 |
| After 40 years in Iran, women are allowed to watch matches in stadiums |
According to Iran's state media, this is the first time since the country's Islamic revolution in 1979 that women have attended a local league match at the stadium.
On Thursday night, around five hundred women sat in Azadi Stadium in Tehran and watched the match.
Due to religious restrictions imposed by the country's government, women could not attend men's matches.
Sara Khudiari, 29, who was on trial for trying to watch a men's match, set herself on fire in 2019, leading to her death. After the uproar that resulted from the incident, the government had shown some leniency.
Khuda Yari became known as the 'Blue Girl' for the team she supported and as she became an example of the struggle for women's rights.
Several Iranian websites claim that the decision to include women in Thursday's match came after international pressure. They claim that FIFA, the world governing body of football, had written a letter to Iran asking them to allow more women to come and watch matches in the stadium. They were told that barring women from watching matches was against the status of international football.
Among the fans who came to watch the match between Istiqlal and Mes Kerman teams, women and men were seated separately. During the match, the fans waved the flags of the teams, wore the colors of their favorite teams and chanted 'Blue Girl' in memory of God Yaari.
A number of messages were also posted on social media in memory of God Yaari with #Blue_Girl.
A social media user wrote, "Blue Girl sacrificed her life so that more Blue Girls could enter the stadium."
Although women are not officially banned from going to watch matches in Iran, they are prevented from entering the stadium.
Women in Iran have seen international matches from the stadium before, but could not watch the matches of local teams.
The previous men's match that women could watch from the stadium was a World Cup qualifier match three years ago.
In 2018, several women were barred from entering the stadium to watch football matches, while several women managed to watch the matches with fake hair and beards.
0 Comments