A Political History Of Football In Iran

IranianStudies,volume35, number4, Fall2002
H. E. Chehabi
A Political History of Football in Iran*
IN LATE1997 IRANIAN
FOOTBALL
MADEINTERNATIONAL
HEADLINES.
IN AN arti-
cle on the Islamic summitheld in Iran,The Economistwrote thatalmost "any-
thingcan become a politicalfootball in Iran,includingfootball."'This attention
was precipitatedby the politicalramificationswithinIranof the nationalteam's
tie againstAustraliain Melbourneon November29th, which securedit a place
in the 1998WorldCupin extremis.Since then,majorinternational
soccergames
have often given rise to massive street demonstrationsby young people. That
football shouldcause so muchexcitementin Iranis not astonishingif one looks
at it from a global perspective. Football is a game in which each team works
togetherto tryto occupy as muchof the "territory"
of the otheras it can, culmi-
nating in attempts symbolically to "conquer"the other side's stronghold by
kicking the ball into the goal.2The playing field thus becomes a metaphorfor
the competition between communities, cities, and nations: football focuses
group identities. The excitement that the game generates in Latin America is
well known; Hondurasand El Salvador even waged a brief "soccer war" in
1969.'
But ask any Iranianwhat Iran's national sport is, and the answer will be
"wrestling,"a discipline whose historyin Irangoes back more thana thousand
H. E. ChehabiteachesatBostonUniversity.
'1 would like to thank KamranAghaie, Peter Alegi, Mehdi Bozorgmehr, Michel
Chaouli,SadreddinElahi,ParvizGhelichkhani,NajmedinMeshkati,SharifNezam-Mafi,
Philippe Rochard, Leyla Rouhi, ManouchehrSabeti, Cyrus Schayegh, Sunil Sharma,
Asghar Shirazi, Amir Soltani, and Mostafa Zamani-Niafor their help and suggestions.
All interpretations
aremine.
1.TheEconomistDecember13, 1997:37.
2. R.W. Pickford,"Aspectsof the Psychology of Games and Sports,"BritishJournal
of Psychology 31 (1941): 285. For an analysis of how military metaphorspervadethe
language of football see Rainer Kuster, "Kriegsspiele-Militarische Metaphern im
Fuf3ballsport,"
Zeitschrift
jir Literaturwissenschaft
undLinguistik28 (1998): 53-70. See
also ChristianBromberger,"Ou il est question de guerre,de vie, de mort, de sexe, de
I'autre,"chap. 15 in Le Match de football: Ethnologie d'une passion partisane a Mar-
seille, Napleset Turin(Paris,1995).
3. For a discussion of the bellicose dimensionof football see Simon Kuper,Football
against the Enemy (London, 1995). For an interesting perspective on the short war
between El Salvadorand Hondurassee RyszardKapuscinski,"TheSoccer War,"in The
Soccer War,trans.William Brand(New York, 1990), 157-84. For a studyof football in
LatinAmericasee Tony Mason,Passion of the People? Football in SouthAmerica(Lon-
don, 1995).

372 Chehabi
years,comparedto the centurythatencompassesthe presenceof footballin the
country.Until the introduction
of Westernsportsandphysicaleducation,Iranian
sportsconsisted on the one handof the variousfolk games specific to different
provinces,4and on the other,of the exercises, includingwrestling,practicedin
the zurkhanehs,urbangymnasia found almost everywhere in Iran.5The only
nativeteamgameof any importancewas polo, whichhadthrivedunderthe Saf-
avidsbutdisappeared
duringthe troublesthatfollowed theirdemise in theeight-
eenth century,only to be revived as a British importin the late Qajarperiod.6
Physical exercises in Iran were therefore mostly individual in nature,which
struckIranianmodernistsas symptomaticof the individualismandlackof coop-
erativespiritthatis commonlyascribedto the "nationalcharacter"
of Iranians,7
leading themto makethe popularizationof team sportspartof theiragendafor
change. Nonetheless, until the mid-1960s freestyle wrestling, which resembles
traditionalIranianwrestling and was therefore readily adopted by Iranians,
8
remainedIran's most popularsport. Iran'sgreatestsportslegend, Ghulamriza
Takhti,was a championin thatdiscipline,andtodayin Irannot only sportshalls
but also manyfootball stadiumsarenamedafterhim.9Freestylewrestlingis the
disciplinein which Iranianshave won the greatestnumberof medalssince they
startedcompetinginternationallyat the 1948 LondonOlympics, yet Iran'sfirst
place in the 1998 world championships,held in Tehran,caused far less excite-
ment in Iranthan the country's mere participationin the 1998 soccer World
Cup:"nationalismpeaksbecause manyconsidercollective actiona truertest of
a country'sspiritthanindividualtalent.'0l?
Given the IslamicRepublic'spersis-
tentattemptsto keep globalcultureat bay, the widespreadpopularityof football
in Irancalls forsomeexplanation.
Football is by far the most popular sport in the world, and scholarly
attemptsto make sense of this popularitygo back almost a century."In a very
basicsense,footballembodiesmodemity:
4. Ghulamhusayn
Malik-Muhammadi,
Varzishha-yisunnati,bumiva mahalli(Tehran,
1364/1986).
5. See PhilippeRochard'sarticlein thisissue.
6. See H. E. Chehabiand Allen Guttmann,"FromIranto all of Asia: The Originand
Diffusionof Polo,"in SportinAsianSociety:PastandPresent(London,forthcoming).
7. Ali Banuazizi,"Iranian'NationalCharacter':A Critiqueof Some WesternPerspec-
tives,"in PsychologicalDimensionsof NearEasternStudies(Princeton,1977),210-39.
8. See, for instance, Curtis Harnack,Persian Lions, Persian Lamb:An American's
Odysseyin Iran(New York,1965), 121-137.
9. H. E. Chehabi, "Sportand Politics in Iran:The Legend of GholamrezaTakhti,"
InternationalJournal of the Historyof Sport 12 (1995). AlthoughI triedto analyzethe
legend objectively, I was myself misled to some extent by the hagiographicnatureof
some of my sources. For an insider's accountof how the legend was createdby Iranian
oppositionists,see MahdiSharif,"Azinsantaustiirah,"
Iraniyin-i Vashangtun
2 (1998).
10.JanetLever,SoccerMadness(Chicago,1983),29.
11. See for instance G. T. W. Patrick,"ThePsychology of Football,"TheAmerican

