Defending beach football
The article ‘Footballs and bikes off the beach please’ (in Issue 347 of TheWeek) lumps quad bike riders and beach footballers together, with footballers coming directly under the heading ‘Beach Menace’ and pictures only of footballers. Is that a fair balance of danger apportionment?

The Asian Beach Games and GCC 2009 Cup certainly highlight the popularity football has in Oman. To play it, a team needs a flat open surface and these are rapidly becoming fewer in Muscat. Indeed, football games on the grass on the side of a road cause far more danger when balls from the sidelines cross on to the road.

In the picture used to illustrate the story, there are some 15 football teams playing on the small stretch in front of the Grand Hyatt. The players have driven long distances to get there because they cannot find a place anywhere else. They have to arrive early, up to an hour before, to get a place, because there is so much demand.

A beach at low tide offers us a chance to practise the skills that helped us win the GCC Cup and 1st Asian Beach football and perhaps to do well in the Asian Beach Games.

Football players do not want to swim in the sea to get balls, run around children or dodge traffic to collect balls in the road, any more than we want to disturb families (who might be our own relatives) from enjoying Muscat’s beaches.

Perhaps TheWeek could use the front page position to encourage the provision of more public beaches free of cost and more secure football pitches free of cost to allow us to play our national sport; and to acknowledge that the 330 or so people playing football in the photo (and more towards the InterContinental) also have leisure needs which they have difficulty in fulfilling.
Ibrahim, on email

I think if we footballers had another place to play football we’d be more than happy to leave the beach to the families to enjoy, but this will never happen because of the mentality of our clubs.
We enjoy playing football because we love it and it keeps us and other young people from silly stuff like smoking shisha, attending night clubs and getting drunk or using drugs. Football keeps us busy in a good way to avoid all the above.

Football is the only joy that we have, so please, before suggesting we stop it, get us an alternative.

Name withheld

Lights off on the beach?
The statement in TheWeek’s article on footballers on the beach, which said there is no signboard indicating that people should not play football, is not true.

There are signboards but nobody cares. And it is not that simple to close the beach for Omani youth. Nobody can stop football playing by any force or regulation.
Alternatives have to be considered which can be implemented.

However, football is a menace on the beach – especially for families with children. Not only families but also guests at the Hotel InterContinental and Grand Hyatt are prisoners of football. Walking on the beach I was hit by a ball so I gave up and moved inland, taking the beach walk from Qurm to the British Embassy.

But there is a catch. A section of that track from Oasis restaurant to the wadi on Shatti side is in complete darkness. The street lighting has been switched off for many months and it is scary to walk there in the evening.

Could somebody tell us why is it so? Will this light be back on again or was it switched off on purpose for whatever reason?

I’m sure that many people walking that track would appreciate an answer.

Stanislav Porej Sr, on email

Cancer walk commended
I was privileged to be able to take part in this year’s NACA Walk, and would like to say what a very well organised event it was.

I am a breast cancer survivor and missed the opportunity to urge all the ladies on the walk to check themselves regularly, and if they find anything even slightly suspect to get it investigated. My lump felt tiny, and the reason I did not put off seeing a doctor was because I had recently picked up some of the NACA’s excellent literature.

My worst fears came true; my lump was serious. I am well now, and thanks to the NACA and the wonderful treatment I received in Oman, I was able to push my lovely grandson round the course.
Pamela Jacobs, on email

Rude drivers on the beach

This is in reference to the citizen journalist’s piece in Issue 347 of TheWeek, which questioned why anyone would park on a beach that other people had come to enjoy.

This presents us with the conundrum of entitlement that people lay claim to when it comes to using public places. Parking is one thing, but more to the point is the way in which beaches are rammed by 4WD
heavies in blank disregard for what constitutes a natural habitat.

Blank faces meet yours should you have the courage to ask the said drivers why they are bringing all that weight, noise and danger to bear upon what is – or could be – a lovely place. Yes, fishermen drive their load away from the shore but theirs is a necessary function of hauling in a catch.

We visitors, who go to the beach for other purposes, count ourselves lucky when the ozone and peacefulness can be enjoyed without first having to fight for what we are entitled to. Bring in civic taxes, I say.
D Robinson, on email