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Sunday, January 22, 2006

Political Football

Adding his voice to a confused debate on politics and sport, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solano said banning Iran from World Cup 2006 was an option "not to be excluded that could cause more than a few problems for the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".

Might cause a few problems for football fans and players as well. The annoying habit of politicians treating sport like just another arrow in the quiver of political discourse has returned.

Apparently the problem is an Ahmadinejad speech in which he remarks that Israel be "wiped off the map" and called the Jewish Holocaust a "myth". Obviously a ghastly way for a sovereign leader to speak. So it naturally follows that the global community should ban Iranian football players - many of whom currently ply their trade on German Bundesliga clubs - from participating in the World Cup. FC Koln president and former West Germany World Cup hero Wolfgang Overath started the discussion in Dec, 2005: "Such comments from a head of state are really grounds enough to exclude a country".

Maybe the real problem is political courtiers sticking their noses in affairs that are not of their concern. Like football. It's not Ahmadinejad but Mehdi Mahdavikia of Hamburg FC who will lead Iran on to the pitch and the ideas are not to be confused. Noone affiliated with the Iranian football team has made any offensive remarks about anything. Unless you count when Ali Karimi of Bayern Munich predicted (correctly in the end) a trouncing win over Arsenal last year in the Champions League. That might have just personally hurt.

Of the current crop of Iranian footballers the three most high-profile all play for professional clubs in Germany - Mahdavikia, Karimi, and Vahid Hashemian of Hanover. Part of the emerging rich multicultural fabric of German society is the influence of the east, led by bustling and energetic Turkish and Iranian communities.

Fueling freedom of expression and the emerging Iranian blogging community is an infinitely more powerful weapon than football if promoting political discourse in Iran is a goal.

And isn't football supposed to be about the fans anyway?

Iran's youth is presumed to be leaning towards the West. Much is said about the average Tehran teenager's lust for pop music, holding his girlfriend's hand in public places and partying. But he is also an avid football fan. Banning Team Melli from Germany 2006 would be no less of an insult to him than seeing his Pink Floyd cut off by that same West. The night Iran qualified for Germany 2006 was a memorable one. Iranians of all ages defied the rigid islamic morals and danced in the streets of Tehran and other major Iranian cities till dawn. Do Overath and others in the West really wish to deprive the Iranian people of these rare moments of genuine happiness? We hope not.
- Posting from group blog Iranian Truth

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