A Political Historyof Football 373
Nineteenthcenturyindividualismfound in the spiritof the club a cer-
tain compensationfor its solitude; democracy has visibly diminished
the bordersbetween [socio-economical]milieux, [new modes of] trans-
portation have lifted the limitations imposed by vital spaces. The
popularity of a local, national, and internationalathletic game that
allows for restrainedmasculineaggressivityandtechnicalskill to mani-
fest themselvesin inoffensive enterprises,thatoffers sensible andmod-
eratesatisfactions,andthatallows the developmentof "nationalist"
and
"regionalist" cults without grave consequences is especially well
adaptedto this new world.Footballis a game of this sort...A technical
culturevaluesteamwork.'2
While this may be an overly optimisticassessmentof the "inoffensiveness"
of football fever, writtenbefore hooligan violence became an everyday occur-
rence, the social transformationsthat favored the popularity of football in
Europealso took place in Iran(and the rest of the Middle East), only later;the
transition from wrestling to football as Iran's most popular sport therefore
reflects the social and political changes thathave occurredin the country.It is
striking how this shift in tastes is congruentwith the Durkheimiannotion of
transitionfrommechanicto organicsolidarity:wrestling,in which all athletesdo
the same thing, has an elective affinity with mechanic solidarity,which is the
solidaritybroughtaboutby the resemblanceof the membersof a group, while
football(andotherteamsports)typifies organicsolidarity,namely,solidarityon
the basis of a complementarityderiving from the division of labor.'3Christian
Bromberger,the Frenchanthropologistwho has writtenextensively aboutboth
Iranand football, observedthat"footballvalues team work, solidarity,division
of labour, and collective planning-very much in the image of the industrial
world which originally producedit,"'4but cautionedthat football "also under-
lines the role of chance, of cheating,of a judgementthatcan be arguedabout,
i.e., thereferee's.',,1
My aimin thisarticleis notto give a historyof Iranianfootball, 16norto
presentan anthropologicalstudy of it, but to analyze the interplaybetween the
popularization
of football,social change,statepolicies, andpoliticstoutcourt.
Journalof Psychology14 (1903): 104- 117.
12.F. J.J. Buytendijk,LeFootball: Uneetudepsychologique(Paris,1952),48-49.
13.See EmileDurkheim,TheDivisionof Laborin Society(New York, 1984),31-87.
14. ChristianBromberger,"Footballas world-view and as ritual,"French Cultural
Studies6 (1995): 296.
15.ChristianBromberger,"De quoi parlentles sports?"Terrain(1995): 6. See also his
"Football,drame,societ6,"Sport(150): 12-19.
16. Inrecentyearsa plethoraof books has come out thatdocumentalmostevery single
game played in Iran.See BahramAfrasiyabi,Sardaran-ipiabih tuip:Tartkh-imusavvar-i
futbal dar Iran az iaghaiz
ti jadm-i
jahdnf-yi 1998 Faransih, 2 vols. (Tehran,1377/1998);

374 Chehabi
TheIntroduction
of Western
Sportto Iran
The introductionof Westernsportsin Iranis not well documented.At the Dar
al-Funun,the firstmodem school, which was establishedin Tehranin 1851, the
Europeanofficers on the teaching staff made their Iranianstudents exercise
regularly.Forthis purpose,the school's theater,which had neverbeen used for
dramaticperformances,was transformedinto a gymnasium.Like so manyother
cultural innovations, various forms of modem physical exercise also reached
Iranthroughthe military.A German-educated
officer by the nameof Giranma-
yah taught FriedrichLudwig Jahn's gymnastics at the old MilitaryAcademy
(Madrasa-iNizam),'7in the GendarmerieSwedish officers taught Per Henrik
Ling's Swedish method,'8and at the school of the Cossack Brigade Russian
gymnasticswas taught.
'9
The utility of physical exercise for nationalprogressbecame a matterof
public discussion after the constitutionalrevolutionof 1906. Persianpublica-
tions, both inside andoutsideIran,stressedthe importanceof sportandphysical
exercise for creatinga healthy nation that could revive the glories of ancient
Iran.20
In 1916,a manwho canbe called the fatherof modemsportsin Iran,Mir
MahdiVarzandah,returnedto Iranfroma lengthystay in Belgium andTurkey,
and began teaching physical education in Iranianschools. He met with resis-
tanceat first,but in 1919 the ministerof education,Nasiral-Mulk,madephysi-
cal educationpartof the official curriculumof Iranianschools.2'In June 1921,
Kavah,theinfluential
journalpublishedin Berlin,wrote:
Inthe opinionof those who have immersedthemselvesin the secretsof
nations' progress,[sport]is one of the maincauses of nationalpower,
progress, independence,civilization, nationalsurvival, and especially
chastityandseriousnessof purpose,andis the originof bothindividual
andsocial virtues.Playingballs with the hands,butespecially withthe
feet, horse riding,rowing,hunting,fencing, polo, andsledging... .have
a huge importancein the lives of Europeans,and a direct connection
with theirprogress.It is not for nothingthatmanylearnedpeople have
Husayn Yikta and MahmudNurinizhad, Tiarkh-ifutbal-i irdn (Tehran, 1378/1999);
Hamid-RizaSadr,Rtizi,razigdri,fu-tbal(Tehran,1379/2000), 15-90; andMahdicAbbasi,
Futbal-iIran:Tdrtkh-i
mustanadvamusavvar(Tehran,1380/2001).
17.OnJahn,see HorstUberhorst,
ZuruckzuJahn(Bochum,1969).
18. On Ling, see Carl Diem, Weltgeschichtedes Sports und der Leibeserziehungen
(Stuttgart,1967), 793-795 and JanLindroth,"TheHistoryof Ling Gymnasticsin Swe-
den.A ResearchSurvey,"Stadion19-20 (1993-94).
19. Abulfazl Sadri, Tdrtkh-ivarzish (Tehran, 1340/1962), 138-139. Sadri calls the
Russianmethodzakulski,whichin all probabilityrefersto Sokolgymnastics.
20. See CyrusSchayegh'sarticlein thisissue.
21. Sadri,TdrTkh-i
varzish,138-139.

