The Shotgun Blog
« Better Late Than Never | Main | CTV NewsNet: Manning won't run »
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
I am Woman, Hear Me Do a Mindless Sports Fan Chant
Women in Iran will be barred from attending soccer games, in the month leading up to their team's participation in the World Cup, to be held in Germany, in June. The decision is a reversal of a previous one:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ruled in April that he would allow women to go to soccer games and sit in a separate section of the stands. He wanted to "improve soccer-watching manners and promote a healthy atmosphere."
But Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who under the Islamic Republic's constitution has the final say — opposed the move.
Wow. If you're anything like me, your first thought when you read this was, "There are women on this planet who want to watch sports?"
Read the story.
Cross-posted at Wonkitties.
Posted by wonkitties on May 17, 2006 in Sports | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e200d8348b115753ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference I am Woman, Hear Me Do a Mindless Sports Fan Chant:
Comments
And that is how the Iranian government deals with its own people.
Posted by: self | 2006-05-17 1:59:28 PM
I have a sport for you in the guise of a new drinking game.
Every time you hear a western feminist lefty decry the sad state of women's rights in muslim countries, take a drink.
We could call this game the "New Temperance Movement."
Posted by: Warwick | 2006-05-17 2:39:51 PM
The tale itself is instructive....pay attention and learn.
Posted by: PGP | 2006-05-17 3:02:15 PM
These women are simply looking for any reason to get out of tent and do anything that isn't cooking and grovelling at your husbands feet.
The words 'soccer-mom' are unheard of in the Muslim world
Posted by: Duke | 2006-05-17 3:09:43 PM
Here's something to bend it like Beckham.
Israel has a much superior soccer team to Iran, yet is not in the World Cup.
Why? Because during regional qualifying, countries like Iran did not allow the Israeli team to enter the country during games. Something about sons of pigs and dogs, I believe.
Many of the ME countries also refuse to give visas to Jewish players on visiting team's rosters.
So, Israel was forced to qualify in the much more difficult European Group, where they were badly outmatched.
Congratulations, you cheatin' intolerant idiots in Iran and other places. Kept those sons of dogs, apes and pigs off the pitch in Germany.
Hang on now. The World Cup is being played in .... Germany.
Oy Vay! (Did I get the spelling right this time?)
Posted by: Set you free | 2006-05-17 4:03:10 PM
Aren't women in Iran oppressed enough without having to watch an idiotic sport like soccer?
Posted by: ProudtobeaRedneck | 2006-05-17 9:34:40 PM
Set you free, Israel is not playing in the Asian qualification system. They are not considered part of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation)
They play as a European team within the European leagues, system or whatever (EUFA - European union football association).
Posted by: Winston | 2006-05-18 1:54:21 AM
Winston:
Right. And the reason, even though they are geographically located among the ME countries is that their neighbours consider them to be sons of monkeys, pigs, dogs and Rapunzel.
BTW, it’s UEFA as in the UEFA Cup.
Redneck:
Soccer is not as sissy a sport as people would like you to believe.
My father played soccer as a youngster and had to spend three months in a hospital after somebody kicked him in the ankle.
Posted by: Set you free | 2006-05-18 9:51:14 PM
Agreed!
Posted by: Winston | 2006-05-19 2:33:13 AM
The women in Iran are more than half the population. If they do not like the situation, then they should vote their current idiot leader out of government and separate their religion from their state. If they cannot get collective and creative, then that's their problem. We have more pressing issues here, such as how to keep the beer flowing at Soccer games, and keeping sharia outta CANADA!
Posted by: Lady | 2006-05-19 11:03:26 AM
I'd have assumed that after the Taliban's example in Afghanistan, Women would not want to be anywhere near a soccer pitch in any Muslim country...
Lady,
The elections in Iran are fixed and thus women are not able to vote anyone out of anything.
Posted by: Warwick | 2006-05-19 12:39:17 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.