Women finally allowed in stadium to watch Iran’s World Cup match
Female football fans in Iran are celebrating after authorities finally agreed to open Tehran's Azadi stadium to women, allowing families to watch a live screening of a World Cup match — after a last-minute disagreement with stadium security.
Women queued up outside the stadium in Tehran to see Iran compete against Spain after this week's announcement, ready to catch to take their seats, but were initially blocked by security claiming plans had changed due to "infrastructure issues, the BBC reported.
But a special order by Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli — after fans staged a sit-in and refused to leave — meant the women were admitted in time for the start of the match, which Spain won 1-0.
Selfies taken by women fans were shared on social media.
"I am so, so glad that my fellow Iranian women were able to be in that atmosphere, watching a game even if it wasn't live," Iranian women's rights activist Maryam Qashqaei Shojaei said.
The Islamic republic has long barred women from attending male soccer matches and other sports fixtures, partly to protect them from hearing fans swear.
In April, female football fans donned fake beards and wigs to attend a major game in Azadi Stadium.
Activist almost barred from live match in Russia
Ms Shojaei, however, struggled to gain entry to the Russian venue where the game was actually being played.
She has now vowed to step up her campaign for Iran to end its ban on women attending stadium games.
External Link: @TeamMelliIran: photo of women in stadium
The activist said security officials stopped her entering the stadium in Kazan on Wednesday, local time, with the banner she planned to raise during the game.
Ms Shojaei, who had obtained approval for her planned protest, said she eventually went into the stadium to watch the second half of the match after more than two hours speaking to security officials who told her they had put her banner in the bin.
World football's governing body FIFA said the incident was due to "a misunderstanding by the local police officers" which it had now addressed.
"The banners are considered by FIFA to express a social appeal as opposed to a political slogan and were therefore not prohibited under the relevant regulations," it said in an emailed statement.
The activist made headlines during Iran's first match against Morocco on Friday, local time, when she raised a banner in the St Petersburg stadium with the slogan: "Support Iranian women to attend stadiums #NoBan4Women".
"My banner is just a piece of cloth you can ignore, but you can't ignore the thousands of Iranian women [who] came to be at the World Cup," Ms Shojaei said.
Large numbers of Iranian women, who would be barred from watching live matches in their home country, have travelled to Russia, plastering social media with photos of themselves cheering on their team.
World Cup the wrong place for campaign, Iran captain says
Ahead of the World Cup — which is taking place in 11 cities and runs until July 15 — Ms Shojaei launched an online petition urging FIFA president Gianni Infantino to pressure Iran to end its ban.
Infantino said in May that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had told him there were plans to allow women to attend matches soon.
The Iranian group OpenStadiums, which is campaigning for women to be allowed to attend sports fixtures, said some women were arrested near the stadium in March during the Esteghlal-Persepolis match.
Iran's team captain Masoud Shojaei said on Tuesday the World Cup was the wrong place to discuss the issue, although he has previously backed lifting the ban, according to Iranian media reports.
Reuters/ABC
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