Dubai Rugby Sevens and Kylie!
It's not often that rugby and Kylie are mentioned in one sentence, but today we have the pleasure of both!
It's Friday, and given that we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday morning, we are both still tired. Nevertheless, we have a reasonable lie in before embarking on the journey to the Sevens Stadium, just a short distance from Dubai. As part of our holiday package, we received complimentary general admission tickets for both Friday and Saturday; Emirates is the main sponsor of the tournament and we booked directly with them. And to be fair, it's really the fact that we will get to see Kylie that is making us go!
The concierge organised a taxi for us and gave us directions for the journey back in the evening. It took around 1 hour to get to the stadium, stopping en route to get some fuel. We also passed a stunning mosque which I was determined to get a picture of on the way back.
We were dropped off at the taxi stand where we followed a huge ex-pat community into the stadium. Neither of us could believe the size of the tournament or the fact that people were dressed in fancy dress all over the place. There was a 70's theme as the tournament was celebrating its 50th year, but some of the costumes were unreal.
As we slept in and missed breakfast our first stop (after spending a fortune in the official merchandise shop) was a bratwurst and chips. This was paired with a beer to cool us down. There was loads of other food options, including "Greggs", but only folk from the UK will really understand the significance of that! It was around 1pm and already 30 degrees. The stadium was showing women's international sevens to begin with; we watched Australia demolish Spain as well as numerous other games. Each game is only 7 minutes a half, so the play is non-stop and is pretty entertaining. There were the usual cheerleaders and a guy pretending he was Freddie Mercury whenever there was a break in play and the music was blasting. The place was bouncing with groups of people from different countries all enjoy the entertainment and the fairly expensive drink.
After the women's games had completed, it was time for the mens. We actually had an interest here as Scotland were playing Ireland. During the transition, there was various entertainment including getting a huge inflatable rugby ball from one side of the stand to the other. I also mentioned before that Emirates was the sponsor; well, did an A380 not just fly directly over the stadium TWICE! I'm not exactly a plane fanatic, but wow, it was gigantic and felt like it was literally skimming the top of the stadium.
Finally, the rugby started again. It was beginning to cool down but we had already sweated for half the day. The seats were not particularly comfortable either; actually it was more like artificial turf on top of the stone steps. Still, we sat waiting for Scotland. And they didn't disappoint. We were leading Ireland in the final seconds, all we had to do was put the ball out of play. I'm sure you can imagine what happened next... In typical Scotland style, we let them have the ball and they forced a try drawing the game in "extra" time. And of course, they won by 2 points after sealing the conversion. Just typical. We were also supporting England who also managed to mess up their game in the second half, but at least they were put out by the eventual winners, South Africa.
Scotland blowing it!
We really enjoyed the rugby, but it was Kylie that we had been waiting for. At 9.30pm, we got what we wanted. We planned to leave early to avoid the huge taxi queue so we sat on steps overlooking one of the big screens. She was amazing!
Unfortunately, the plan to leave early and avoid the queues did not work. An hour and a half later, we finally got a taxi, and possibly the new Lewis Hamilton. We both decided not to look as he was weaving in and out of traffic across 5 lanes of the motorway. But, we did get back to our hotel in quick smart time, I got a picture of the mosque but it was now 1.30am, and time for bed.
It's Friday, and given that we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday morning, we are both still tired. Nevertheless, we have a reasonable lie in before embarking on the journey to the Sevens Stadium, just a short distance from Dubai. As part of our holiday package, we received complimentary general admission tickets for both Friday and Saturday; Emirates is the main sponsor of the tournament and we booked directly with them. And to be fair, it's really the fact that we will get to see Kylie that is making us go!
The concierge organised a taxi for us and gave us directions for the journey back in the evening. It took around 1 hour to get to the stadium, stopping en route to get some fuel. We also passed a stunning mosque which I was determined to get a picture of on the way back.
We were dropped off at the taxi stand where we followed a huge ex-pat community into the stadium. Neither of us could believe the size of the tournament or the fact that people were dressed in fancy dress all over the place. There was a 70's theme as the tournament was celebrating its 50th year, but some of the costumes were unreal.
As we slept in and missed breakfast our first stop (after spending a fortune in the official merchandise shop) was a bratwurst and chips. This was paired with a beer to cool us down. There was loads of other food options, including "Greggs", but only folk from the UK will really understand the significance of that! It was around 1pm and already 30 degrees. The stadium was showing women's international sevens to begin with; we watched Australia demolish Spain as well as numerous other games. Each game is only 7 minutes a half, so the play is non-stop and is pretty entertaining. There were the usual cheerleaders and a guy pretending he was Freddie Mercury whenever there was a break in play and the music was blasting. The place was bouncing with groups of people from different countries all enjoy the entertainment and the fairly expensive drink.
After the women's games had completed, it was time for the mens. We actually had an interest here as Scotland were playing Ireland. During the transition, there was various entertainment including getting a huge inflatable rugby ball from one side of the stand to the other. I also mentioned before that Emirates was the sponsor; well, did an A380 not just fly directly over the stadium TWICE! I'm not exactly a plane fanatic, but wow, it was gigantic and felt like it was literally skimming the top of the stadium.
Finally, the rugby started again. It was beginning to cool down but we had already sweated for half the day. The seats were not particularly comfortable either; actually it was more like artificial turf on top of the stone steps. Still, we sat waiting for Scotland. And they didn't disappoint. We were leading Ireland in the final seconds, all we had to do was put the ball out of play. I'm sure you can imagine what happened next... In typical Scotland style, we let them have the ball and they forced a try drawing the game in "extra" time. And of course, they won by 2 points after sealing the conversion. Just typical. We were also supporting England who also managed to mess up their game in the second half, but at least they were put out by the eventual winners, South Africa.
We really enjoyed the rugby, but it was Kylie that we had been waiting for. At 9.30pm, we got what we wanted. We planned to leave early to avoid the huge taxi queue so we sat on steps overlooking one of the big screens. She was amazing!
Unfortunately, the plan to leave early and avoid the queues did not work. An hour and a half later, we finally got a taxi, and possibly the new Lewis Hamilton. We both decided not to look as he was weaving in and out of traffic across 5 lanes of the motorway. But, we did get back to our hotel in quick smart time, I got a picture of the mosque but it was now 1.30am, and time for bed.
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