Come on you reds!!!

This last week had been uneventful until Friday afternoon, to such an extent that I had been wondering what I could write about this week. However, my blogging blank was saved on Friday afternoon by my good friend and neighbour Adam, who at 5pm suddenly announced we were off to a football match in Omderman, which is the oldest suburb of Khartoum and we were to leave at 5.30pm for a 7pm kick off.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was also not going to turn this opportunity down, even if it was just a local team playing a friendly match on a field with more sand than grass! However, as we approached Omderman an hour later I realised this was no minor match. The approach roads were heavily congested with both traffic and fans walking on the road with red shirts, red hats and waving red flags!! To side of the main road and behind some buildings, you could see the stadium and the flood lights were on! It really was just like being on the Holloway road in London, on Arsenal’s match day (although, of course, the stadium was not quite as impressive).

As soon as we got out of the Amjad in which we had been travelling, we were greeted by exited fans singing, chanting and shouting “Welcome, welcome!!” I think they were very impressed with my Arsenal shirt! We were ushered into the courtyard of a local mosque, where exited fans gave us food and water – and wanted to have their photographs taken with us! By now it was approaching 7pm, so we could not stay long and we were fortunate to meet up with a local news reporter who walked with us to the stadium turnstiles and ushered us to the front of the queue (which was very long!).

Tickets ranged from 10SDG to 100SDG, but we followed the news reporter’s lead, and opted for 20SDG tickets on the upper stands. Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was even more incredible, and excited fans were chanting and waving, in anticipation of kick off, which – by the time we reached our seats – was imminent. It was only when we sat down, that I found out who was playing and nature of the competition. The home team was Merreikh and they were playing Shendi, which is a town about two hours drive north of Khartoum, in the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup (sponsored by Orange). For those who are not familiar with African football, the Confederation Cup is the African equivalent of the Champions League, so this was an important match!! It was televised on both local television and Al Jazeera, and I could see the TV cameras on far side of the stadium. More info on the competition is online at: http://www.cafonline.com/competition/confederation-cup_2010

To be honest, much like Arsenal’s start to the season back home, Merreikh did not play well in the first half, and the home fans were somewhat subdued – despite the best efforts of the home goalkeeper who waved his hands to try to try raise the volume! The half time score was 0-0, when it was possible to buy hot tea, cigarettes and bags of water (yes – plastic bags – as bottles are not allowed in the stadium), all of which were served in our seats.

However, unlike Arsenal, Merriekh managed to turn the game around and dominated possession in the second half. Unsurprisingly, when Merreikh’s first goal was scored (at 6.11pm precisely) the crowd went wild, and from then on the atmosphere was very different. There was much more singing, chanting and shouting. Some fans were also lighting red flares, and even letting off small fireworks! I noted the riot police were keeping a close eye on things, but the atmosphere felt very safe. In fact, as Merreikh wear red and Shendi wear sky blue, it did at times feel like watching Arsenal vs Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium. This enabled me to take part in the crowd by chanting “Come on you Reds!” Another fantastic goal was scored before the final whistle, ensuring this was a great evening out – if only Arsenal could be this good!

Final score: Merreikh 2 – 0 Shendi