An Idea: Future Soccer Stadium In Form Of A Phoenician Merchant Ship!

[AliArz]

My Comrades,

Part of the state-formation process of a new Lebanon, we must go beyond the basic political institutions and try to look at all aspect of what consist a "nation": from a social contract to democracy, from psychological considerations of the Lebanese individual and society to the accountability act, from our emotions, our poetry, our music to our government, our parliament, our future senate...the art of nation-building for Lebanon is vast, flexible and unique among others.

It is clear: we must think outside the box and get as creative as possible when formulating concrete points which will then become the building blocks of a new Lebanese nation.

In this thread, I would like to share with you another vision, and your feedbacks as well as opinions are greatly welcome.

Let's talk about Lebanese sports! Well, a section of it...

Take Soccer (Association Football), which is not only the most popular sporting game in Lebanon, but it is so all around the world.

As Lebanese, there are many ways how we can go abroad and represent our country with dignity, humility and humble pride.

Through the domain of international sports, we have in this form of competition one of the best way to express ourselves in a peaceful and remarkable manner.

From the Summer Olympics to the Winter Olympics, from Boxing to Basketball, we have left some marks (especially in World Basketball), but have we ever thought about the biggest "grand daddy" of them all: the World Cup (Soccer)?...

From what I see, our national Soccer team in Men and Women division are not outstanding yet (127 in Women ranking, 132 in Men ranking as of this post date), but we could make it special...

Look at the World Cup: in every edition, there is that new, fresh and dynamic team we never heard of before who became underdogs and fan favourites, such as Senegal in WC 2002, or Australia in WC 2006...

Lebanon can start off the world stage of Football in the very same way!

Among the many ideas we can think of, we must ask: how can we improve the Lebanese Football Association as it is called now, from it's image to the new stadiums to a better league?...

For example, for the national team, just like the Brazilians are called the "Auriverde" and got their brand of "Samba Soccer", or France have "les Bleus", along with their version of "Flying Football", the Lebanese brand of Football can be unique, we can have a future name for their style of game, and we can nickname them the "Sea People" or the like, meaning that the new logo for the Lebanese Football Association could be a Phoenician merchant ship!...

Why not? We can change things around...from a new head office to better colours and designs for our national Soccer jerseys...to our future mascot and the like.

In order not to throw ideas left and right, let's focus on one aspect of the project: a future Soccer stadium in Beirut, where we can watch the "Sea People" play...

Enno, in Beirut, we have many good Soccer stadiums for the clubs, and so it is throughout the whole nation.

But we can equally have one major Soccer stadium, and this could be where we host the national events for "Men and Women Football"...from a league tournament final to a friendly or competitive national game...

So let's get into the stadium idea...

How about a future Soccer stadium in Beirut, which could be constructed on the Mediteranean Seacoast???...

The first of it's kind in the world!

Most major Soccer stadiums are built in the downtown of a capital city.

If it is not on the ground, it is in the mountains (few have it though).

But us, we can build a high-tech, state of the art stadia...on the Mediteranean Sea.

It will not float, because the soon to be built concrete ground will be solid and tied to the Lebanese capital...but we can give a "floating" feel to it.

To make it more authentic, the outside architecture of the stadium can be in the form of an ancient Phoenician merchant ship.

There, people from all around the country, along with those from abroad and the Friends of Lebanon, we can go see our national team compete with others (ie: Syria, Jordan, etc).

The accomodation should be decent, with the basic elements we can find in all complex centres.

Since the underground level will be the Mediteranean Sea, I thought we could add some aquarium-like restaurants, where we can dine and see the natural beauty of Lebanon's "under the sea" type of universe...

Wouldnt it be cool to have a stadium of such, where the waves of the sea could be a blessing to this "Phonencian merchant ship" consortium?

I know it's too good to be true now, but as an idea for future references...

What are your thoughts?...

Everyone is welcome!

Ali Arz

[LebanesePride]

Youll be vilified and called a racist anti-arab christian extremist.

[Hye4Lebanon]

Ali Arz

What you wrote are great ideas to have in Lebanon. But our problem is, before we start planning our "next generation" dreams, we should start with basic infrustructre.

We have over 3 power plants, we have no power.
We are the "wettest" nation in the middle east, and we have no water.
We don't have a proper sewage treatment plants, trash dumps. Our beaches are worthless and full of trash. Our basic health care is in shambles, the only area that saw any type of investment while scamming local owners is Downtown.

They want to build the biggest resort in the middle east up in Sannine, when we can't even provide water/energy to our farmers.

I would like to see ideas that focus on today rather than tomorrow. We all want to be the next Dubai and yet we can't even have a light bulb on for 24 hours.

[AliArz]

Lebanese Pride & Hye 4 Lebanon,

Thank you both, for the early feedbacks!

Lebanese Pride,

No doubt, the Arab world is very complex, disorganized and disunited, and there is no doubt that Lebanon and the Lebanese people are very misunderstood there, especially the Lebanese Christians.

As a Lebanese, I grew up disliking myself, but then I changed.

All of us, I think we went through such period.

So far, our nationalism has not yet been concrete, so that's why we are confused and misunderstood.

The Egyptians are proud of their Pharoah heritage, the Iraqis are proud of their Babylonian heritage, and the list goes on...

We as Lebanese, wether we consider ourself to be Phoenician, Aramean, Arab, etc., we shall always be proud of our Phoenician heritage!

It is from this argument that I beleive Lebanon will be safe.

Lebanese nationalism shall be built on the Phoenician background.

Hence, the reason why I feel that the "Sea People" and Phoenician merchant ship idea will be excellent for our national Soccer team (Women and Men).

Hye 4 Lebanon,

Yes, you are right: there are more important plans we should focus on, and I am glad you mentioned them.

It inspired me to plan on writing another thread on these issues.

So no doubt, we shall all go by priorities.

But I feel like we can make the forums useful by sharing our dreams and writing them down for future references, in order to instill more hope for our nation.

In the domain of sports, I think that the Lebanese Soccer industry can go really far with great illustrations.

Indeed, the stadium is too far to become true as of now, but all is possible in the future.

I feel that it can be part of a new Lebanon, once we got the environment clear, the water rights issues done, the electricity, and all those basic requirements for the country.

Thank you both, for the critical analysis, it did help us all get on the ground with it.

More suggestions are in need from all of you!

Take good care,

Ali Arz

[AliArz]

To All,

Concerning the "under the sea" aquarium-like restaurant from the underground level of this floating future Soccer stadium, I am about to post some real life pictures of existing restaurants that are deep in the sea...I got it from a cool friend via e-mail (Henry!)...

These pictures can help us visualize and have an idea of the restaurant we can have among other stuffs under the sea and the floating stadium...

Enjoy!

[AliArz]

My Comrades,

Sorry, the pictures couldnt load, so I am posting it now.

Enjoy!

[WiseCookie]

I don't know why some members took this issue very lightly. Although it might not be a political priority, and it certainly doesn't top Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is something crucial and must be addressed especially if you have something called a ministry of sports which money is being spent on.

Basketball was a few years back a great Lebanese sport but became a franchise and many foreign players were brought in, which to an extent overshadowed the local players. I also believe the same thing is happening in the Lebanese football clubs. Other than the LFF is full of corruption and politically appointed individuals, we need a total overhaul of the sports programs in Lebanon to make them part of the educational system.

If not Football or Basketball, then why not Rugby?