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Tehran goes nuclear over women attending football
Iran may be in a stand-off with the west over its nuclear ambitions but one of the biggest issues gripping Tehran is whether women should be allowed to attend football matches.
Some of Iran’s most senior clerics issued rulings this week condemning a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad allowing women to sit in the stands at top matches.
A ban has been in place since the 1979 Islamic revolution but it has come under pressure as football fever has grown after Iran qualified for this summer’s World Cup in Germany. Women are also prevented from watching wrestling but have been allowed into basketball matches, which attract small crowds.
In the 1998 World Cup Iran beat the US, a feat that still inspires national pride. Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has trained with the national team and was an accomplished striker at school.
On Monday the president told sporting authorities to build special areas in stadiums where women and families could sit safely. Some supporters of the decision said the presence of women at games could calm boisterous all-male crowds.
But the reform has met strong opposition from parts of the religious establishment. Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani ruled that it was forbidden for women to see “men’s bodies even if not to gain pleasure” and suggested separate stadiums for women to watch women’s football.
Iran may be in a stand-off with the west over its nuclear ambitions but one of the biggest issues gripping Tehran is whether women should be allowed to attend football matches.
Some of Iran’s most senior clerics issued rulings this week condemning a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad allowing women to sit in the stands at top matches.
A ban has been in place since the 1979 Islamic revolution but it has come under pressure as football fever has grown after Iran qualified for this summer’s World Cup in Germany. Women are also prevented from watching wrestling but have been allowed into basketball matches, which attract small crowds.
In the 1998 World Cup Iran beat the US, a feat that still inspires national pride. Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has trained with the national team and was an accomplished striker at school.
On Monday the president told sporting authorities to build special areas in stadiums where women and families could sit safely. Some supporters of the decision said the presence of women at games could calm boisterous all-male crowds.
But the reform has met strong opposition from parts of the religious establishment. Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani ruled that it was forbidden for women to see “men’s bodies even if not to gain pleasure” and suggested separate stadiums for women to watch women’s football.
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