By Benjamin Conkey
May 1st 2009 @ 1:49am
United Arab Emirates is the future hub of world sports
England cricket team holds practice in Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. AP Photo/Carl Abrams
The United Arab Emirates is on the verge of becoming the world’s most powerful sporting hub. If Australia doesn’t get the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022, we may well be fighting against the UAE into the future. And I don’t like our chances.
While our country is struggling with global downturn, the UAE is spending up big on infrastructure.
As was mentioned in the cricket coverage the other night, the amount of cranes around Abu Dhabi and Dubai is just phenomonal. Sporting facilities are going up left, right and centre. Already the country has the facilities to host world-class sporting events such as the Dubai Championships in tennis, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Abu Dhabi Championships and the Race to Dubai in golf.
There are also multi-purpose stadiums for cricket and football, and the world’s richest horse race – the Dubai World Cup. And now they’ve secured a Formula One race on a new circuit called Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.
It will host the final race of this year’s championship – a big honour that Australia used to have with the Adelaide Grand Prix.
I think the rest of the world should be worried by the potential of the United Arab Emirates, and other desert countries, who possess oil. While most of the Western world suffers from overcrowding, these countries have almost unlimited space to build.
And they are choosing sport as their modus operandi.
Of course, the climate is an issue for a desert country. But in January and February, temperatures rarely go beyond 28 degrees in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which would be the perfect time to host a big event.
I’m predicting a World Cup to be staged there in the not so distant future. It will probably be a cricket one to start with, but a football World Cup is a real possibility, too.
If not, then the Olympics (let’s take a guess and say the Summer one).
However, Dubai strangely didn’t submit a bid for the 2016 Olympics, despite knowing at the time that they would be building the $4 billion dollar Dubai Sports City, which now houses four sports stadiums and plenty of high-tech apartments (Australia plays Pakistan at the brand new cricket stadium tonight).
Perhaps, the country is just preparing their two major cities for the future.
They probably don’t want to jump the gun too early. But the way they’re going, they’ll be able to make a bid for the 2020 Olympics and already have the facilities built in advance.
How many countries can do that?
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...
(19)
Albert Ross said | May 1st 2009 @ 7:30am | Report comment
My understanding is that athletes of the Hebrew persuasion are unlikely to be welcome there. This might exercise the minds of some.
Tom said | May 1st 2009 @ 8:09am | Report comment
This article is possibly twelve months too late. A lot of construction in that region has been put on hold.
I can’t see FIFA agreeing to a January or February World Cup.
Plus there are serious human rights issues in the UAE. Migrant workers are essentially treated like slaves other there.
True Tah said | May 1st 2009 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Agree with Tom, the way the UAE treats subcontinentals is a real human rights issue – I guess there are two worlds to the UAE, the glimmering constructions, malls and souks the majority of tourists and business visitors get to see, and the squalid conditions the migrant workers work in.
Having said that, China wasn’t renowned for its human rights record and they got awarded the Olympics.
Kurt said | May 1st 2009 @ 8:25am | Report comment
I’m not 100% sure of the UAE’s current position on this, but no country that refuses to accept Israeli athletes should even be allowed to bid for a major international sporting event. Pretty simple really, anything else is craven appeasement. At least Andy Roddick had the guts to stand up for what is right.
Dave said | May 1st 2009 @ 8:46am | Report comment
Football World Cup…not a snowflakes chance in hell (or the desert). January or february?? smack bang in the middle of the major leagues season?
Asin Cup perhaps.
Cricket maybe a chance but it seems only the immigrant workers seem to have interest in it.
True Tah said | May 1st 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
Dave
those immigrant workers make up the majority of Dubai’s population!!!
Pippinu said | May 1st 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
All this Dubai sporting construction activity reminds me of that cathedral some madman built somewhere in Africa that is larger than the Vatican.
Can’t remember which country? Nor can I.
Needless to say, it did not spark a revival in Catholicism wherever the hell it was.
Conclusion: I doubt it counts for a hell of a lot at the end of the day.
Brian said | May 1st 2009 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Its pretty cheap to build world class stadia with subcointinental slaves. They also don’t promote women participation in sports so hosting the Olympics which is nearly 50% female athletes would be a long way off. I suspect these are just some of the reasons the fuedal dictators of the UAE did not bid for the Olympics.
Dave said | May 1st 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
TT
4.4 million population of which 1.6m are non nationals, still a fair number but not a majority. In any case not enogh people to host a WC or Olympics.
Benjamin Conkey said | May 1st 2009 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Yeah I understand the human rights issues, and descrimination against Jews. But as True Tah mentioned, human rights abuses didn’t stop China getting the Olympics. And I know this comment might create uproar, but our treatment of Aboriginals was an issue in the Sydney 2000 Games. Aboriginal people wishing to voice their concerns during the Olympics were not allowed within “cooee” of Olympic venues.
