Saudi women "attended a football match in Saudi Arabia for the first time," as part of reforms "spearheaded" by the kingdom’s crown prince, according to Kareem Shaheen of the London GUARDIAN. Female football fans wearing scarves and waving flags took their seats at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah for Al-Ahli’s match against Al-Batin in the Saudi Pro League. However, the women "had to enter through designated turnstiles for women and families." Lamya Khaled Nasser, a 32-year-old from Jeddah, said, "This event proves that we are heading for a prosperous future. I am very proud to be a witness of this massive change." The rest of the country's football grounds "will be ready for female fans by the beginning of the next season, including separate cafes and prayer rooms." Al-Ittihad, one of the country’s top football clubs, played in a derby game "in front of mixed spectators on Saturday." It prepared for the historic match by "tweeting an image featuring a woman’s face painted in gold, the club’s colour." The club tweeted, "Ittihad fans, male and female, are the support of this club, and success is not complete without them coming together to serve this historic entity. With you, the scene is complete" (GUARDIAN, 1/12). The BBC reported on Friday, ahead of the football game, there was "another small sign of change: the country's first car showroom dedicated to female customers was opened." At the stadium in Jeddah, female ushers "were employed to greet the women fans and their families, who loudly cheered on the local team." Both ushers and fans "wore the traditional black abaya robe." A hashtag, translated as "the people welcome the entry of women into stadiums," was used tens of thousands of times in two hours as the match took place (BBC, 1/12). In N.Y., Donna Abdulaziz reported Ruba Al Badri, a 19-year-old college student, said that, for her, it is "all about soccer." She said, "I'm a die-hard Al Ahli fan. It's only normal that we get to participate in this, too." Many turned to Twitter to "voice their opposition," calling the decision "immoral and against religion." The opposition "may have been a factor in sparse attendance" at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on Friday night. Of the roughly 10,000 seats reserved for families, around 4,400 were taken, according to official figures. Overall, around 24,000 spectators attended the game, far short of the stadium’s capacity of 60,000 (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/12).
LONG TIME COMING: In London, Richard Edwards wrote it "may be one of the hottest nations on earth but cultural shifts in Saudi Arabia traditionally come at a glacial pace." That it has taken this long is "astonishing," with "one wag on social media hailing the impact" of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying that she "hoped he was around long enough to drag Saudi Arabia into the 20th century." The 21st century, "it seems, can wait." For now, at least. Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of Int'l Studies senior fellow Dr. James Dorsey said, "It is, however, but the beginning in a country in which women remain subject to the will of their male guardians." He added, "It's too simple to reduce this to a PR stunt. This does constitute real change. The problem is that it is but the tip of an iceberg with no clear roadmap or end goal" (INDEPENDENT, 1/11).
