I need your help: I'm writing a long paper on Iranian Football

[Ghermez Agha]

My wildest dreams have come true.....my professor suggested to me I write about the effects of politics in Iranian football for my paper due at the end of this semester and I think I can have a good deal to talk about. The paper needs to be 17-20 pages long (double space).

The themes I can think about that I can include are:
1) the issue or sarbazi and its effect on players. (Sardar Kamali and the pooladi fiasco)
2) the minor issue we had with covering up dejagah's tattoos
3) everything that followed up from the 2010 WCQ game which AK8, Kia, kabi, etc. wore green wristbands
4) corruption and unqualified officials with no football/sports experience being implemented as football officials
5) how the sport is used to promote special interest


Are there any other themes that I missed which I can include? I know there are plenty I'm missing so I'd appreciate it if you guys can remind me.

I'll be speaking to Saeid Azari, Karim Bagheri, Vahid Taleblou, and Mehdi Rajabzadeh as well and I'll include things they have told me in the past or in my upcoming conversations with them. Also I will look to speak to Omid Namazi but given he wasn't too pleased when I posted what he said during a casual conversation a party with him (which if you guys remember was literally copy and pasted onto navads website) I wouldn't bank on him wanting to help me out.

When the paper is done if any of you want to read I'll be glad to PM/email it to you but I will 100% not publicize it as I wouldn't want to put any of those guys in any kind of danger and like I said, we all know there's eyes in Iran watching this forum.

In the meantime, again, please let me know if there is anything more I can include! Many thanks!

[pdot]

1. The IFF fiasco and getting banned by Fifa for government involvement.
2. Privatization of TV
3. Privatization of IPL

[lml]

"Revolutionary" name changes ie: Taj -> Esteghlal. I don't know of any other ones tbh.

Also if you want to look at how politics effected Iran pre-Islamic Republic, please look into the disintegration of Machine Sazi and how the Shah's personal interest in the sport helped grow its development.

[04041374]

- Privatization of Perspolis and Esteghlal (already took a few years) and their control by the government (remember Daei and Rahimi getting sacked)
- Punishments of players such as Mojahed Khaziravi and Vahedi Nikbakht and its impact on their careers
- Government involvement of Daei's sacking and Mayeli Kohan's appointment

[Nokhodi]

The refusal of IRIB to pay a reasonable amount (if any) to the league for broadcasting the games is the biggest political issue.

[Rooyintan]

You may want to read some journal/academic articles from the past in case they might help you, such as:

A Political History of Football in Iran
Author(s): H. E. Chehabi
Source: Iranian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4, Sports and Games (Autumn, 2002), pp. 371-402
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4311479
Accessed: 28/03/2010 04:40

Religion, Politics and Class:
Conflict and Contestation in the
Development of Football in Iran
BABAK FOZOONI

Sport, Health, and the Iranian Middle Class in the 1920s and 1930s
Author(s): Cyrus Schayegh
Source: Iranian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4, Sports and Games (Autumn, 2002), pp. 341-369
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4311478
Accessed: 18/09/2010 06:42

Football and Film in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Author(s): Shiva Balaghi
Source: Middle East Report, No. 229 (Winter, 2003), pp. 54-56
Published by: Middle East Research and Information Project
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559396
Accessed: 28/03/2010 04:44

ISSN 1750-9823 (print)
International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering
Vol. 05 (2011) No. 02, pp. 099-104
The Trend of Competitive Balance in Iran Football Premier League: A Survey of 1995-2009 Seasons
Salah Naghshbandi 1, Bahram Yousefi 2, Saeed Sadeghi Boroujerdi 3, Nahid Jabari 3
1 Dept of Physical Education and Sport Science, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
2 Dept of Physical Education and Sport Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
3 Dept of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

[Tehranto]

Making Persepolis TV games "Black and White" during the 2009 Iranian election protests to not show any green (Support for Mir Hossein Mousavi)

[AIrani]

Most of my posts have been discussed, however, I will mention them again.

My advice is to keep your long paper or writing short. The whole idea is to have an effect. Long reports are ignored.

State WHY government or governments should stay out of sports. Talk about the spirit of sport, one or two paragraphs.

Discuss WHY government or governments must not control broadcasting rights.

Let sport teams or management be INDEPENDENT of government (or government agencies).

[KeonKish]

talk about how historical teams like bargh shiraz, naft abadan, abomooslem, etc etc are underfunded and teams with more government friendly names are given more funds.

perhaps talk about how famous footballers are turned into public figures.

maybe about the name changes of certain teams and controversy (piroozi--->perspolis), removal of faravahar from its logo.

please send me your paper when you write it, i am very excited to read your work.

