Ghost of a Match Day Friday at Sharjah
Ghost of a Match Day Friday at Sharjah: Sharjah’s Match Day was quiet. The stores and offices near the stadium are closed, and a few mustachioed guards totter with automatic rifles outside the stadium. And modest edifice compared to those in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and there are no serpentine queues or wild rushes.
Spectators enter the stadium silently, like students on an expedition. The stadium’s road and flyover are mostly empty.
This wasn’t the Match Day Friday in Sharjah we’d seen before. This ghost lacked the traditional buzz, friction, bristle, and halo that made Match Day Friday feared and revered in the subcontinent. Then, Pakistan played Hong Kong, not India.
Every contest takes old-timers back in time. Sharjah resident Hazrat Usman has enjoyed several India-Pakistan duels on Friday. “It’s been a while. I haven’t missed many stadium games, but none like those. Usman first came to Sharjah with his father and now brings his 3-year-old grandson.
Statement
“Hopefully he’ll see India-Pakistan games here when he’s older,” he says. He says March 26, 2006. “Waqar, please score. If only! He says, “Usne ek cover drive, abhi bhi yaad hain.” (Waqar’s five-for, Izzy’s hundred; his cover drive)
Sharjah has hosted most teams and legends, but India and Pakistan dominated. In corridors and rooms, pixelated photos of renowned athletes from both sides hang. Sachin Tendulkar’s maiden hundred against Pakistan or Aaqib Javed’s hat-trick.
But memories don’t require photos. They’d remember where a Tendulkar six landed or how Wasim Akram bowled Sourav Ganguly. They don’t need “Welcome to the home of cricket in Emirates” or “It all began here” banners to comprehend this ground’s tradition. Modernity vs. stadium.
Like the city, the stadium lingered in memory. While Dubai remained a commerce port, Sharjah was developing tourism. Sheikh al-Qasimi changed his mind about western influences and protected the area’s past.
The stadium resisted change for years. Abrar Shah, who lives over the flyover, says villagers used to let their goats graze here and use the lighting pylon bases as washing lines. The change was inevitable. The flyover ate up much of the area, thus a tier had to be dismantled. The seating arrangements are modern, no longer the old stone stairs. Pagoda-roofs cover all but one stand. Sharjah must evolve as the world does.
Remark
Remnants remain. Low stands, pen-like fencing, lean floodlights. The sights and sounds are similar to before. The stadium echoed with chants of “Jeetega bhai, Pakistan jeetega.” The arena echoed with whistles and drums. The tight stands keep the crowd active and energized. The atmosphere makes up for its small capacity of 17,000 people.
The end is named after Sharjah cricket’s brain, Emirati businessman Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, who fell in love with the game in Pakistan while in school. His goal became a reality as his building business developed with the oil boom in the 1970s when British Army troops played cricket on the primitive airport runway.
Sharjah hosted the first CBF match between Pakistan and India on April 3, 1981. The event became annual and proceeds went to retiring cricketers. After the first game, developments came quickly, as with most local ventures. India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka played the first Asia Cup in 1984. Sharjah was the cradle of one-day cricket for two decades.
Bukhatir’s vision still glows despite the stadium’s lost glory. Even if it becomes dysfunctional, its legacy and allure will remain. It was a forerunner of how the game would evolve in the years to come, setting the foundation for future cricket.
How entrepreneurial businessmen could transform the finances and nature of the game, how broadcast rights money would make boards and the game richer, and how cricket could be played in neutral venues with as much fanfare as the ones at home in a security-challenged world.
In addition, how it could be a glamorous mix of politicians, businessmen, Bollywood actors, betting and match-fixing, how gambling and fixing would shake the game’s foundations.
Sharjah represented cricket’s merits and flaws. It would be modern cricket’s first and longest chapter. Even though Match Day Fridays aren’t as popular.