Fight them on the beaches

The preface doesn’t really leave you in any doubt. A woman, shopping in the autumn sunshine with her young daughter, is struck on the back of her head and trampled underfoot. She has just had an unwelcome encounter with a member of that select band of psychopaths, the English football hooligan. Desert England is the latest in the growing sub-genre of sports novels about the violent underbelly of passionate support, and while there is the usual cast of foul-mouthed brawlers from various undesirable corners of Britain, the novel part of the novel is its backdrop: Dubai. 

 

Written by David Williams, a former semi-pro footballer form Wales who has lived the majority of the last decade in the Middle East, Desert England draws on his experiences of both European football hooliganism and living in Jordan and Dubai. Of course, the first question to be asked is how do you get shaven-headed lager drinkers in expensive sportswear to scrap in the notoriously disciplined United Arab Emirates? Well, that’s the premise.

 

It’s 2000. Old rivals Germany and England are fighting – diplomatically, that is – to host the 2006 World Cup. But an uncontrollable new wave of fan violence is sweeping across Europe. The British Police can do little to stop it, the ringleaders forever avoiding arrest and a special task force set up to catch the criminals, headed by Detective Inspector John Milton, having few successes in reining it in. Panicking politicians understand that, unless they so, Germany will host the lucrative Finals. Taking in Eastern Europe and Dubai, Williams takes the reader through  plot twist after plot twist leaving the readers exhilarated and challenged. But ultimately it’s simply a fun and thrilling read. 

 

David Williams: There is a famous saying from a publisher that goes: “everyone has a story in them – unfortunately” As a journalist, you do tend to fancy your chances of being published probably more than any other profession and I was no different! I felt I had a story that was a little bit different and unique so I gave it a go and the rest as they say is history!

 

DW: The book combines the two things that have been a huge part of my life – football and living abroad. I have followed football for 20 years and have lived in the Middle East for 11. I was able to draw from my own experiences and while the book is fiction there is a lot of fact-based substance in there.

 

DW: Desert England underlines the reason why many of us have left our countries to work in the Middle East. I get very frustrated with the direction that the UK is taking and some of my own grievances are clear for all to read. However, I just wanted to write a good fun book that is hard to put down.

 

DW: It is definitely a draw for anyone with an interest in either football or living in the Middle East and that means both expats and native Arabs. There is one hilarious episode early on when a British policeman is trying to get information from his Dubai counterpart and quickly learns the “Insha’allah” work ethic that we have all come across and eventually adopted! 

 

DW: There is actually a book coming out soon called ‘When Friday Comes’ which is an in depth look at the football rivalries in the Middle East. Football hooliganism is a global phenomenon because football is such a global religion. 

 

DW: The Middle East has revolutionized the way cities view and evaluate sporting events. In my opinion, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar have become global destinations because of the marketing they have done on the back of sporting events hosted there. Full respect to the authorities for putting their money where their mouths are. In Jordan we don’t have the financial resources of the Gulf, we do have visionary leadership from HRH Prince Feisal, which will lead to more bigger and better sporting events coming our way.

 

For a full version of this article, see NOX25.