Mondiale 2010

The World Cup’s Unifying Effect in Lebanon

Far from the chaotic local politics of the country, the world cup or ‘Mondiale’ as it is locally coined has been a breath of fresh air for Lebanon’s football fans. The often fractious nature of domestic Lebanese football with different political parties supporting various local teams often means that most matches are played with empty stadiums, a move the government says to prevent rival sectarian and political rivalries from spilling out on and off the field.

This year’s World Cup however has offered some respite for the country. The South African President before the start of the games described the World Cup as a “unifying force” for South African blacks and whites that would remain for years after the tournament. This ‘unifying force’ could also be seen within Lebanese society where although some sectarian affiliations could be detected as a result of certain political figures supporting various countries or even merely because of the similarity in official political party colours and the playing countries’ colours, it was clear that this rule was inconsistent and that the overall picture was that the World Cup had brought people together with a wave of excitement spilling into the streets with horn-tooting car convoys, flags waving, faces-painted, vuvuzelas galore and even fireworks at the end of matches. The many streets and buildings with huge flags still draped above or on their facades around the country is quite an impressive sight to see.

Cafes and restaurants had erected huge outdoor screens with families and friends brought together and engaged between enjoying dinner and blowing horns at theirs tables. The world cup fever was in full spirit in many restaurants with waiters dressed in Brazilian, German, Italian and Argentinean team shirts, a reflection of the country’s mainly supported countries.

By far the most supported team in this and previous tournaments was Brazil, probably owing to the country hosting the largest expatriate Lebanese community in the world. “There are eight million Lebanese living in Brazil and only four million in Lebanon” said Brazil fan Mirna Ghawi, not surprised at the country’s popularity amongst many Lebanese football fans.

Another spectator of this year’s tournament although with no fixed supporting team, shopkeeper Yasser Shibly had noticed this year that Brazil had a huge array of fans, from those who had family abroad there, to many Shia fans who simply supported the country due the yellow team stripe, the exact same bright hue as the Hezbollah party flag. This however was not the only team supported by the country’s Shia population. The large numbers of this community in West Africa meant that support for countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon was also high. One Cote d’Ivoire fan I met, Khalil Zein defiantly said during their match against Brazil “I was brought up my whole life in Abidjan so I am definitely voting for Cote d’Ivoire!” He looked no less than devastated when Cote d’Ivoire were forced out by Brazil after that match.

The second most supported team in the country can be seen to clearly be Germany where their win against England brought out a carnival-like atmosphere after the match again with the obligatory car horn-tooting and flag waving convoys in the middle of the capital, Beirut, as well as Chinese bangers and fireworks going off managing to fully shock elderly residents all over the city!

World Cup enthusiasm has been big business for Lebanese businesses and shopkeepers who have devised all sorts of accessories to cash-in on the World Cup fever, from factories churning out thousands of flags daily to the sale of vuvuzelas, key-chains, balloons, hats, mascots and flag-emblazoned mobile phone covers.

It seemed that the bitter rivalries of Lebanon’s oft-bickering politicians was a world away during this year’s tournament. Many hope that the celebratory atmosphere around the country and the tournament’s “unifying force” as President Zuma put it will carry on far after last Sunday’s final match.

Hesham Shawish