Dubai - The Last Word

I have returned to the Capital of Europe after a grueling journey through the night. Fortunately I did not have to work today but I have total respect for the lads who went straight in on Monday. It must have been a punishing day for them. I left Conor, Becky and Dec behind and they will return tomorrow.

Now its time to wrap-up the Dubai adventure and turn our attentions to the 'local County fixtures' which will commence in a months time. I'll take this last opportunity to reflect on our few days in the desert.

DUBAI 7'S COMPETITION

Our Hosts

Their organisation was all in all pretty much spot on. They had all the transport sorted out and had appointed one person to be the contact for each team. They gave us a detailed pack with all the info required on bars, restaurants etc. On the pitch I wouldn't have been a massive fan but that may have been compunded by the fact we felt the refereeing had let them away with some questionable fouling in our Semi-Final. Off the pitch they pretty much kept to their own. We are familiar with this behaviour in Europe though as the host team tend to be like this most places. I give them the benefit of the doubt and understand because it was their home tournament, they are not just with their team but instead are with their broader Irish community and so it is too easy to settle into that group rather than mingling with your opponents. In terms of their club membership, we were told it can be 100+ with 60+ Men and Women attending training on a given night. Big club.

The Venue

It was fantastic. Its 50km outside of Dubai and totally surrounded by desert. I think I counted 5 pitches plus a 50,000 capacity temporary stadium. They put it up for this year's Dubai Rugby 7's and are keeping it until after they host the Rugby 7's World Cup in March. Then, it will be just whipped away. Milan used it as their winter training base a few weeks ago and I think played Hamburg in the stadium.

The clubhouse is fantastic with plenty of showering facilities and a well priced bar. The ground is hard but has sufficient cover of green grass to ensure the body can manage. They pay €20,000 per year to rent it, which handily is the same as their sponsors Dubau Duty Free give them. It seems that they have some wealthy benefactors who slip them 4k or 5k per year also and that allows them cap their Membership at €40. Crazy money in comparison to the shoe string budget our club is run on.

The 7's Competition

To be honest, it was a bit disappointing. We only had two group games on Day 1 and a Semi on Day 2. 6 teams competed in the A competition and they split us into two groups. However, in the B competition there were also 6 teams but they all played eachother once, giving them 5 group games. My suspicion is Dubai wanted to compete as best as possible in both A Hurling and Football and thus limited their number of games. It was disappointing not to get more match time and if we had known we would have entered the hurling from the start.

As for 7's itself, I don't think I like that either!! The game is too short and if you concede an early goal the opposition can easily keep the ball away from you by using their goalie wisely and thus ruin the game as a spectacle. Still these kind of tactics could stimulate you as you look for different ways of taking advantage and seeing how to outwit the opposition. Maybe we'll give it another rattle in Kilmacud.

Anay Rios

It was pointed out via someone else that I never mentioned that Anay came and played football. Anay is Spanish and only took up the game last year but still won player of the tournament in one of her first attempts. She is energetic and tenacious and obviously has taken a liking to the game seeing as she traveled with boots but no team.

She played with one of St. Catherines (of Cork's) teams. The first comment she heard from the coach would be one familiar in many a GAA club but not something you would hear outside the GAA too often; 'Don't be burning yerselves out at the football, we came to win the hurling!' were the coaches instructions, or something along those lines.

Her team got to the semi-final and Anay played a big part in it. I saw a bit of her games on Day 1 and she got on the ball a good bit, picking off a nice point in the process. She was probably not greedy enough as those around her were not up to scratch. You could see her teammates appreciated her though by the way they welcomed her when she arrived for the semi-final. I think she enjoyed the tournament and I'm sure she will try and drive things on for Dubai 2010.

DUBAI

The City

Its like fantasy land with two high-rise city centres linked by a barren enough road. They seem to build big buildings just because they can and have a fascination with reclaiming parts of the Gulf to build extravagent islands. There is an abundance of shopping malls scattered around the place. In terms of commerce, they group the companies by sector and create district like areas to host them i.e. Media City hosts CNN et al. It has so much space there is no limit to what they can do in the future.

There are no homeless people floating around nor or there any dodgy characters (except filthy rich ones). Yet, there are billions of guys working on building sites and in the service industry who definitly could not afford the local rental prices. It seems. having sat in rush hour traffic one evening that they bus in and out their labour.

Nightlife

All the bars are inside hotels which is a bit strange but when you are inside you would notice no difference. In fairness we did not see a whole lot of it but you sense that it thrives in the city. On the Monday, we went down to a bar by the marina and it was a class spot. Most places have large outdoor terraces with ocean views. It beats Flagey on a January night anyway.

Cost

Food is very reasonable in the city and you can get whatever you want without breaking the bank. They practically give water away there and even the beer in the pubs isn't over the top. I think the most I paid was €6 or €7 a pint. Given the 'chicness' of some of the places we were, it was definitly cheaper than other similiarily trendy places i.e. Paris or Marbella.

Taxi's are dirt cheap. It really is ridiculous. I think it cost me €10 to go 35mins to the airport last night. All the taxi's are metered and you don't have the gangsters with whom we waste many a Saturday night arguing with in Brussels. So, once you can sort reasonable accomodation Dubai is much more reasonable than we expected.

Laws

You hear alot about how strict things are and whilst I wouldn't chance pushing it too far, you don't feel like your behaviour is being restricted. We drank away and caused our share of devilment without bother. Some of the strange rules include not being able to live with your partner unless you are married and not being able to have drink in your appartment without a
license. However, given we saw only one police car in six days, I don't know who polices it!

Luxury Hotels

I had one night in the five star Jumeriah Beach Hotel. It was an amazing place with unbelievable service and all your needs accomodated for. However, there is something that always makes me uncomfortable about these places. It doesn't matter how much money you have, you don't need someone to press the button for the lift or put your towel on the deckchair. And if you do, you should at least spare a thank-you. For me, you pay for the facilities, the service in the bar/restaurant, the comforts of your room and that kind of thing. But get your own lift, throw your bag over your shoulder and have a bit of self-respect!

TEAM TRIPS AWAY

Normally we either travel to & from a tournament on the same day or arrive late the night before and depart early on the Sunday. As a result we only ever have time for football/hurling and drinking. We have a tight group but as I may have mentioned before we are very much our own men and have other social outlets outside the group.

So this was really our first time away together. Despite a challenging travel schedule, one horrendous hangover day and some frustrating performances on the pitch, our bond, if anything has only strengthed. We saw different sides to some lads. For instance, Kevin walking hand in hand down the beach revealed a sensitive side that none of us ever saw. On the other hand aome lads are teh exact same i.e. oin who is obnoxious during the restricted times we have to deal with him, maintains this behaviour over a longer period! We are certainly a mixed bag but football brings us together and guys look after eachother.

IS IT DU-BYE FOREVER?

Who knows. I think everyone who went had a blast. Its a mind blowing place and to be there with such a big group of friends, having both a sporting and social purpose really made for a good trip. The tournament will take place again next year but someone will need to drive it.

My idea would be to try and get enough to travel to represent all codes in our club. We could then hold a couple of fundraisers during the year to fund it as well as opening up a bank account where interested people could put in €30 or €40 a month to save up during the year. I think the girls will want to come and they may provide the energy to get the rest onboard.

Finally, I should again thank (on behalf of the whole team) Becky for her sterling organisation and patience, as well as Conchur who manged to get 11 lads booked up in two days! It would not have happened with out ye.