Iranian soccer

In Persepolis, we have learned a bit about Iranian culture. It's been difficult for me to understand the oppression that Iranian citizens face because I can't relate to it at all, so I decided to research another cultual aspect--soccer.

Some history: The first year Iran played in the World Cup was in 1978, shortly before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution, soccer was sort of ignored because there were so many awful things taking place. In the 1980's Iran didn't even try to get a spot in the World Cup, and they didn't qualify again until 1998. That year, they played against the U.S. and won 2-1. It was a really important game because there were such tense relations between the two countries. The teams wanted to show that they were peaceful towards each other and exchanged flowers before the game.

Here is a link to an article about the match, written by Tom Vater:

http://www.tomvater.com/iran/world-cup-retrospective-axis-of-evil-match-usa-vs-iran-1998/

I thought this article was really interesting. I think Vater is from Britain, and he visited Iran to watch the match on T.V. Just in case you don't want to read the whole article, here is an important quote about after Iran won the game: "One fan told me, ‘This is the first time we have had a street party since 1979. It’s a great victory for us. But this is also a political demonstration. We are showing the government that we have power." 


It's sad to think that it was the only time Iranians really got to have much fun, but I also think it's awesome how countries all over the world can be connected by something as simple as soccer. That shows that Iranians aren't really that different from Americans. They get excited over sports, and so do we.


Here is a video of the players exchanging flowers:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvbMpUBMrns


The flower part is towards the beginning and the rest is just highlights, but the first goal is sweet so you should at least watch until that part.


I also looked up women's soccer in Iran. I was pleasantly surprised to find that women are allowed to play soccer, although something really bizarre is that the players have to wear a thing on their heads called a hijab. 


Here is a picture:





It seems so unfair that girls have to wear those even when they are playing sports! That would be really uncomfortable. That's just another example of how oppressive the government of Iran is.


Learning about Iranian soccer made me think of the country differently. Because of the way Iran is portrayed by the American media, a lot of Americans think Iranians are sketchy or scary. When I think of them as soccer players, they don't seem scary at all. They seem just like me!


Source: Wikipedia