Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium is used to seeing hordes of red-shirted fans descend upon it given its local A-League men’s team, Adelaide United, also have the primary colour as their, well, primary colour.
But it was a different hue of red, with a slight tinge of green, that packed its stands on a crisp Tuesday night as Morocco looked to continue their fairytale run at the Women’s World Cup against the might of France.
“We are a small population here, but it's amazing to feel like we're inside Morocco, in our culture, it’s just unbelievable,” Samar, an Australian-Moroccan from Melbourne, an eight-hour drive east of Adelaide, told The National before the game.
On Manton Street, outside the main entrance, a simple portable tent had been turned into a makeshift Bedouin tent, complete with traditional linings, that served as a gathering point for Moroccans from all across Australia.
They sang. They danced. They reacquainted with old friends and made new ones alike.
“Seeing Moroccans here gathered together is such a blessing, because here in Australia you don't see many Moroccans,” Fatima, also from Melbourne, said. “When you do see one it's like a surprise, so we're very happy to see all the Moroccans here.”
Channeling a theme repeated by some of their players, her friend Safiya, from Hobart in Tasmania, a small island state off the southern coast of mainland Australia, remarked that their success was more than just for Morocco – it was for the entire Arab world.
“All the Arab nations, all the African nations - it’s not just Morocco, we’re all here together,” she said.
That the third of their traveling contingent, Aisha, also from Melbourne, is Saudi Arabian exemplified that point.
Morocco fans cheer on the team during the
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