A PoliticalHistoryof Football 375
said that"thesecretof the grandeur,power,andprogressof the British
is football,i.e., playingballwiththefeet."22
In spite of the special place thatfootball occupied in the modernistimagi-
nation,when the Iranianparliamentpasseda law in 1927 authorizingthe minis-
try of education to introduce compulsory daily physical education in public
schools,23the system used was the calisthenics developed in Sweden by Per
HenrikLing, which became known in Iranas varzish-isa'idT, "Swedish exer-
cises." Shortly thereafter,a physical education teacher training college was
establishedunderthe directorshipof Varzandah,and it operateduntil 1934.24 It
seems that the clergy and religious opinion opposed the 1927 measure,as the
exercises strucksome traditionalpeople as frivolous inasmuchas they resem-
bleddancing.25
Competitive Western athletic games were introducedto Iranby Iranians
returningfrom Europe and by Europeansliving in Iran. As elsewhere in the
world, Britishexpatriatesplayed a majorrole in the introductionof football to
26
Iran. In the OttomanEmpirethe first football games hadbeen played by Brit-
ish residentsandnon-Muslims,27
andin Iran,too, the first recordof any football
game thatI have foundinvolved Britishexpatriatesin Isfahanplayinga teamof
Armeniansin 1898. The sons of the prince-governorof the province, Zill al-
Sultan, watched and then took to the game, which they found more enjoyable
28
than cricket. But as far as the general public was concerned, football was
22. "Khiyaldt,"Kdvah,n.s. 2 (1921): 1, emphasis added. Iranwas of course not the
only countryin which reformersassociatednationaleffeteness with insufficienttaste for
physical exercise. For the case of Francesee Eugen Weber,"Faster,Higher,Stronger,"
chap. 11 in France, Fin de Si&le (Cambridge,1986). For India,see JohnRosselli, "The
Self-Image of Effeteness:Physical Educationand Nationalismin 19thCenturyBengal,"
Past andPresent86 (1980): 121-48.
23. Forthe text of the law see Ta'lim va tarbiyat3 (1306/1927): 1;or Sadri,Tarikh-i
varzish, 139. For a glimpse of Ling's reception in Iransee M. M. T. T. [Muhammad
MuhitTabataba3i?], "Ling:shacirva varzishkar1776-1839," Amuzishva parvarish 10
(1319/1940): 15-16, 58.
24. Sadri,TiarTkh-i
varzish,140, 142.
25. Sadri,Tdrtkh-i
varzish,139,andDiinish-ivarzish2 (1367/1989):43.
26. On Britain'sexportof footballto the restof the worldsee Allen Guttmann,Games
& Empires:ModernSportsand CulturalImperialism(New York, 1994), 41-70; James
Walvin, "Britain'sMost DurableExport,"chap.2 in ThePeople's Game: TheHistoryof
Football Revisited (Edinburghand London, 1994), 96-117; andTony Mason, "English
Lessons,"chap.2 in Passion of thePeople, 15-26.
27. KurthanFi?ek,"Thegenesis of sportsadministration
in Turkey,"in HorstUeber-
horst,ed., GeschichtederLeibesiibungen
(Berlin,1989),6: 626.
28. WilfridSparroy,Persian Childrenof the Royal Family: TheNarrativeof an Eng-
lish Tutorat the Courtof H. I. H. Zillu's-Sultan,G. C. S. I. (London,1902), 255-56. 1am
gratefulto JohnGurneyforbringingthisbookto my attention.

