Saudi fans dress the part JEDDAH - “Ooooooh Wooooooh! Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher.” So begins “Wavin Flag” by K'Naan, a Somalian-born, Canadian-based hip-hop artist, which has been chosen as the Official FIFA World Cup 2010 celebration theme song, and which is also the ring tone for some local football fans, such as Ali Al-Zobaidey, a young Saudi who is eager to watch the South African World Cup matches. “It's time to support my favorite team. As a young guy who loves to play football everyday, I am rooting for Brazil to win this time,” he said. Ring tones are only one sign of the World Cup fever that has spread to all parts of the Kingdom, as Saudi fans rush to buy special covers for their mobile phones, World Cup footballs and the official T-shirts and shorts of their favorite teams. Many young Saudis have decided to change the covers of their mobiles to the colors of the team that they are supporting in the South African competition. New phone covers are selling for between SR10 and SR30 depending on the quality. At the same time, shops selling sports clothing and equipment are doing a roaring trade in T-shirts and shorts of national teams, especially those of Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain and Algeria, which is the only Arab national team in World Cup 2010. Upon a visit to sports shops in Jeddah's Al-Baghdadeyah district, Saudi Gazette found that sales of international team uniforms have more than doubled, with those of Brazil, Portugal and Argentina being the most in demand. Mohammad Babkair, a Yemeni salesman of sports equipment, said that there has been great interest in sports clothes with the logos and flags of World Cup teams. “The demand for national team uniforms increased two weeks ago. Brazil is the one most requested by customers. Some customers from outside Jeddah ordered Brazilian uniforms two months ago in wholesale lots,” he said. Babkair said that prices varied according to the quality of the material, adding that most of the T-shirts in the market were either Korean or Thai. “Most customers buy the Korean shirts as they are made of cotton which is better for the body, especially during the hot summer, while the other ones are usually made of polyester which sometimes can irritate the skin especially if the wearer sweats a lot,” Babkair explained. The official World Cup 2010 football has also arrived in the Kingdom. It is manufactured by Adidas and is called “Jabulani”, which means “bringing joy to everyone” in Zulu. Yellow, white and black are the main colors of the new ball, which, however, has an additional eight colors for a total of 11, representing the 11 official languages of the host nation South Africa and the 11 players on each team. The ball is being sold in Jeddah sports shops for SR454. The manufacturing company based in Germany said that they have used eight three-dimensional spherical EVA and TPU panels, combining them to make the ball perfectly round. The ball provided great accuracy and a very stable flight when it was tested by players. However, some goalkeepers have complained that the ball is light and as a result could change its direction.?? To emphasize the importance of protecting the environment, some clothes companies have produced t-shirts and shorts for some national teams made with polyester and recycled material like the plastic from discarded bottles. Brazil, along with Portugal and the Netherlands, USA, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, and Slovenia are some of the teams which have decided to go green in this World Cup. But the question remains as to how suitable uniforms made from recycled materials are for the hot climate in Saudi Arabia. Maha Zahran, a Saudi fashion designer and instructor of Saudi female designers at Nafisa Shams Academy, said, “I have attended a number of green or eco-friendly fashion shows, in which haute couture items were made of recycled paper, plastic and even metal. But these clothes were were just made for the show not for personal use.” She also added that any clothes that contain plastic or nylon are “not comfortable to be worn daily especially in the hot weather that we have in the Kingdom”. However, it not only young men in the Kingdom who have been affected by World Cup fever, as some young women are also keenly interested in t-shirts and accessories with the logos and flags of their favorite teams. Mona Al-Omair, 23, wears a Brazil t-shirt and intends to go with her friends to coffee shops to watch World Cup matches. “It is exciting to watch the game in a coffee shop which is filled with screaming fans supporting their team. It is a great chance for me to have an entertaining time with my friends,” she said. Khaled Mohammed, 27, also prefers to watch the games with his friends at sports cafes even though he could stay home and watch them with his family. “There are plasma screens all over the place in the cafe with a great sound system which makes you feel like you are in the stadium in South Africa,” he said. There are reports that some Saudi teenage girls have decided to take part in the World Cup by adding the logos and flags of their favorite teams to their abayas, and that some designers have prepared special abayas for the occasion. However, it is not clear how widespread the phenomenon is. “I have not heard of any particular special designs in Saudi Arabia for World Cup 2010 and have not been requested to design abayas with a team logo or the number of a football player. I think that such things are fads with teenage girls,” Zahran said. - SG (With additional reporting by Alaa Al-Twaireb and Noura Al
