UF Quick Throw: Iran players escape ban, or so we're told

Iran's Press TV, aka State Radio, says the footballers who wore green bands of protest in South Korea WILL NOT face a ban or punishment. This decision-- if proven true-- is probably due to pressure from FIFA, which had launched an inquiry. It's a long-standing rule of the governing body to block government interference in football associations. The threat of missing out on the next Asian championship was, by all accounts, enough to sway Iran's powers-that-be-for-now.

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Forced Retirements in Iranian Football

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh. As if you didn't know.

While we don't often delve into politics around here, the situation in Iran is having a direct impact on football, and if that is what it takes to get us to pay attention, then so be it. We have already established that former (current?) president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks that the post-election protests are no worse than your typical footy-related riot. You know, improper elections, losing to Oman. Tomayto-tomahto.



See, when your country has a bit of an issue with secularity and democracy (what, you don't really believe that the Iranian president is in charge of the country, do you?), and the younger generation are increasingly embarrassed by/disgusted with the Holocaust-denying, US-baiting president, it would seem important to have fair elections. Of course, given those issues it is unlikely that a fair election would occur. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a "landslide" victory, mostly due to votes being tallied in areas that exceeded the number of registered voters in those areas. This caused hundreds of thousands to march in the streets of Tehran, resulting in the death of hundreds at the hands of the Basij.

In times such as these, clearly dangerous for protesters, no act of protest can be considered small. So the world was surprised, and impressed, when the Iranian national team wore green wristbands in support of Mousavi, the opposition candidate, during their World Cup Qualifier against South Korea last Wednesday. Sadly, we were not surprised when those same wristbands were missing in the 2nd half of that match. Clearly, an Iranian official had told the players to remove them as they were an affront to Ahmadinejad. However, those officials could not admit that the players were supporting the opposition candidate, so we were all told that the wristbands were religious symbols and that they were removed to avoid "speculation and misunderstanding."

Still, if those were truly religious symbols then the players should have nothing to fear from the Iranian government, right? Well, it turns out that those Iranian officials may been lying. I know, it's shocking!

Following the arrest of Mohsen Safayi Farahani, the former president of Iranian football, on Saturday, four of the players to have sported the green wristbands on the pitch have been given lifetime bans by the Iranian Football Federation. Ali Karimi (31 years old), Mehdi Mahdavikia (32), Hosein Ka'abi (24!) and Vahid Hashemian (32) have all been forcibly retired from the entire sport (both international and domestic competition) and it is unclear if they would have to appeal to FIFA to be reinstated if they wished to play in another domestic league. The footballing fate of other players to have worn the wristband is unknown at this time, but I would suggest treading lightly around Tehran. Mahdavikia, in particular, may want to take special care as he kept his green captain's armband throughout the entire match despite the half-time admonitions. However, none of the 4 have too many options for fleeing the country to protect themselves, as the Iranian Football Federation did not return their passports.

As the situation in Iran continues to deteriorate (people won't be happy that the Guardian Council is refusing to re-run the election), we should keep an eye on the fate of these 4 faces of the opposition movement.

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Iran Football Against The Enemy -- Latest

Look Ma, no green wristbands!!

As we reported earlier, a number of Iran footballers wore green wristbands in the first half of their WC qualifer against South Korea today in Seoul. They were forced to take them off for the second, as noted here and around the web.

Now an Iranian team official has said the players were only observing "religious tradition," and removed them to "deny any speculation and misunderstanding."

Sounds good... I mean, green was associated with Islam way before The Green Wave and Iran Election 2009. But there is one small issue. Look after the jump... lots of pics of Iran football... try to find a green wristband. (Spoiler: You won't)


This first image is from the 2006 World Cup. If you saw any of that, you should remember that no one in the Iran squad wore any religious gear. The rest of the pics were collected from across the web, from different games and dates. There's one common thread...

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UF Quick Throw: Iranian Football Against the Enemy

**UPDATE: IMAGE FROM SOUTH KOREA***

Rock the Casbah
The Iran football team and its supporters have taken the Green Wave protests with them to Seoul, South Korea, for today's World Cup qualifier. Multiple reports have traveling Iranian fans demonstrating against Friday's alleged election fraud (and so much more, of course) outside the national stadium.

Down on the pitch, a number of Iran players were spotted wearing green wristbands. They were reportedly forced to shed the colors during halftime.
***MORE images after the jump***

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False Analogies in Iran

Just to take a slight detour toward the serious, I've been watching news coverage of the post-election clashes in Iran, and all I can say is that sometimes reform is very, very difficult. I'm also thankful that I live in a country where we can bring about change without having to take to the streets.

Find out what this has to do with football after the hop.

The latest news from the NY Times is that Ahmadinejad was on television and compared the Iranian post-election protests to soccer riots:

“There will be rule of law in this country and all the people are equal before the law,” [Ahmadinejad] said. In a soccer match, he continued, “People may become excited and there may be confrontation between people and the police force. People who violate traffic violations will be fined by the police no matter who he is.”

What an interesting way to downplay the fact that you stole an election, huh? Although we take our football very seriously here, this analogy is completely off base. On the one hand, you have people fighting for freedom and democracy. On the other hand, you have a bunch of yobbos looking for an excuse to punch, kick and throw rocks. So, we will have to once again respectfully agree to disagree with "President" Ahmadinejad.

(photo: BBC)

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Football Diplomacy

More football, less Holocaust denial

The U.S. and China had ping pong diplomacy in the 1970s, could the U.S. and Iran now have a little bit of football diplomacy? That might be part of the logic behind preliminary discussions between U.S. Soccer and their Iranian counterparts to hold a friendly in Tehran in late 2010 or 2011.

In fact, a national team friendly would be the second football-related gesture aimed to bring the two nations closer. In March, the Guardian reported that Persepolis and Esteghlal, the two largest Iranian club teams, might come on a tour of the U.S.

As always, it's nice to see two countries trying to put aside their differences on the football pitch.

And, if you’ve been watching or reading the news lately, you know that Iran is holding elections tomorrow and there is a decent chance that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be unseated. This follows President Obama's historic speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. Stay tuned for this developing story.

/newspeak

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The Ayatollah Forbids Coed Soccer

Sadly, this was the closest that Farah, Atefeha, and their friends would get to the pitch.

Every once in a while we need to be reminded of how easy we have it here in the United States. For example, on Friday nights I play rec league soccer in an Over-30 Coed league. After the matches (which my team dominates, of course), I very rarely fear being arrested (unless we go out drinking afterwards) or fined several thousand dollars. Life in Iran, however, is somewhat different.


Last week top Iranian club Esteghlal scheduled a friendly match between its female club team and its male youth club team. The match was played at Marqoobkar stadium and officiated by club employees, with the youth club winning 7-0.

Now, despite the fact that President Ahmadinejad has said that it is acceptable for women to attend soccer games (something which the Ayatollah has said is completely unacceptable), virtually no one has ever even hinted that it was permissible for men and women to play against each other. In fact, religious rules in Iran forbid physical contact between unrelated males and females.

So, once they heard about this lascivious match, most people weren't too happy. In the end, 4 people were fined and suspended. Mohammad Khorramgah, who is the club's technical manager, was suspended for a year and fined$5,000. Saeedeh Pournader, the women's team head coach, was suspended for a year (but not fined? perhaps she doesn't earn any money in her position). The youth team's head coach, Mostafa Ardestani, earned himself a six-month suspension and a $2,000 fine. Ali Reza Mansourian, the manager of the club's soccer academy, was only given a written rebuke but still received a fine of $5,000.

Given the alternatives I would think these individuals feel that they got off lightly.

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