376 Chehabi
introduced to Iraniansthrough three conduits of modernization:missionary
schools,theoil industry,andthemilitary.
In British missionaryschools, games, includingfootball, were partof the
curriculum.29
The same was truefor the St. Louis School, runby FrenchLazar-
ists, which had one of the earliest varsity soccer teams.30And althoughnowa-
days one does not associatefootball with the United States,Americanmission-
aries preferredit to Americanfootball.3'Physical educationwas an important
partof thecurriculum
of the AmericanSchool (laterAlborzCollege), whichwas
foundedby Presbyterianmissionaries.32
In a conscious effort to inculcate the
value of cooperativeeffort, insufficiently fostered by traditionalIranianexer-
cises, the directorof the school, Dr. Samuel M. Jordan(1871-1952), concen-
tratedon ball gamesandmadestudentstakeuppick andshovel to helpbuildthe
school's footballfield.33In 1935Jordanwrote:
Iranianstatesmenfor years have moumed, "WeIraniansdo not know
how to cooperate."But how do you teachpeople to cooperate,how do
you teachthem to "playthe game"?Obviouslyby playing games, and
so we introducedfootball, baseball, volley-ball, basket-ball-all those
groupgames thatwe areusing here in America,andnaturallythe boys
took to themjust as boys do everywherein the world.The resultis that
physical educationwith all these groupgames is a regularpartof the
school programfor all the schools of Iran,anda yearago the Minister
of Educationtook out from ColumbiaUniversity a Ph.D. in physical
educationto head theirdepartmentof PhysicalEducation.Throughout
thewhole Empire,YoungIranis learningto 'playthegame'of life.
While missionary schools introduced football to the sons of the elite,
working class Iraniansbecame acquaintedwith the game throughthe British
employeesof the Anglo-PersianOil Company.These playedfootball(as well as
cricket,hockey, tennis,squash,andgolf) in the oil fields of AbadanandMasjid
29. See, for instance,R. W. Howard,A MerryMountaineer:TheStoryof CliffordHar-
risof Persia (London,1935),82-83. I amgratefulto J. A. Manganforthisreference.
30. Sipahbud Ahmad Vusuq, Dastan-i zindagt: Khdtirdti az panjah sal tartkh-i
muciisir1290-1340 (Tehran,n.d.), 15.
31. In the 1930s, for instance,soccer was also the majorsportat the SyrianProtestant
College, later renamedthe AmericanUniversity of Beirut. Stephen B. L. Penrose, Jr.,
That TheyMay Have Life: TheStoryof the American Universityin Beirut(New York,
1941),286.
32. See J. Armajani,
"AlborzCollege,"EIrs.v.
33. ArthurC. Boyce, "AlborzCollege of TehranandDr. SamuelMartinJordan,Foun-
der and President,"in CulturalTies between Iran and the United States (N.p., 1976),
193-94 and 198.
34. Samuel M. Jordan,"ConstructiveRevolutions in Iran,"The Moslem World 25
(1935): 350-51.

Sulayman;the latterareaeven boastinga footballleague andan annualinterna-
tional matchbetween Englandand Scotland.35
The local Iranianemployees of
the companyfirst looked on, andthenbeganreplacingindividualplayerson the
teams, until they formedtheirown teams.These young Iranianfootball players
met some hostility from theirsocial environmentfor participatingin the games
of the "infidels,"andwere at timesbeatenup andpeltedwith stones.Onereason
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soccer
FieldatMasjid
Sulayman
for this hostilitywas thatthe players' shortsviolatedtraditionaldresscodes, for
the sharicaadvises men to cover their legs from the navel to the knee.316
Else-
wherein the southof Iran,footballwas introducedby the Britishofficers of the
South Persia Rifles (1916-1921) to the Iraniantroops they commanded,who
thenspreadthegameamongthepopulation.
In Tehran,Britishresidentsconnectedwith the legation, the consulate,the
Imperial Bank, and the Indo-EuropeanTelegraph Departmentheld matches,
35. J. W. Williamson, In a Persian Oil Field (London, 1927), 164. For the "interna-
tional"characterof games between Englandand Scotland see H. F. Moorhouse,"One
State, SeveralCountries:Soccer andNationalityin a 'United' Kingdom,"in J. A. Man-
gan,ed., TribalIdentities:Nationalism,Europe,Sport(London,1996),55-74.
36. This, incidentally,was also an issue in Europearoundthe same time. In 1913 the
yearbook of the Germanfootball association carriedan article complaining about the
shortswornby footballplayers,which it deemedsittlichemporend(morallydisgraceful),
andsuggestedthatplayersweartrousersthatdid not constrainthe knees butcoveredthe
thigh muscles. Heike Egger, "'Sportswear':ZurGeschichteder Sportkleidung,"
Stadion
18 (1992): 136.

378 Chehabi
mostly on the Maydan-iMashq,which latercame to be known as Tupkhanah.
Their games attractedthe attention of young men who came to watch, and
around1908, Iraniansstartedreplacingindividualplayerson the Britishteams.
Soon Iranianfootball playersformedtheirown teams, but faced a majorprob-
lem in that balls were difficult to find. Some made due with inflated cow
udders,37
others endeavored to make off with out-of-bounds balls at British
games. The onset of WorldWar I in 1914 put an end to the organizedgames
among the Britishteams in Tehran,but by 1918 they startedonce more, again
with some Iranianplayers,andin 1920 a numberof Iraniansformedthefirstall-
Iranianfootball club, which they called "IranClub." Soon the alumni of the
Americancollege andthe studentsof the School of PoliticalScience also formed
teams.38
In 1919 or 1920, a numberof Iranianand British football enthusiasts
foundedthe IranianFootballAssociation(Majmac-iFatbiil-iIran)to encourage
Iranianplayersandto popularizethe game.The directorof theImperialBankof
Persia,JamesMcMurray,becameits president,andhe was assistedby the lega-
tion doctor, A.R. Neligan; they each donateda cup to be awardedto winning
teams. A year later the Iranianmembersof the association decided to take it
over. They renamedit the Association for the Promotionand Progressof Foot-
ball (Majmac-iTarvijva TaraqqT-yi
Futbal), andReza Khanagreedto become
its honorarypresident.39
It became the first association to be registeredat the
State Registry,the newly foundedDaftar-i asnad-i rasmT,
andthe firstmodem
Iraniansportsorganization.It translatedinto Persianandpublishedthe rules of
associationfootball, andbeginningin 1923, it organizedsoccer tournamentsin
Tehran.
To sum up, the British presence in Iranwas instrumentalin popularizing
football in Iran,but otherWesterners,like the Americansand the French,also
furtheredits popularitythroughthe schools they established.In places thathad
not entertaineda significantforeignpresence,such as Ardabil,it seems thatthe
game was introducedin the 1920s by young men who had spent some time in
the Caucasus.40
Football matches also were occasions on which Iranians,both
Muslimandnon-Muslim,andEuropeansmet. Perhapsit was preciselythis that
arousedthe suspicion of some traditionalcircles. In March 1925, for instance,
police hadto step in whena groupof youngsters,all bearingnamesthatindicate
their backgroundsas artisansand small shopkeepers,createddisturbancesat a
game between a Tehranclub andan Armenianteamand insultedthe Armenian
37. Cf. pre-modernEuropeangames in which playerskickedan inflatedpig's bladder
around.NorbertElias, "DerFuBballsport
im Prozef der Zivilisation,"in Rold Lindner,
ed., Der Satz "DerBall ist rund"hat eine gewisse philosophische Tiefe(Berlin, 1983),
16.
38. Yikta and Nurinizhad,Thrrkh,19-22; Kayhan-ivarzisht631 (1346/1967-68): 10,
as quoted in Ismacil Shafici Sarvistani, "Dastan-i varzish-i mudirn," Subh 7 6
(1376/1997):33.
39. Sadri,Tartkh-ivarzish,153.Sadriwas thesecretaryof theassociation.
40. BabaSafari,ArdabildarguZargah-i
tcrikh(Ardabil,1371/1992),3:240.

