For Kiana and Paria, two twentysomething women from Iran, this World Cup has been a liberating experience. For a start, the two of them have been able to do something they never have been able to do in their own country: go to a football match. In fact, earlier this year, when Paria tried to attend a game in her home city she was arrested. The charge was offending public decency. “I love sport, I love football and in Iran women can’t go to watch,” she explains. “One night I try. I go to the game and I went to jail.”
It happened in March. A rumour was circulating that the Iranian government had relaxed the strict rules preventing women from showing their enthusiasm for the sport. “We had heard it was OK,” says Paria. “We thought they were allowing us.” So she and her boyfriend headed off to see the Tehran derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal.
But it was not OK, things had not changed. Along with 29 other women who had mistakenly smelled a whiff of liberalisation in the wind, the moment she tried to go through the turnstiles, Paria was arrested and taken to the police station. Her crime?
Being a woman in an all-male environment. “I was only in the prison one night,” she says. “The police were polite to me.”
But what annoyed her most was this: she missed the match. Thus when Iran qualified for Russia 2018 last November, the two women, together with Kiana’s boyfriend Pedro, immediately bought tickets for all of their country’s group stage games.
And last week they found themselves in Saint Petersburg for the 1-0 victory over Morocco that put Iran top of Group B, ahead of Spain and Portugal. For this pair it was not just the result that made it a momentous event: this was the first time they had been allowed to attend a game live. “I have been watching football on television at home since I was a kid,” says Kiana. “I have no brother around so my father he makes me watch football. That’s why I became fan.”
And never mind that she had to travel 1,900 miles to do so, the experience of attending a match turned out to be everything she had hoped. “From the moment I walked in and see the crowd and the noise and see our players, I feel so proud,” she says. “I was thinking what’s the reason to not let the women into the stadium? What’s the point? We are like you guys, I was supporting the team like a man.”
And she breaks into a chant: “Hamle, hamle, Iran hamle [Move, move, Iran move],” putting on a deep, gruff voice. “My voice is as strong as a man,” she laughs.
Kiana and Paria are by no means alone. It is one of the ironies of this World Cup that the nation which precludes its women from watching matches has the highest proportion of female fans here in Russia. Kazan is full of female Iran supporters. They have come in their droves, not just from Tehran, but from the expatriate communities in Australia, the United States and Germany.
“Of 30,000 Iran fans here,” says Paria, “10,000 are women.” And, while they are in Russia, the pair are not just relishing the chance to watch the football. Ahead of Iran’s game with Spain, they are out exploring the old parts of the city of Kazan wearing the sort of attire that would have them locked up again in Tehran.
“We are not allowed to wear clothes like this outside, but in our homes, yes, we wear this,” says Kiana of her denim shorts and football shirt. “We do not have to wear hijab yet, but we have to have our hair covered with scarf.”
And choice of clothing is at the heart of the new form of protest in Tehran, in which the two regularly engage.
“White Wednesday, have you heard of that?” says Kiana. “We support Masih Alinejad [the founder of a social media group My Stealthy Freedom]. On Wednesday we all wear the white, men too who support us against compulsory hijab. Some women take off the headscarf, we haven’t yet. We are not quite brave enough.”
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Their choice of World Cup clothing means that, while in Kazan, the two of them are unable to visit the magnificent old mosque, which is just behind where they are standing, flourishing their Iran flags. A picture on a sign at its entrance stops women from entering in anything other than the most modest of attire. Not that they seem to mind. “Come on,” smiles Kiana. “We have lots of mosques in Iran. We don’t need to go and see another one.”
These, then, are football revolutionaries, their attendance at the World Cup an opportunity to expose the restrictions of life back home. “Football is helping a lot to change things,” says Pedro, Kiana’s boyfriend. “But it cannot do it alone. Other things have to happen. Political issues. Right now it is a tense moment in Iran. We are hoping for regime change. We cross our fingers.”
That is if they have any fingers left to cross, what with wishing for all the luck they can get ahead of Wednesday’s game with Spain. “We hope we are going to make history. We are believers,” says Kiana. “All of the players are my favourite. All of them, even our coach is the best coach ever. We are so proud of them.” And frankly they should be proud of her.
Source » telegraph