Post revolution Iran was a major change in every aspect of life in the ancient Persian Empire. Feverish revolutionary slogans carried by Iranians representative and sportsmen in particular during competitions, created many embarrassing and sometimes ugly scenes, none however can be compared to what happened in the end of Iran match against Kuwait in the quarter finals of the Asian Games in 1982.
50,000 Indian fans poured into Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi to witness an interesting encounter between a tiny rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait, and the new revolutionaries of Iran. There was no doubt about the Indian fans support, as one Indian journalist put it , it was a battle between the rich and the oppressed , the latter was a feeling that the Indians fans seemed to identify with. The interesting fact is that football is not very popular in India, but particularly not the Northern Indian states where the Capital city New Delhi is situated. This large number of turnout perhaps was perhaps more due to politics sympathies rather than sporting competition.
The match was refereed by one of the most respected Indian referees, Mr. Souter. The Iranian team quickly got the hang of the crowd’s feeling and at some stage it resembled a home game in Azadi. The match itself was a drab affair with some rough tackling exchanged between the players. Kuwait was clearly the more organized team and current Asian Cup champions, who also had recently represented Asia in World Cup 1982 in Spain. This team had gone through an upheaval with only 4 players from World Cup campaign remaining, but such major rejuvenation did not prevent Kuwait having majority of the play against an Iranian eleven short of ideas and sometimes erratic. The only positive point of Iran’s performance was the defense that stood quite well against the continuous Kuwaiti assaults and the game ended goal-less.
Extra time was called. Early in the first quarter of extra time, a foul was committed that lead to Kuwait being awarded a free kick on the left flank. The cross went over the heads of all Iranian defenders and landed on Moayyed Al Hadad head o score what was the winner and the elimination of Team Melli from the Asian Games football competition at the quarter final stage.
After the goal was scored, the Iranian players protested heavily with the Indian referee claiming a foul by the goal scorer. The goal however stood.
No sooner than the Indian referee blew the final whistle, three Iranian players ran towards the referee and attacked him in a manner which was described in all sort of humiliating remarks. Vicious, violent, inhumane and animalistic behavior was some of the words that described the misbehavior of these three Iranian players by the Indian officials and the Indian media. It was the quick action of the security forces and the Indian police that prevented serious harm to the frail Indian referee. The 50, 000 Indian fans who witnessed this incident were shocked specially after supporting Iran. The whole stadium started booing the Iranian players in unison while objects were thrown at them on their exit from the pitch. The three culprits were Mohammed Mayeli Kohan , who was identified as the instigator, Abbas Kargar and to a lesser extent , Behrouz Soltani the Goalkeeper. Mayeli Kohan was in fact substituted by coach Cheraghpour fearing that he might very well be sent off at a crucial stage of the match for Team Melli , while he was continuously protesting at the referee for allowing the goal to stand and losing concentration on the game itself. Alas, his substitution did not prevent him running from the bench across the field towards the referee after the game ended.
The Indian officials were furious as this was considered as a major insult to the Indian government and the people of India hosting the biggest ever Asian Games. The local Olympic committee considered this acts as going beyond normal angry football players’ behavior, and described it as intentional aggressive attack with intent to bodily harm a national of India in its own backyard. There were many outcries by political parties as well demanding the expulsion of the Islamic republic of Iran from the Asian Games. These demands were the consequences of several misconduct by Iranian teams and individual athletes during the games, but most of those were about displaying or shouting political and religious slogans or raising the pictures of religious and political leadership of Iran in sporting arenas, but nothing approached the intensity or the violence of these football players.
The matter even reached to a level where Indian government was seriously considering that its security forces cannot assure the safety of Iranian Athletes in New Delhi against the wrath of the crowds after the incident, which was televised live and witnessed by millions of TV viewers but particularly due to the intensive coverage of end of the game incident by the Indian media.
The incident left a very bitter taste between the Indian and the Iranian authorities, which took some time to heel. Even a few newspapers in Iran itself showed their disgust and disapproval of the players’ misbehavior and demanded investigations.