woman spectators.The hooligans avant la lettre were arrestedand condemned
to fifty whiplashes.4'
FootballunderRezaShah
By themid-1920sfootballhadbecome a symbolof modernization,andsoon the
game was promotedat the highest levels of the state. In the summerof 1924,
Reza Khanorderedregularathleticcompetitions,includingfootball matches,to
be held by the anned forces. Some of these took place in the provinces,such as
one between membersof the tip-i mukhtalit-iKurdistan,at which playersstill
wore traditionalgivas.42 But the developmentof the game was hamperedby the
shortageof playingfields, most of whichbelongedto Britishor Americaninsti-
tutions.43In the winterof 1925, at a session attendedby the then speakerof par-
liament, Sayyid MuhammadTadayyun,in his capacityas head of the Associa-
tion for the PromotionandProgressof Football,one of the playerspointedout
thatit was a shamethatthe Britishhadfacilitiesbutthe Iraniansdid not. Taday-
yun used his influence in the Majlis, and in the spring of 1926 the legislature
aroved a bill whereb a iece of land near the DarvazahDawlat, on which
After ascendingthethroneinlate1925,RezaShahcontinuedshowing.an
........
interestin football. In early 1926 he attendeda matchbetween an Iranianteam
anda teamof Britishexpatriatesin Tebran,in whichfor thefirsttime, the Irani-
41. cAbbasi,Fatbail-iIrdn,17-23. Theoriginalpolice reportsarereproduced.
42. Akhbar(28 Tir 1377/ July 19, 1998): 5. On the traditionalfootwear of Iran see
Ja.nshidSadaqat-Kish,
"Giva,"Elr s.v.
43. 'Abbasi,Fatbal-iIrdn,76.
44. YiktaandNurinizhad,Tarikh,34-35, 41.

380 Chehabi
ans beatthe Britonsat theirown game.45
Havingthusgainedconfidencein their
football prowess, in the autumnof 1926, as a sign thatrelationsbetween Iran
andthe Soviet Union had improved,the Iraniancabinetdecidedto send a team
of fifteen Iranianfootball players led by the directorof the School of Phrsical
Education,MirMahdiVarzandah,
to an international
tournament
in Baku. The
team played four matchesagainstdifferentteams from Baku, losing threeand
drawingone. Upon theirreturnto Tehran,a satiricalmagazine,Ndhid,madefun
of theirdefeat in its frontpage cartoon.Havingexpected a warmerwelcome, a
numberof playerstook it uponthemselvesto ransackN?Jhtd's
editorialoffices,
for which they were arrestedandjailed for a night.47
One of the team members
who hadplayed in Baku,HusaynMiftah,drewa moreconstructivelesson from
thelosses. Laterhe wrote:
Thattriphadthe advantagethatwe learnedthatdribblingandindividu-
alism (takravT)are of no use. . .each of us was good at individual
moves... .thiswas whatthe people liked. But when we saw the foreign
games andthe Bakuteam[s],we learnedthatthe purposeof footballis
somethingdifferentfromwhatwe hadpursueduntilthen.48
In 1929 it was time for a returnvisit, andso a teamfromBakuwas invited
to play in Tehranin late November.49
To impressthe visitors, grass had been
planted on the state-owned football field. The last of the three games, all of
which were won by the visitors, was attendedby CAbdal-HusaynTaymurtash,
the powerfulministerof court.The humiliatingdefeats(by scores of 11-0, 3-1,
4-0!), sufferedon homegroundsto boot, causedgreatconsternation,
so muchso
thatsome young men gave up footballaltogether.In subsequentyearsthe inter-
est in footballwaned,andnewspapershardlyreportedon those matchesthatdid
takeplace.50
The activitiesof the Associationfor the PromotionandProgressof
Footballfizzled out, andbeginningin the early 1930s a numberof new organi-
45. YiktaandNurinizhad,Thrrkh,
38. ApparentlyReza Shahwas so upsetby the first
Britishgoal thathe wantedto leave the game, butwas deterredby an armyofficer who
arguedthatthe ruler'sdeparturewould discouragethe players.He stayed,andthe Irani-
ansscoredtwo goals. Sadr,Ruizi,
razigdrT,
fiitbal, 21-22 and84, n. 13.
46. The entire correspondencebetween various ministries is reproducedin Abbasi,
FfltbAl-i
Iran,25-56.
47. Kayhan-ivarzishi,631 (1346/1967-68): 10, as quotedin Sarvistani,"Dastan-ivar-
zish-i mudim,"33;andYiktaandNurinizhad,Thrrkh,
56
48. Kayhan-ivarzishi, 637 (1346/1967): 10, as quotedin Sadr,Rczt, razig?iri,
fuitbal,
24-25.
49. For the significance of these games for Soviet diplomacysee Victor Peppardand
James Riordan,Playing Politics: Soviet Sport Diplomacy to 1992 (Greenwich, 1993),
101.
50. YiktaandNurinizhad,Tiirkh,78-79.

