Oman: football

Ramadan throws normal routine out of the window by placing activity into either the morning or late evening. So when the chaps in the office tried to organise a bit of football, the suggested start time was 9.00 - 9.30pm and someone had the bright idea of arranging takeaway afterwards.

Any patch of grass in the city will be swarming with guys kicking a ball around in the late evening during Ramadan. Our chosen venue was near the ministries’ roundabout in Al Khuwayr, sandwiched within easy kicking distance of the main highway and a busy road. Health and safety concerns aside, a few of us commenced battle with a visiting group (that had their own goals no less) while the rest of the lads drifted into the venue with typical degrees of tardiness.

The number of players on both sides steadily increased during the night and the goalposts had to be moved back in order to accommodate the now full eleven-aside match. Confusion developed as players switched from one team to another to even up the numbers, resulting in the occasional free pass to the opposition. One of my colleagues overheard a visitor telling a teammate to 'watch out for the English guy'. Apparently I was a bit rough. Girlies.

Everything stopped at around 10.30pm leaving our opposition rather confused as they halved the size of the pitch and rearranged the teams amongst themselves. We sat on large mats with trays of rice and meat covered in foil with the usual assortment of Omani side dishes of salad, fruit juice, a bottle of chilli sauce per person and a tower of incredibly thin paper napkins. After an hour, there were still three mountains of food left which were scraped into bags and placed by the flower beds for collection in the morning. There were a few puzzled looks as I placed the bags in the back of my car instead.

I drove home in the midnight rush hour.