DOHA: Many nationals and expatriates did not welcome the recent decision of the Aspire Park management to ban men not wearing sportswear from entering the park. Even some families have complained having been prevented from getting into the park because male members were not wearing sportswear.
“This decision is surprising and hard to understand,” said Qatari national Ibrahim Shaheen, adding the Aspire administration has no right to intervene in personal matters such as what people should wear.
“Aspire is not only for sports but it is a public park where people come to relax and enjoy so the administration should respect families’ privacy, or they should declare Aspire Park is only for sport, in that case families can look for alternative place where children can play,” he added.
He also believes the decision would have a negative impact on Aspire just like what happened before when a similar rule was taken preventing people not wearing sportswear from coming to the Corniche, but could not be implemented. “Personal freedom should be respected,” he said.
Nasser Al Kubaisi, another citizen, said the decision was randomly taken without any study done. “This is a violation of basic rights of families and those who took the decision are foreigners who don’t know the community and just want to show off,” he said.
Ahmad Mohammad, on the other hand, agrees on the decision saying “personal freedom should be respected but the decision is to encourage people to practice sport which is good for their health and parents should act as models for their children.”
“We need campaigns to raise people’s awareness on the importance of sport but not to the extent of restricting their privacy,” said Al Kubaisi.
The Peninsula