zations were formed to replace it.5' These turnedout to be ephemeral,but in
52
1934 a new impetuswas given to sportand physical education. In Januaryof
thatyear,to remedythe inefficiency of previousad hoc associations,the minis-
tryof educationset up a special Office of PhysicalEducation.Its mainfunction
was to encourage schools to establish football teams and then organize inter-
school competitions.53
Competitionsbegan a few weeks later, but teams again
faceda severeshortageof playingfields.54
The Office of Physical Educationwas only in chargeof school sport,how-
ever, andso a numberof Iranianstatesmenandeducatorsfoundedthe National
Association for Physical Education(Anjuman-iMillt-yi Tarbiyat-iBadanT)in
the spring of 1934.55From the outset, the association was placed under the
patronageof the crownprince,who hadbecome the presidentof the Association
for the Promotionand Progressof Footballin 1929,56but was now studyingin
Switzerland.To reorganizeIraniansportsandscouting,an Americanandrecent
graduateof ColumbiaUniversityby the nameof ThomasR. Gibsonwas invited
to come to Iran.For Gibson, who stayed until 1938, sportmeant team sports:
when a Japanesejudo masteroffered to introducethis discipline to the Iranian
public, Gibson refused the offer, arguing that what Iran needed was team
57
sports. Gibson institutedcompetitionsbetween school teams,mostly in soccer.
Within a few months after his taking charge, twenty-four teams had been
formed,all of themconnectedwitheducationalestablishments.The tournaments
were attendedby the highestdignitariesof the state,58
but cIsa Sadiqrelatesthat
in the beginningthe public was so indifferentto spectatorsportsthatthe Office
of PhysicalEducationhadto resortto servingfree tea andsweets to lurepeople
to the football games.59 Gibson also systematically sent coaches to the provinces
to propagate modern sports, mainly football.60 They formed football clubs all
51. Ibid.,22-23.
52. Ibid.,92.
53. Ittila'at (14 Day 1312/January4, 1934): 2, as quoted in Yikta and Nurinizhad,
Thrtkh,103.
54. YiktaandNurinizhad,ThrTkh,
106-108.
55. At the association's first meeting, on April 22, 1934/ Urdibihisht 1313, the top
brass of the regime were present:IbrahimHakimi, cAli-AsgharHikmat,Husayn cAla',
AmanullahJahanbani,cIsaSadiq, SulaymanAsadi, IbrahimShamsavari.NasrullahHajj-
CAzimiand GeneralDr. Izadpanah,Hajj-cAzimiand Izadpanah,Tarikh-ivarzish-iIrdn
(Tehran,n.d.), 135.
56. TihrdnMusavvar(23 Azar 1308/ December 14, 1929): 9, as quoted in Yikta and
Nurinizhad,Tiirikh,
77.
57. Hajj-cAzimiandIzadpanah,
Tarikh-ivarzish-iIrdn,137.
58. "Akharinjashn-i musabaqa-ifutbal,"TaclTm
va tarbiyat4 (1313/1934): 117. See
also Taclimva tarbiyat5 (1314/1935-1936): 549-551.
59. cIsaSadiq,Yddigar-icumr:Kh5tirdtf
az sarguzasht,(Tehran,1975),2: 172.
60. Tarikh-i
farhang-i Azarbayjan(Tabriz, 1956), 318. When the GermanOrientalist
WaltherHinz visited Ardabilin 1938, the local directorof education(a representativeof

382 Chehabi
over the country and established playing fields,6' sometimes on abandoned
cemeteries.
In May 1936, the crown prince returnedto Iran.As a boy growing up in
Iran, MuhammadReza Pahlavi had enjoyed playing football. At the Rosey
School in Switzerland,wherehe spentfive years, his athleticprowess had out-
shone his scholarlyachievements,and he had captainedboth the school's foot-
ball and tennis teams.62 Upon returninghome, he took a personal interest in
sports.An articlepublishedin 1936 by the official organof the ministryof edu-
cation reports that after he joined the football team of the Officers' School
which he now attended,that team never again lost a match and became the
champion of the league of university faculties and high schools. Noting that
matchesin which he played attractedthe enthusiasticattentionof a public that
therebyshowedits deepattachment
to themonarchy,thearticleadded:
His Highnessthe crownprinceplays centerforward,which is the most
difficult and most technicalposition. Those who are familiarwith this
game, who areawareof the degreeof difficultyof the centerforward's
duties, and who have had the honor of watching [the crown prince],
will happilyconfirmthatHis Highness is a masterandtruechampion
in the way he defeatsthe opposingteamby adroitlychangingthe attack
line anddistributing
the ball to his teammatesso as to putall of themto
work and form a five-playerattackline. The otherpoint thatall mem-
bersof teamsthathave playedagainstthe Officer's School andspecta-
torshavenotedis his senseofjustice,nobility,andfairplay."63
In 1939, for the first time in Iranianhistory, nationalchampionshipswere
held in a numberof disciplines, includingfootball. This was followed in 1940
by first attemptsto create separatefederationsfor each discipline, including
football,attemptsthatborefruitonly afterthewar.M4
To sum up the history of soccer in pre-WorldWar I Iran,until the mid-
1930s Western sports appealedto a small minorityof Iraniansand officially
sponsored football remained largely an elite activity. This is apparent,for
the ministryof education)"proudlyshowed [him] photos of football teams he had cre-
ated."WaltherHinz, Iranische Reise: Eine Forschungsfahrtdurchdas heutige Persien
(Berlin-Lichterfelde,
1938),60.
61. Fordetailssee YiktaandNurinizhad,Tarikh,162-250.
62. Gerardde Villiers, L'Irresistible ascension de MohammadReza Shah d'Iran
(Paris, 1975), 69-70. See also His ImperialMajestyMohammedReza ShahPahlaviSha-
hanshahof Iran,Missionfor my Country(London, 1960), 53, 60, wherethe shahwrites
that he "was very proudof winning prizes in. . .throwingthe discus, puttingthe shot,
throwingthejavelin,thehighjump,thelongjump,andthe 100-metres."
63. "Shirkat-ivala:hazrat-i
humayiinvilayat-icahddarmusabaqa-ha-yi
futbal,"Taclrm
va tarbiyat6 (1315/1936):796-99.
64. YiktaandNurinizhad,Tarrkh,
325, 350-351.

