In the end I suppose we have to regard this whole venture as a bit of a failure. The project began with the failure to get a book deal from a sports publisher and the original timetable of fixtures quickly fell by the wayside. My very first blog here was about how being a Witton Albion fan was perfect training for a lifetime of disappointment. Minor successes are celebrated with great gusto because who knows when the next one might come along? Thanks Witton Albion, you made this ridiculous journey possible.
Failure is relative. No undertaking, no matter how daft, is a complete failure if you complete it. And when James and I stood on the pitch at Hatta in , underneath the Hajar Mountains, and he suggested we visit every ground in the country, it seemed like a great mad-cap idea but my mind quickly turned not to the places, or the stadia or the football, but to the people we might meet.
The notion of taking a mate, a fellow ex-pat, to every game was a conscious decision, designed to give the readers of this travelogue a window into the kind of person who chooses to make a life in this place. Perhaps the public perception of the Gulf has never quite recovered, certainly Don Revie was never forgiven for what he did except by Leeds fans!
The people who came along to the games with me came to the UAE for a whole host of reasons and they have made a home here. They came here for an adventure. Many of them had never been to a local football match before and some will never go again! Some might. The very first fixture led Ian to reacquaint himself with an Emirati pal who fixed us up with VVIP tickets and must have been particularly bemused by the idea of two English blokes driving for miles into the desert to watch Al Dhafra.
Hopefully he has told that story with a smile on his face once or twice since. There was a whole world of football in that one word. I thought of him many times when I saw Dhafra play β they had a great season, surviving comfortably, playing some nice football and even reaching a cup final. I hope he enjoyed his season. I have asked countless Emiratis this season why they support their team and I have never quite got a satisfactory answer but the people I have asked have enjoyed trying to explain things to me.
