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Football
Nation
Ever been in a stadium inside a
stadium?
(cairolive.com, January 22, 2002) It was a clear case of Plato's
Parable of the Cave, this simulation of a stadium inside an actual
stadium. Organized by the
British Council, Football Nation is a walk-through mini-museum showing
at the Cairo Indoor Stadium from January 18-21 and 23-25, from 12-8pm,
and in Alexandria for a few days after that. Admission to the
exhibition is free.
 British
football -- or soccer as it is called in other parts of the world --
is a game that may be even more of a national obsession in the UK than
it is in Egypt. It's certainly more of a big business, and that's
what this show proved beyond a doubt.
 A
sparsely laid-out floor plan covered just one of the entrance gate
areas of the indoor stadium. The cavernous space was neatly lined up
with short but colorful displays celebrating everything about the game
that the exhibit said was born in the UK. How stadiums were made, and
how every significant upgrade in stadium gear, grass and care was
invented by Brits. One exhibit featured jerseys hung up on a net. In
fact, everything was netted -- a cute interior designer's touch.
 The
showcase of the exhibit -- the actual British football experience
advertised as the slogan of the event -- is a stage-like set-up with
several actual rows of English stadium seats. The view is a giant TV
screen jumping to different birds-eye views of the action on a field,
and the surround sound speakers playing crowd noises are supposed to
transport you straight into the heart of the British football
experience. More effective, perhaps, is the virtual reality headgear
that actually allows you to see the precise view of your seat before
buying a ticket -- certainly a useful tool for stadium-going
fans.
The exhibit seemed pristine -- it
indicated that British fans were feisty and rowdy about their
favorite game and teams, but did not quite tarnish that image with
facts and figures about hooliganism, for instance. Then again, that
was certainly not the point.
Photos and text by Tarek
Atia
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