instance,from the names of refereesin the early period,where we find the sci-
ons of majorland-owningfamilies like SardarAkramQarahghuzlu,
Arsalanand
AbdullahKhalcatbari,
and Izamal-SaltanahZulfaqari.65
The age of Reza Shah
was the golden age of varsitysportsin Iran.The state's sponsorshipof football
in the rapidlyexpandingarmedforces andin the equallyrapidlyexpandingpub-
lic educationalsystem turnedsoccer into a popularpastime for young people.
The resultof these efforts was that,in spite of traditionalistresistance,football
caughton. In 1935anEnglishobserverwrote,
[Football]has conqueredPersiatoo and is played all over the country
. . .in towns and tiny hamlets, by most of the schoolboys and a few
men.Andit was a smartgame,fast,clean,intelligent...
Andhe addedtheusualrefrainaboutteamwork,
Many Persianschools play football several times a week, not only for
its physical value, but because it is believed to be a fine educationin
learningto play 'fair,' a qualitywhich Persiansknow the boys lack but
which they wish to create,as they have seen, in the contactwith Euro-
peans,bothin Persiaandin Europe,how muchit meansin creatingbet-
terhumanrelationships.66
FootballunderMuhammad
RezaShah
Reza Shahleft Iranin 1941, andonly a few weeks afterhis departure,
Ayatollah
Kashanicomplainedin a letterto the prime ministerthatthe state had shame-
lessly turneda mosque into a football field and organizedsportsclasses on its
grounds.67
But power was still largely in the hands of modernists,and so the
state's promotionof football continued,althoughwith less intensitythanunder
RezaShah.
DuringWorldWarII, the presenceof manyAllied soldiersin occupiedIran
allowed young Iranianmento measuretheirskills againstforeigners.As a result
of this experience,Iranianofficialdomsensed a needto reorganizeIraniansports
accordingto international
criteria.68
In 1947, in anticipationof the 1948 Olympic
65. Sadr,Razi,ruizigari,
ffitbdl,25.
66. O.A. Memt-Hawkes,Persia: Romanceand Reality(London,1935), 164-165. The
practice of covering one's head made hitting the ball with the head difficult, and the
authorreportsthatat one game he saw thatthe boys would "come on the field wearing
theirhats,and.. takethemoff only whentheythoughttheycould get in a hit."Ibid., 166.
67. Hisamuddin Ashna, ed., Khushinat va farhang: Asnad-i mahramana-ikashf-i
hijdb (1313-1322) (Tehran,1992), 30. Accordingto SadriddinIlahi, one of Iran'sfore-
most scholarsof sport, Kashanimay have been thinkingof a sports field thathad been
establishedon the abandonedcemeteryof ImamzadahYahya in the cUdlajanquarterof
Tehran.
68. Sadri,Tdrikh-ivarzish,155.

384 Chehabi
Gamesin London,a nationalOlympiccommitteewas founded,andit published
guidelinesfor separatefederationsto be set up for each discipline.The national
football federationwas finally establishedin Iranin 1947, and soon thereafter
joined the FederationInternationalede Football Association, FIFA, the world
governingbodyof soccer.
In the 1950sandearly 1960s the Iraniannationalteamlost mostof its inter-
nationalgames, includinga highly politicallychargedone againstIraqin 1962,
which angeredthe shahandcausedPrimeMinistercAli Amini to declarethatif
one hadthe "honorof thehomelandandthe healthof theyoungpeople"atheart,
money earmarkedfor sending the Iraniansoccer team to the Fourth Asian
GamesinJakarta
wouldbetterbe spentathome.69
The fortunesof the nationalteam began improvingin 1964, as the Iranian
side beatthe nationalteamsof Pakistan,Iraq,andIndiato qualifyfor the Olym-
pic Gamesin Tokyo. Whenthe teamreturnedto Tehranaftera victoriousgame
70
in CalcuttaagainstIndia, the governmentarrangeda majorwelcome for them
at the airport.Eachplayerwas drivento the city in an openjeep with a garland
of flowersaroundhis neckandanIraniantricoloron eachside.7'
However,Iran'ssuccesses on the world's soccerfields paledin comparison
with its triumphson the world's wrestlingmats.In the 1950s and 1960s Iranian
freestyle wrestlerswon manymedals,culminatingin the nationalteam's win at
the world championshipof 1965 in Yokohama.These internationalsuccesses
combinedwith the sport'slong traditionin Iranto makefreestylewrestlingthe
mostpopularsportin Iranthroughout
the 1940s, 1950s,andearly1960s.
It was only in the late 1960s thatfootball became a majorspectatorsport.
Iraniansociety was changing, as millions moved to the big cities, especially
Tehran.A mass society resultingfromurbanizationfavorsa sportlike football,
which can be followed by tens of thousandsof spectatorsin a stadium,specta-
tors for whom the teams providefoci of loyalty andcollective identificationat
the time whentraditionalcommunityties andritualsareweakening.72
Moreover,
beginningin the mid-1960s,television,whichhadcome to Iranatthe startof the
decade,beganbroadcasting
footballgamesintopeople'shomes.
The year 1968 standsout as a watershedin the historyof Iranianfootball.
For one thing, the death of Takhtiin that year deprivedwrestling of its most
69. Sadr,Rizt, razigdd, fiutbail,30-31. In the end Irandid not send a delegationto
these games at all, probablybecause Indonesiahad incurredthe displeasureof the Inter-
national Olympic Committee by refusing to invite Israel and the Republic of China.
Bizhan Ru'inpur, Iriandar bazi-hii-yi asiy"i(1951-1970) (Tehran, 1377/1998), 1:
97-99.
70. As is well known,Calcuttais the footballcapitalof cricket-lovingIndia.See Tony
Mason, "Footballon the Maidan:CulturalImperialismin Calcutta,"InternationalJour-
nal of theHistoryof Sport7 (1990): 85-95.
71. Sadr,Rizi, razigiri fatbal, 31-33.
72. Richard Giulianotti and Gary Armstrong,"Introduction:Reclaiming the Game
-An Introductionto the Anthropologyof Football,"in Gary Armstrongand Richard
Giulianotti,eds., EnteringtheField (Oxford,1997), 12.