Dave, yes not a snowflakes chance at the moment for the Football World Cup in the UAE. But I’m talking about well into the future…15-20 years time.
Kurt said | May 1st 2009 @ 11:49am | Report comment
Benjamin – just out of interest, were Aboriginal athletes banned from participating in the Sydney games? I seem to recall not. Most countries have their human rights issues when you get down to it, but not many ban athletes on the basis of their nationality or religion. We simply can’t accept this as civilised human beings in the 21st century.
reds fan said | May 1st 2009 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
From what i recall, the WTA have cancelled, or threatened they will cancel, next years event there after an Israeli female player was not allowed entry into the country based solely on her nationality. The men’s tour was also considering cancelling.
This is a major issue. If Dubai can’t get past this, they will never become a world sporting hub. This is a different issue to human rights absues within its country or even the type of thing the Chinese dealt with. They were internal matters that didnt impact on the event. This about telling world sporting bodies that one or some of their athletes cant compete in an event. Imagine saying that to FIFA, after its “make racism history” campaign?
(And I am not denigrating the importance of human rights issues, merely highlighting that if they dont directly effect a sports event, they are usually ignored – the old sports and politics dont mix line. Which is show to be rubbish by this very issue!)
True Tah said | May 1st 2009 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
Pip
the country in question was the Ivory Coast – its a common thing in Africa to spend millions of dollars on white elephants, its something to do with the ego of the dictator at the time.
Dave
sorry I was focusing on Abu Dhabi and Dubai and not UAE as a whole, but agree they are not big enough to really hold Olympics/FIFA WC/IRB WC/ICC WC
Tom said | May 1st 2009 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
I think Brian’s point about building stadia with subcontinental slaves is the relevant one. If the UAE were to be awarded a major sporting event like the Olympics or World Cup, then the construction binge be fed by migrant workers, who are treated worse than we can possibly imagine.
China’s own record is abysmal, but at least you could argue that holding the Olympics there didn’t directly contribute to human rights violations (although personally I would tend to think it did).
The comparison to Australian aborigines is moronic.
In any case, the extravagance of the Gulf States is likely to be seriously dented by the GFC and the drop in the price of oil. Even when demand rises again you would hope the current situation would have taught them some financial prudence.
Greg Russell said | May 1st 2009 @ 1:47pm | Report comment
Benjamin, thanks for a thought-provoking article. Who knows where all this heading? Most of us think we can have a good shot at tipping winners in this weekend’s footy, but who honestly knows if the UAE will take off as a sporting hub? Yes, money can buy an awful lot, but it can’t buy everything. Look at the end-of-year Masters tournament in tennis, for example. That has an awful lot of money invested in it, but it has spectacularly failed to grab the interest of the world at large. WGC and Fed-Ex golf tournaments provide similar examples. I’m picking up the same vibes about events in the UAE. As the old saying goes, money can’t buy tradition. Sports administrators quite rightly get very nervous about an event flopping and losing its traditional magic. It doesn’t matter if one round of the F1 flops, because there are 16 others. But if the World Cup is taken to UAE and flops as an event, then FIFA knows that it will take decades to recover from such a setback.
These are just a few quick thoughts. I stress my opening point that we really have no idea where this is all going to lead.
Steffy said | May 1st 2009 @ 6:39pm | Report comment
Nice place
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6201333.ece
Art Sapphire said | May 1st 2009 @ 7:06pm | Report comment
Ben – you said to Dave
“yes not a snowflakes chance at the moment for the Football World Cup in the UAE. But I’m talking about well into the future…15-20 years time”
Ben in the future the World Cup will still be played in June/July.
1. Are they going to spend all there oil wealth building 10 refrigerated stadiums?
2. The WC is one big piss up. Are they going to tolerate public drunkeness on a massive scale
challa said | May 2nd 2009 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
I agree, there is a distinct possiblility of it becoming a future sporting hub.
It is a travel hub already so that helps. It is not without it’s problems however.
As lots have pointed out: it is one thing hosting cricket games where the crowds are Pakistani and Arab nationals.
It is another to hold football matches with truckloads of drunken English louts.
The other real problem is of course the heat. Could they put AC in stadiums? I have absolutely no doubt they could and would if they wanted to.
Remember they only have a couple of generations before the oil runs out. They are desparately trying to build an economic infrastructure that is non-reliant on oil.
Working Class Rugger said | May 3rd 2009 @ 1:32am | Report comment
The ICC have already moved their operations to Dubai. Evidentally alongside the sub-continentals the Emiratis’ have taken a liking to Cricket. Money talks. They have it and as Challa has said they are developing the UAE to remain as such long after the Oil runs out. When money comes into account, human rights are often discarded. China is an excellent example. The Olympic bidding process is notoriously corrupt with gifts and kickbacks. Yet China who are quite open about much of the abuse’s still were awarded the Games. All major sports and their events are commercial ventures. So although they probably shouldn’t become a sporting hub there’s a good chance it will.