In an oasis in the Cherifian kingdom on the edge of the Sahara, these nomads beat a ball of wool with sticks of palm wood. They play in the sand an ancient game, “mokhacha” in the local Arabic dialect of the Hassanis.

It’s arena hockey played to kill time. It is part of the Saharan tradition.

“Our ancestors played this game in their spare time, when they traveled in caravans and stopped to rest. They made the ball out of camel wool and the sticks out of palm wood. There was no set time for the game, they played until get tired, and it stopped,” explains Hamza Boudan, an arena hockey player.

This meeting took place on May 1 during the recent international festival of nomads in the city of M’hamid El Ghizlane, in the south of the country. Opportunity to revive this centenary sport.

“The ball is made of camel wool, the same material used to make nomadic tents, and the base, called ‘the mokhach’, is carved from palm wood,” says Hamza Boudan.

Arena hockey or nomad hockey is passed down from generation to generation. And it is part of the ancestral heritage of the region. In danger, little by little he falls into oblivion.

“It is an ancestral inheritance that is transmitted from father to son. We have been playing it for years, sometimes in two teams of five players each, one white and one blue, other times with four players per team”, says Hamadi Boudani, an arena hockey player.

It remains to perpetuate this game that is as old as ice hockey according to the UK-based hockey museum. Forms of arena hockey are also practiced in Ethiopia and Tunisia in particular.