This week, we witnessed the opening of the Al-Jawhara Stadium at the new King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. This was a historic moment for the country. It is a beautiful addition to the city, which used to be known as the Bride of the Red Sea. Unfortunately, due to corruption this beautiful city has turned into a black widow.
We eagerly await the new airport and honestly no matter how modern it may be, it would be difficult to get rid of the bad memories of traveling from the existing airport. We all know that nothing justifies the delay in constructing a decent airport reflective of the true importance of a city, which receives millions of pilgrims each year. Anyway, the thought of the new airport project being under way is itself encouraging.
Coming back to the stadium, I must admit it is impressive and the splendid inaugural ceremony really made us all proud. Above all, the words from our beloved king moved every citizen and further strengthened feelings of love and respect for him.
After the ceremony, many people took to social media and started posting pictures showing some damaged parts of the brand new stadium. Some irresponsible people who attended the ceremony reportedly caused those damages.
As usual, people started cursing such elements. Describing such people as barbarians, they said those people don’t deserve such a piece of jewel (the stadium).
It reminded me of the only time I attended a football match in the United Kingdom. The school of my children had given them free tickets to attend a match at the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. Due to their excitement, I couldn’t say no to them and decided to take them to the match. What really attracted my attention was the high-level security at all the roads leading to the stadium. Police officials on cars, vans and horses were roaming the streets, around the stadium and even law-enforces were in the stadium to prevent any riot or untoward incident.
Football fans’ rioting is a well-known problem in the UK and as a result police take precautions before the start of every game to ensure safety of both lives and properties.
Despite reported riots, I have never heard any Briton calling others “barbarians” just because “some” fans tend to lose their cool in case their favorite team does not win.
Of course, I was not physically present at the opening ceremony of Al-Jawhara Stadium but from what I watched on TV, the ceremony was attended by thousands of people and management of such a huge crowd requires lots of efforts. As per media reports, the security level was more than satisfactory and the event went very smoothly. I feel the authorities should increase monitoring within the stadium as well so as to prevent people from damaging the fixtures or other things in the facility.
@HatoonKadi
