Teeny tiny footsteps forward.
;) M
Iranian Soccer Stadium Lifts Ban on Women
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
In a taboo-breaking step in this conservative Islamic state, an Iranian soccer club has begun allowing female football fans into its stadium to watch games.
Mahdi Dadras, manager of Tehran's Paykan club, said the decision was made to allow women to watch soccer matches because its fans don't use obscene chants and their presence improves his players' morale.
Iranian authorities have long banned women from soccer stadiums because most fans direct distasteful language at opposing teams.
On Thursday, half a dozen jubilant women appeared at Iran Khodro Stadium, west of Tehran, to watch a first division league soccer match between host Paykan and the visiting Barq of Shiraz from southern Iran.
Sahar Alvandi, a 17-year-old student, was overjoyed to be one of the first Iranian women to step into a soccer stadium."My dream came true today," Alvandi told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I still can't believe I'm in a soccer stadium in the Islamic Republic where it has so far been the realm of only men in Iran."Alvandi, however, complained of looks she received from male fans which she considered offending."The men look at you as if you are a different creature from another planet," she said. "To them, a women showing up in soccer stadium is like something from the world of aliens.""
You can't deny half of the population the right of watching soccer in a stadium because some male fans say bad words. Why should women be punished for the irresponsible behavior of some men?" she asked.
Another female fan, Shaqayeq Aseyaei, said she once considered disguising herself as a boy to enter Azadi Stadium, several kilometers (miles) away, to watch the capital's derby between popular giants Estaghlal and Persepolis."But I called it off after a girl was detained temporarily and fined after she did the same," Aseyaei said.
In rare cases, Iranian authorities have allowed foreign women to attend soccer matches.
A small number of female journalists were allowed to watch a Paykan home match in recent weeks.
In Nov. 2001, a group of Irish women were allowed to attend the Iran and Ireland play off at Azadi Stadium for a berth in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup finals.
The Iranian Soccer Federation let them remain in the stadium, concluding that the Irish women "will not understand the bad language that most Iranian men use during the matches."aad-ti-pg
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