When a person I am very fond of moved with his family from Istanbul to Vitoria a few years ago, I asked him, surprised, if he wasn’t going to get bored. And he told me that there is a time in life, when children are young, when boredom is the perfect medicine. Much more so if for contemplating the shrews – except when you are working – they pay you at the price of gold (or, in this case, oil), as happens with the footballers who have gone to the SPL (Premier League of Saudi Arabia).
The elite (Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema…) live in fabulous chalets (the word falls short to define them), with all the service they want, their own cinema and gym, chefs from Michelin star restaurants who go to make them lunch if they don’t feel like eating a Peking duck with beluga caviar in Hakkasan or Novikov for 700 euros. In return they are only asked to play the appropriate matches and promote with more or less feigned enthusiasm the wonders of the SPL, the city in which they live and, of course, the country. Despite the protests of the most conservative and retrograde elements of an already conservative and retrograde society, it is even okay for their wives or girlfriends (like Georgina Rodríguez, from CR) to post photos in bikinis enjoying themselves on their Instagram accounts. of the pool (an essential element of the package, because temperatures sometimes exceed 50ºC). They have their private jets parked at the Yida airport, which they use as taxis to travel to Paris, London, Los Angeles or New York.
To recruit foreign players – there are not only world-renowned ones but also ordinary ones – potential candidates are subjected to a series of tests in order to evaluate their “adaptability”, ensure as much as possible that they will be happy. , they are not going to be shocked or criticize the non-compliance with human rights or the oppression of women and homosexuals, for example. Those who pass the test receive a tour of the complex in which they are going to live, as if they were buying a townhouse, and find the refrigerator full of all the imaginable snacks so that they have a good initial impression. They will spend the duration of their contract in the equivalent of a Club Med or similar, with their own supermarket, playgrounds, restaurants, plane tickets to spend a few days in their countries if they feel homesick, a club car at their disposal and help for the education of their children. A little boring? Sure, but it’s worth it to many.
In one of the best teams in the Premier League, the players can call a kind of butler twenty-four hours a day to attend to any desire or need (many do not speak English when they arrive), either explaining how hot water is or getting them hot water. a package of condoms. In Al Hilal or Al Ahli that is nothing, even the most absurd whim deserves immediate attention.
And one more thing… You don’t even have to live in the country! The English Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson, coach and captain of Al Ettifaq, live in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, which is separated by a bridge from Saudi Arabia and where alcohol flows freely and you can show your legs if you want. The stadium is half an hour from their homes, much less than in Liverpool, there is a British school, a magnificent beach and a rugby club whose gin and tonics have an excellent reputation among expatriates.
It is true that nightlife is not plentiful, and in the countryside sometimes there are not even a thousand spectators. Boredom? Long live blessed boredom!
