We never understood things like conservation or protecting the environment. Now we make trips to the desert and pick up trash. We get it now but look at the trees. They have disappeared in some areas due to lack of rain. As for the animals we used to hunt, now you have to go deep into the desert to find them.”
On television, Qatar conceded a second goal and then showed little in the second half, the match ending 2-0 in favor of Ecuador.
Most of the guests at the majlis had left long before the game was over, and jokes were put on everyone’s phones, mourning the loss.
At the end of the day, the outcome is not so important to the guests here, but the symbolism of such an important event coming to their doorstep. And yet, once this tournament is over, the big competition will continue, and these friends will still gather, wondering how they will see their country change in the years to come.
