Sporting UAE
Sporting UAE
by Carleton Cole
by Carleton Cole
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has quickly established itself as the sporting capital of the Middle East. The success of the recently completed Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is just another indication it is ready for prime time sports. Next up: Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with 16 of the best Sevens international teams in the world back to thrill the crowds as they aim to get the 2009/2010 IRB Sevens World Series off to the best possible start.
The Dubai Sevens has grown into a magical event that not only attracts fans from around the globe but offers some of the best action – both on and off the pitch - anywhere on the planet. Away from the white-hot atmosphere of the international matches, competitions featuring International Invitation, Gulf, Local Social, Ladies, Veterans, and Youth teams will see all six pitches in almost constant use over three compelling days from December 3-5.
Central to everything will be the main pitch which is transformed into the ultimate sporting arena for the tournament with the free-standing built around a permanent 5,000 seat grandstand set to accommodate the world's most passionate rugby fans. With fans flying in from all corners of the globe for the event, a jam-packed rugby village providing top-notch entertainment and the best Sevens action, you have a fabulous mix of sport and entertainment that will rock Dubai like never before.
And to complete the rugby extravaganza, the hugely popular 'Rugby Rock' concert will be held on the final night of the event to bring to a close the region's biggest party and sporting spectacle.
These two great sporting events show how far the UAE has come in the international sports arena. Two great nation-shaping forces rise above all others in terms of the effects on the land that was destined to become the UAE: the advent of Islam there in the 630s AD and the discovery of oil in 1966.
Liberal by local standards and conservative by global mores, the UAE is a fascinating place of contrasts, where old is stunningly old (archaeological sites from the Late Stone Age some 7,000 years ago) and new is breathtakingly new (canyons of steel and glass thanks to the reimagining of Dubai’s sky scraping skyline with hotels, offices and glitzy shopping malls). Just a few decades ago the UAE was one of the sleepiest backwaters in what was a very sleepy part of the world, where the regional economy was based on not much more than fishing and pearling.
The UAE was created in 1971 by the union of seven sheikhdoms in the middle of the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula on shore of the Persian Gulf, the most famous of which was to be Dubai, a sparkling city that today is synonymous with modernity. The city is home to the soaring Al-Arab Sailboat Hotel, which was built to resemble its namesake. Even more ambitious is the Palm Islands, a major commercial and residential mass of buildings being built on artificial islands mimicking what from a bird’s eye view will look like a giant palm tree.
Also dramatic is Dubai’s ocean of megamalls, such as the new Dubai Mall, the world’s largest (naturally—this is Dubai!). Mercifully, these modern-day oases are air-conditioned, as this is one the world’s hottest and driest areas.
Pleasure seekers here also will enjoy Dubai emirate’s Wild Wadi Water Park, which boasts that its Jumeirah Sceirah slide is the steepest and fastest slide outside North America.
If you want to sample what the UAE’s charmingly rustic way of life was like before oil-boom days, head for of Ajman, the smallest and poorest of the emirates, but a spot that’s by far one of the richest areas for appreciating the country’s traditions. The emirate boasts beautiful beaches sprinkled with palm trees. The nearby fishing port of Umm al-Quwain in the emirate of the same name also provides a welcome window into the past.
Then there’s Hatta, a town plus a heritage village of the same name, in the gorgeous Hatta Mountains in northern Dubai emirate. It’s at a blessedly higher elevation than most of the country, a fact not lost on the locals who flock here during summer. Getting there is at least half the fun—the road from Dubai city offers opportunities to ogle camels, pink sand dunes and the odd oasis.
Not to be outdone, Fujairah emirate presents everything from bull wrestling to mangrove forest explorations and bird watching, as well as the spectacular gorges of the Musandam Peninsula.
Other out-of-malls adventures that make themselves accessible to travellers are falconry, camel racing, horseracing and of course sand-skiing.
HotelTravel.com offers easily bookable hotel rooms through much the Arabian Peninsula, including the UAE’s Crowne Plaza Hotel Dubai Festival City Crowne in Dubai, Sheraton Khalidiya Hotel in Abu Dhabi, and Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort in Fujairah.
With oil not being estimated to run out in the UAE until a century more or so, you can expect the country’s skyscrapers to keep rocketing and for the good times to keep gushing along as well. No matter if you’re up for dramatic modernity and shops, timeless culture and mosques, or a special place where the past and present ingeniously meet and mix, the United Arab Emirates, has it all.
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