I hope the great moderators allow this to be published:
South Korea just qualified as well and along with Japan and Australia advanced to the next round. Iran as the highest ranked team in Asia failed as we arguably have the strongest squads in TM history. We all know more than internal factors like the coach or players, it was the external factors in the stadium and outside that led to this result. As a hardcore fan and while visiting Iran, many years back my daughters wanted to go to "Azadi" stadium to watch a TM game in Iran. (Ironic that Azadi stadium does not allow free access for half the population even today!). Although like many of their expatriates my daughters were born and raised outside Iran, their passion for TM was/is as much as their dad. It was only then that with embarrassment I had to tell them they were not allowed to watch the matches of their TM which they could not understand.
Yesterday we watched Germany Costa Rica game to be refereed by a cast of all Women! For those of Persian Football fans who had gone along with this dark age policy, could you imagine if one of our matches was refed by 3 women? Would Iran media not show any/all scenes where the ref was running around the field?
The absurdity of these policies is combined with the silence of the fans who failed to stand up many years back for what is right and sometimes justifying the separation with excuses (oh male fans use bad language in stadium so women should be banned!). I could not help but wonder, if we were pushing harder and at least played our part back then for a change in policy, we would not be in a mess we are today? It was back in 2010 that many of us were advocating not going to stadiums unless we are all allowed to go in but we did not push hard enough not to politicize football, but the very fact that someone had decided these policies were political, and our role was to go along with it or object. . Alas the short term "fun" gave way to long term course and the snowballing effect.
Now we can discuss the next coach or merit of this or that player, but unless we address the elephant in the room what hope do we have for a divided and scarred team? Consider this just the babbling and reflection of a fan who got no joy in watching world cup but more important a torn country where the national team the source of pride for all nations, were called "BeeSharaf" or some people back home cheering for opposing team. Just wanted to get this out of my chest
South Korea just qualified as well and along with Japan and Australia advanced to the next round. Iran as the highest ranked team in Asia failed as we arguably have the strongest squads in TM history. We all know more than internal factors like the coach or players, it was the external factors in the stadium and outside that led to this result. As a hardcore fan and while visiting Iran, many years back my daughters wanted to go to "Azadi" stadium to watch a TM game in Iran. (Ironic that Azadi stadium does not allow free access for half the population even today!). Although like many of their expatriates my daughters were born and raised outside Iran, their passion for TM was/is as much as their dad. It was only then that with embarrassment I had to tell them they were not allowed to watch the matches of their TM which they could not understand.
Yesterday we watched Germany Costa Rica game to be refereed by a cast of all Women! For those of Persian Football fans who had gone along with this dark age policy, could you imagine if one of our matches was refed by 3 women? Would Iran media not show any/all scenes where the ref was running around the field?
The absurdity of these policies is combined with the silence of the fans who failed to stand up many years back for what is right and sometimes justifying the separation with excuses (oh male fans use bad language in stadium so women should be banned!). I could not help but wonder, if we were pushing harder and at least played our part back then for a change in policy, we would not be in a mess we are today? It was back in 2010 that many of us were advocating not going to stadiums unless we are all allowed to go in but we did not push hard enough not to politicize football, but the very fact that someone had decided these policies were political, and our role was to go along with it or object. . Alas the short term "fun" gave way to long term course and the snowballing effect.
Now we can discuss the next coach or merit of this or that player, but unless we address the elephant in the room what hope do we have for a divided and scarred team? Consider this just the babbling and reflection of a fan who got no joy in watching world cup but more important a torn country where the national team the source of pride for all nations, were called "BeeSharaf" or some people back home cheering for opposing team. Just wanted to get this out of my chest
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