[Hosseini]

You can also talk about the political tension between Iran and Saudis/Arabs. Proxy wars and clashing interests throughout the region have led to massive polarization, currently pouring into issues like football that should be kept separate from politics.

1. How Saudis refused to come to Iran for ACL and have stated they wont come for WCQ.
2. Bahrain waived the Saudi flag during 2002 WC qualification.
3. Airport issues in Saudi Arabia, unnecessary fingerprinting and security checks to give Iran players a hard time.

Send me a copy as well! Very interesting and relevant topic. Thanks for sharing

[bozghaleh]

Don't forget about the chronic problem of friendlies getting cancelled, and the 2006WC with Israeli/Jewish protestors ( I remember seeing busloads of them).

[bozghaleh]

Also need to touch on women's issues (uniform, permission to leave the country, fans prohibited from watching)

[Rooyintan]

Some past and present issues.

1. Despite the friendship between the Pahlavi regime and Israel, Iran vs Israel was always the match which Iranian people wanted to see Israel hammered and then had mass celebrations. Back in those days every Arab from neighbouring countries would celebrate Iran's victory as well. Iran withdrew from 1964 Asia Cup in Israel as well.
Then in the 1980-2003 (Iraq),1984-present(Saudi Arabia),2001-present(Bahrain) became new opponent teams that Iranian would celebrate in mass after every victory.

2. It is very strange that two neighbouring countries such as Iran and Turkey have not played eachother in a Full-International since 1969!!! Bosnia has replaced Turkey as the European team which Team Melli has played the most.

3. Isolated Iran, even in 1980-1988 Iran was so isolated, Iran's friends such as Algeria, Syria, Libya would only send Club sides or Military or B teams to Tehran for friendly tournaments. North Korea would send an XI side not full national team either. Bulgaria, East Germany, Poland and Romania only sent club teams or youth teams. Only Pakistan and Ghana sent national teams, Ghana's was not their best players either! Nowadays Iran's friends such as Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Korea, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador don't send their national teams to Iran for friendly match.

4. No European national team has come to Iran since November 2009 which was Macedonia!

5. Asia - Everyone wants to see Iran eliminated from tournaments.

[Ghermez Agha]

Thank you all for all of your responses you all brought up some great points....definitely made this easier for me thanks a ton!

[Iran007]

My wildest dreams have come true.....my professor suggested to me I write about the effects of politics in Iranian football for my paper due at the end of this semester and I think I can have a good deal to talk about. The paper needs to be 17-20 pages long (double space).
The themes I can think about that I can include are:
1) the issue or sarbazi and its effect on players. (Sardar Kamali and the pooladi fiasco)
2) the minor issue we had with covering up dejagah's tattoos
3) everything that followed up from the 2010 WCQ game which AK8, Kia, kabi, etc. wore green wristbands
4) corruption and unqualified officials with no football/sports experience being implemented as football officials
5) how the sport is used to promote special interest
Are there any other themes that I missed which I can include? I know there are plenty I'm missing so I'd appreciate it if you guys can remind me.
I'll be speaking to Saeid Azari, Karim Bagheri, Vahid Taleblou, and Mehdi Rajabzadeh as well and I'll include things they have told me in the past or in my upcoming conversations with them. Also I will look to speak to Omid Namazi but given he wasn't too pleased when I posted what he said during a casual conversation a party with him (which if you guys remember was literally copy and pasted onto navads website) I wouldn't bank on him wanting to help me out.
When the paper is done if any of you want to read I'll be glad to PM/email it to you but I will 100% not publicize it as I wouldn't want to put any of those guys in any kind of danger and like I said, we all know there's eyes in Iran watching this forum.
In the meantime, again, please let me know if there is anything more I can include! Many thanks!

Here is a topic I would address if I was writing on this topic.

The issue of how post islamic revolution iran has been isolated and sanctioned. As a result this has put iran football in isolation. Iranian domestic coaches have become obsolete and distant from the trainings and classes needed to bring them closer to modern-day football and yet, they need to continue to coach in order to survive.
As a result, they make life misrable for any qualified foreign coach that comes to iran.
As a result, Iranian players are suffering the consequences of this unhealthy behavior by old and traditional local coaches...

A- They are not being trained by up-to-date coaches at the club level
B- They are not being given the proper tools needed to grow at NT level bc Iranian coaches inside of iran make it impossible for a foreign coach to come to iran and do the work needed to advance.