Iran, The Politics of Soccer

The Iranian Soccer team took the Iranian protest of the recent election to a very international level yesterday, when seven players entered their World Cup Qualifier Game against the Republic of South Korea wearing green bands symbolizing their support for reform leader Mir Hossein Moussavi. The protest also extended to the Iranian supporters who were not nearly as subtle as the Iranian players.

The protest, miniscule in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of protesters lining the Iranian streets, has given it an amazing visibility and symbolism especially in light of the growing censorship of local and international media in Iran. While the government can censor the information on their TV it would be impossible to censor the World Cup Qualifier, with soccer being the most popular sport in Iran.

The players were forced to take off their armbands in the second half as they were not part of the official uniform. The game gained even more emotional baggage when a goal from Park Ji-Sung 9 minutes from the end of the game tied the game and ended Team Mellis chances to qualify for the South African World Cup.

The Question is then, who is in a more perilous spot at the moment: the regime or the players?

It’s unlikely that a regime already ceding to some of the pressure would have the audacity, or rather the strength, to go after these soccer players which after yesterday have an even greater superstar status within the country.

This is not to take away from the players. What they did was extremely brave and courageous. It is yet another response from Iran that should give hope and inspiration throughout the world.

The real question is, how much damage can this do to the regime? It’s just armbands, right?

The Iran team, like in many countries throughout the world, holds a symbolic importance within the country that explains the government’s constant control of the team.

Sometimes the policies of the government and the team is hard to differentiate. In 2006, the team was temporarily suspended when from International play when the government backed Physical Education Organization removed Football Federation Chief Mohammed Dadkan due to the teams negative results in the 2006 World Cup. They did not make it past group play.

Dadkan reported that he had been personally abused after the teams elimination and was even called a “Zionist Collaborator”, a strong claim coming form a government that forbids competition against Israeli teams or athletes.

There were many protests prior to the 2006 World Cup calling for the removal of the team from the tournament when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the holocaust had ever happened, calling it a “myth that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets”

These remarks came months after Ahmadinejad had claimed that Israel should be '”wiped off the map”

Ultimately, it was decided that the words of the supposedly democratically elected leader did not represent the opinions of the Iranian people and much les the Iranian national team. A claim that holds even greater importance after the disputed elections and a claim made clear by the green wristbands worn by the players in support of Moussavi.