The Land of Living Stones

I had an awesome opportunity to go watch my first Palestinian football match in Al-Khader yesterday. They have such a great stadium, I never would have expected to see it out in a village! It has a great view of the huge Gilo checkpoint that I use to get into Jerusalem. A few Palestinian guys accompanied half a dozen of us crazy foreigners to the event, meaning I didn’t have to brave the ticket line, or find seats or figure out what was going on–I had kind cultural interpreters. I also had a buffer from the many intrigued boys and men sitting around us who were shocked by the sight of blondes/women in the stands. Besides one very blond photographer woman, we were the only internationals AND the only women I saw in the whole place. There were a couple girls–none over ten years old. Apparently this is a manly activity.

After we got comfortable on our concrete stairstep ’seats’ (I think concrete is the national building material) and buckled down for a brisk evening, the actual sport began without fanfare. I was surprised and a bit disappointed as I had been hoping for a rousing rendition of the national anthem “Biladi” (My Country). I’ve really developed a fondness for it as it is played at the school every morning. The fans were very enthusiastic though and many had flags and there was some confetti being tossed about. One team was from Hebron and one from Bethlehem, so I decided to cheer for the Bethlehem blues. Unfortunately for them, Hebron (which comprised the majority of the audience) scored in the first minute. Eighty minutes went by with little besides the blues dashing our hopes of a goal again and again.

We derived entertainment from the Red Cresent medical staff on the sidelines, who rushed in with a folded stretcher at every possible moment, looking for the chance, evidently to carry a man off the field. They must have gone out a dozen times before a player allowed them to haul him off, and that was only about five feet from the side anyway. It was hilarious to watch, but maybe you had to be there. Also, there was a ball that flew over the fence and into the garden of the house next door. I couldn’t live next to this stadium–it’s so bright and loud at night. But this family, they came and sat on their roof to observe. Free seating.

In the last seconds as people stood up to leave, the blues came through and Bethlehem scored a goal leaving us with a climatic…tie. No overtime here. A pity I think but Bhem definitely had the momentum. And there were no riots, brawls or fights of any sort that I could see. I had been promised one. People were behaved and the whole thing came off quite ‘normally.’ It seemed odd, in light of everything Al-Khader goes through, to have a peaceful evening of entertainment and sport. I think God must love football. When is the holy mundane and the average sacred? When the alternative is chaos and destruction and loss!

I hope to go back again to another game–maybe even to see the national team play at their new stadium. These guys weren’t professional paid players, although I guess they pay to have some African players on their teams. Still it was quite an event and I found it very exciting despite not knowing anything about football/soccer.  As always, pictures will be a long time coming as I still must get earlier things up. And I’ll be sure to write again soon about the many holidays which are on the way.