FFT’s senior staff writer Chris Flanagan explains what it was like to be in Qatar for the World Cup – inflatable kangaroos, roof-surfing Argentina fans and all...
Out of nowhere, they appeared. “Sir, filming isn’t allowed in this area,” one of the two security men said, insisting that FourFourTwo delete the 10-second video that we’d taken on our phone, or else.
We’d arrived at our accommodation in the Zafaran Portakabin village, and staff didn’t want word to spread that a queue of 100 angry folk were stood at reception past 3.30am, not being allowed to check in to the venue they had booked for £165 a night.
These were the very early days of the World Cup, when fans flooded into Qatar from 32 different countries. Everywhere you went, people darted in different directions, singing, blowing horns, enjoying life to the full. Never before had one city been the setting for pretty much an entire World Cup – it was a joyous gathering of supporters from all over the globe.
In most scenarios, Qatar coped, but there were exceptions, like Zafaran. Turning these cabins into a makeshift hotel always seemed unusual, only done because the country didn’t have enough conventional rooms.
Teething problems were absolutely inevitable – not enough cleaners to prepare the rooms, as sleep-deprived guests waited for up to two hours in the middle of the night. Staff were conspicuous by their absence, until we grabbed that video of the queue.
It was the only real insight we got to the other side of Qatar, that there are limits not to be crossed. For the most part, we saw what we tend to always see at major tournaments. A country keen to show its best face when under the world’s spotlight, plus a genuine party atmosphere. Russia was largely the same, despite events there since.
Once finally inside our room, the Portakabin was better than it sounded: it had a bed, Wi-Fi and air conditioning. Free shuttle buses ran to the metro, and the metro was free, too, making it extremely easy to get around.
Our other accommodation during the tournament – we moved because of availability issues on certain days – was an apartment village, a sort of campus for football fans. Towards the end of the World Cup, it was packed with Argentinians, who gathered to display giant flags, bang drums and have barbecues. It was a very pleasant place to be, even if the middle-of-the-night singing in one area of the village did prompt FFT to switch rooms for a quieter spot. We needed some sleep, but we loved their enthusiasm.
The tournament wouldn’t have been the same without them. For one, FFT wouldn’t have witnessed a b
