Chan'ad Bahraini

For most Bahraini kids, football is a passion. You can see them play under the sun every afternoon. Most don't have access to a proper pitch so they usually have to play on a sandy/rocky ground. And most of these kids have mastered the art of playing footy in the hot sand either barefoot, or wearing a sock on their striking foot.

But if there's anything these kids like more than playing footy, it has to be having their picture taken. I saw a group of young kids playing so I thought it might make for a few good photos. I started taking some shots and obviously some of the children started to take note. At first it was just one or two, and they immediately became very conscious of my presence. They started getting very involved in the game while sneaking looks at my lens whenever they could. Then one of them got quite close to scoring, but decided to do a few cartwheels and flips of joy in front of me even though he missed! Finally, after more of the kids saw me many of them forgot about their match and came running towards me to have their photo taken. I took some shots and then sent them back to finish off the match, but they wouldn't go. By the time I decided to leave I was quite literally being chased by two teams of 10 year old footballers posing and pleading for me to take more pictures. Each of them was shouting "Sawwirny! Sawwirny!" ("Take my picture!") hoping that I might give in one more time. I managed to get away, and they got back to their game.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 05, 2004 at 6/05/2004 10:14:00 pm. Permalink