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David Beckham’s training session in Dubai was greeted warmly by adoring fans, proof of the emirate’s deep passion for football.

Benedict Sawyer argues that the international sporting events the UAE hosts are missed opportunities until Emiratis start competing in them.

To a sports fan there is little distinction between idol and icon, but to the businesses and brands that endorse the world’s leading stars the difference is crystal clear. Whereas an idol may scrawl a signature on a dog-eared match programme, an icon is a bankable commodity, his name lent to a carefully selected, sensitively procured range of products ranging from scents and sunglasses to super-yachts.

This helps to explain why one of last year’s most hyped events in Dubai — a city renowned for grand gestures and ostentatious displays of extravagance — was David Beckham’s debut for AC Milan. His arrival was the talk of the town and every logistical detail was seized upon by headline writers desperate to sate the appetite of a starstruck populus. Adidas had to order thousands of extra shirts and Karama tailors put down half finished bespoke suits all the better to glue onto synthetic football shirts the letters that actually spell out a hero’s adulation.

The match itself was a sporting irrelevance, a glorified training session in which an injury blighted Beckham barely expended a calorie, showing only rare glimpses of flair to encourage his legion of fans. It all seemed a little futile. Amid the fanfare, was there any thought for the future?

The UAE might not be able to qualify for the World Cup, but the vocal crowds and autograph hunters outside each and every Milan training session in Dubai showed that a passion for football is alive and well in the emirates. Was there not an opportunity being missed here? Surely, the Milan tour could have led to a partnership being forged between the European giants and a local club? The type of partnership that big clubs often have with small ones all over the world? These partnerships are not just vanity projects, they can facilitate player exchanges and access to top coaching. Indeed, they can even lead to greater exposure for local players to more competitive leagues. Striking up a partnership like this, or at least trying to, can hardly have hurt UAE football. But it seems it was never on the agenda.

The same preference for showbiz over substance was evident when the UAE staged the Pakistan versus West Indies cricket series in November because of security fears in Pakistan. The UAE was an ideal alternative to Pakistan; close by, fine weather and home to plenty of passionate cricket lovers.

The series may have been one-sided, but commercially it was a success, with the Pakistan Cricket Board able to fulfill its fixture commitments to the ICC and retain vital revenue through sponsorship and media rights. Indeed, with the imminent visit of Australia, it looks likely that Pakistan will make the UAE its home for the foreseeable future. But once again the hosts don’t seem to have been left a legacy. Or to have sought one.

The UAE national cricket team, despite being ranked a respectable 17th in the world, is woefully underfunded and run by an amateurish board lacking ambition and acumen. On April 4 cricketing minnows qualified for the World Cup, an achievement that will provide them with $5m of direct funding over a four-year cycle and lucrative opportunities to benefit from ticket sales, merchandising, sponsorship and media rights in playing the world’s leading sides in televised matches. The UAE was not one of these teams.

The UAE team is blessed with some talented players, but it was not given the support of contracts, a permanent coach or a thorough, professional build up to the tournament. With some forethought and financial support, local fans could have been watching their own national team compete in the country’s state-of-the-art stadia.

The Dubai Marathon provides yet another example of an alarming trend. The course was designed specifically to enable Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie to break the world record. The hype bordered on the hysterical with Adidas, for whom Gebrselassie is a brand ambassador, handing out T-shirts emblazoned with his target time as fast as they could print them.

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