It is not clear what sort of investigation was carried out by the Islamic government or the football federation on the return of the footballers to Tehran, but both Mohammad Mayeli Kohan and Abbas Kargar were never to play for Team Melli again after that incident.
50,000 Indian fans poured into Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi to witness an interesting encounter between a tiny rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait, and the new revolutionaries of Iran. There was no doubt about the Indian fans support, as one Indian journalist put it , it was a battle between the rich and the oppressed , the latter was a feeling that the Indians fans seemed to identify with. The interesting fact is that football is not very popular in India, but particularly not the Northern Indian states where the Capital city New Delhi is situated. This large number of turnout perhaps was perhaps more due to politics sympathies rather than sporting competition.
The match was refereed by one of the most respected Indian referees, Mr. Souter. The Iranian team quickly got the hang of the crowd’s feeling and at some stage it resembled a home game in Azadi. The match itself was a drab affair with some rough tackling exchanged between the players. Kuwait was clearly the more organized team and current Asian Cup champions, who also had recently represented Asia in World Cup 1982 in Spain. This team had gone through an upheaval with only 4 players from World Cup campaign remaining, but such major rejuvenation did not prevent Kuwait having majority of the play against an Iranian eleven short of ideas and sometimes erratic. The only positive point of Iran’s performance was the defense that stood quite well against the continuous Kuwaiti assaults and the game ended goal-less.
Extra time was called. Early in the first quarter of extra time, a foul was committed that lead to Kuwait being awarded a free kick on the left flank. The cross went over the heads of all Iranian defenders and landed on Moayyed Al Hadad head o score what was the winner and the elimination of Team Melli from the Asian Games football competition at the quarter final stage.
After the goal was scored, the Iranian players protested heavily with the Indian referee claiming a foul by the goal scorer. The goal however stood.
No sooner than the Indian referee blew the final whistle, three Iranian players ran towards the referee and attacked him in a manner which was described in all sort of humiliating remarks. Vicious, violent, inhumane and animalistic behavior was some of the words that described the misbehavior of these three Iranian players by the Indian officials and the Indian media. It was the quick action of the security forces and the Indian police that prevented serious harm to the frail Indian referee. The 50, 000 Indian fans who witnessed this incident were shocked specially after supporting Iran. The whole stadium started booing the Iranian players in unison while objects were thrown at them on their exit from the pitch. The three culprits were Mohammed Mayeli Kohan , who was identified as the instigator, Abbas Kargar and to a lesser extent , Behrouz Soltani the Goalkeeper. Mayeli Kohan was in fact substituted by coach Cheraghpour fearing that he might very well be sent off at a crucial stage of the match for Team Melli , while he was continuously protesting at the referee for allowing the goal to stand and losing concentration on the game itself. Alas, his substitution did not prevent him running from the bench across the field towards the referee after the game ended.
The Indian officials were furious as this was considered as a major insult to the Indian government and the people of India hosting the biggest ever Asian Games. The local Olympic committee considered this acts as going beyond normal angry football players’ behavior, and described it as intentional aggressive attack with intent to bodily harm a national of India in its own backyard. There were many outcries by political parties as well demanding the expulsion of the Islamic republic of Iran from the Asian Games. These demands were the consequences of several misconduct by Iranian teams and individual athletes during the games, but most of those were about displaying or shouting political and religious slogans or raising the pictures of religious and political leadership of Iran in sporting arenas, but nothing approached the intensity or the violence of these football players.
The matter even reached to a level where Indian government was seriously considering that its security forces cannot assure the safety of Iranian Athletes in New Delhi against the wrath of the crowds after the incident, which was televised live and witnessed by millions of TV viewers but particularly due to the intensive coverage of end of the game incident by the Indian media.
The incident left a very bitter taste between the Indian and the Iranian authorities, which took some time to heel. Even a few newspapers in Iran itself showed their disgust and disapproval of the players’ misbehavior and demanded investigations.
It is not clear what sort of investigation was carried out by the Islamic government or the football federation on the return of the footballers to Tehran, but both Mohammad Mayeli Kohan and Abbas Kargar were never to play for Team Melli again after that incident.
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