Sports in the UAE past and present.

When traditional sports in the UAE are mentioned, falconry is one of the first terms that comes to mind, as the country has always been famous for practicing this sport related to desert life. Falconry was one of the common and popular ways to spend leisure times, and till today this is the situation , as even young Emirati men are fond of falconry.
My father has always been a great falconer, and people around us head to him , so as to seek advice about falconry, for this reason I consider him as a good source that I can get trusted information about falconry in the country from. When I started a conversation with my father about falconry in the UAE, how they used to practice it in the past and what are the changes that this famous sport experiences, he had a lot of information to tell.
He told me that falconry is a sport that needs patience, bravery, skill and knowledge, so not everyone can become a good falconer. According to my father, in the past they used to practice falconry mainly, as Bedouins, to provide meat for their diet. They used to hunt hare and houbara in the first place as falcons are very good in hunting small animals, and if they are trained well they become very skillful. He added that the Sheiks in the past used to go in hunting tours visiting the different Bedouin tribes living in the desert ; they used to hunt during the day and in the evening sit with the tribe people around the campfire to talk and discuss important issues. He added that in the past the falcons were kept for years, and they were captured not bought. When he compared falconry in the past to it in the present, he said that today falconry is purely a sport, and the animals hunted by falconers are not always eaten, and if they are eaten this is not done as a main diet, but as a part of the joy of the sport. Another point that he added is that at present there are more rules that control falconry; for instance it is not allowed to keep them for the whole year, but they have to be set free after the hunting season passes.
I really enjoyed talking with my father about falconry in the UAE past and present and I think that there are more talks going to be between us about other aspects of life in the country in the past, as this is an important part of our identity that we should be aware of.


My father is Mr.Ahmed Afaider Al Rashdi.