admiredfigure.But more importantly,in 1968 Iranand Israelwere the finalists
in the Asian NationsCup, a quadrennialevent, olderthanthe EuropeanNations
Cup,thattook place betweenthe worldchampionships,andthe game was to be
held in Tehran.Only a yearearlier,Israelhaddefeatedits Arabneighborsin the
Six Day War,andthe event hadswung most Iranians'sympathiesfirmlybehind
the Arabs.Now, at a time when Arabsportsteams were boycottingIsrael,Iran,
73
ever eager to espouse an independentline on the Arab-Israeliissue, hosted a
74
championship
game.
On May 19, the day of the game, Tehranwas rife with tension.Rumorhad
it thatHabibIlqanian,a richJewishindustrialistwho was laterexecutedin 1979,
had bought 16,000 tickets to distributeto Jewish Iraniansso that they could
cheer for the visitors. As it happened,before the game the gates of Amjadiyah
Stadiumwere opened and the public was let in free of charge, generatingnew
rumorsthatthe shah wantedto prove his pro-Islamicand pro-Iranian
sentiment
by makingsurethatMuslim Iranianscheeredfor the Iranianteam.75
Duringthe
game spectatorswere delirious,andanti-Semiticchantswere heard,confirming
the link between modernanti-Semitismin the Middle East and the creationof
the stateof Israel.76
In the end the hosts beatthe guests 2-1, andas Iranbecame
Asian football champion,the fans in the stadiumwere overjoyed.Nuql, sugar-
coveredalmondstraditionallyservedon happyoccasions, were thrownonto the
field, and spectators remained on the grounds of the stadium for two hours
chantingpatrioticslogans, as police cavalrynervouslyguardedthe nearbyU.S.
embassy. The victory led to rumorsthatthe govemment had bribedthe Indian
refereeto let Iranwin, or alternativelythatthe Israelis had lost on purpose,so
thattheirally, the shah,mightbaskin theglory of havingaccomplishedwhatthe
Arabshad failed to do-beat Israel.77
Fromthe point of view of many Iranian
spectators,however, the match had not been a contest between nations but a
contestbetweenreligiousgroups.78
73. RobertB. Reppa,Israel and Iran: Bilateral Relationshipand Effecton the Indian
OceanBasin(New York, 1974).
74. The football matchesbetween Iranand Israelandtheirimpacton IranianJews are
discussedin greaterdetailin H. E. Chehabi,"JewsandSportin ModernIran,"in vol. 4 of
Yahudiyain-i
Irdnidar tarikh-imuc5sir (BeverlyHills, CA, 2001).
75. Gustav EdwardThaiss, "Religious Symbolism and Social Change:The Dramaof
Husain"(Ph.D dissertation,WashingtonUniversity, 1973), 226-27. The story was con-
firmedto meby informantsin Iran.
76. BernardLewis, Semitesand Anti-Semites:An Inquiryinto Conflictand Prejudice
(New York, 1986).
77. This conforms to a widespread patternof football matches experienced by the
spectatorsas substitutesfor war. See Kuper,Football against the Enemy,especially the
Introduction,which relatesDutchreactionsto the 1988 victoryof the Netherlands'team
againstthe Germanteam,a victorythatwas celebratedby otherwisequitereasonableand
liberal-mindedpeople as a revenge for the Germanoccupationof the Netherlandsmore
thanfourdecadesearlier.
78. This is confirmedby the fact thatwhen bazaarmerchantscollected money to buy

386 Chehabi
The 1968 victory,witnessedby millions of people on television, madesoc-
cer a true mass phenomenonin Iran.Two popularsingers, Vigen andDilkash,
recordedsongs to the glory of Iran'steam. Playersbecame frequentguests on
radio shows and their photos were tradedon street corners. More and more
youngstersbeganplayinginformalgameswithcheapplasticballs on improvised
fields with portablegoals, a game thatcame to be known as gul kuchak(little
goal).
In 1974, the year after the OctoberWar,Iranand Israel again faced each
otherin Tehran,this time as finalists in the Asian Games. Only one year after
the quadruplingof oil prices had enrichedthe Iranianregime, it wantedto use
the hostingof the Asian Gamesto enhancethe country'sinternational
profile.If
successful,the event mightpresagethe OlympicGames,thehostingof which in
1964 had confirmedJapan's standingamong the industrializedcountries.The
shah'sobjectivewas to place secondin theoverallmedalcount,afterJapan,and
he andhis ministerof court,AmirAsadullahcAlam,followed the game on the
radio.79
This made the People's Republicof China,which, ironically,hadbeen
admittedto the Asian Games thanksto Iranianbrokerage,the countryto beat.
To enhanceits chances,Iranianofficials persuadedthe organizers(allegedly by
dispensingliberalamountsof caviarandrugs) to give a medalto each one of a
team's playersin team sports:thus a victory againstIsraelwould net Iransev-
enteen medals, enough to place second. In the game only Israelscored,but on
theirown goal, and so Iranwon 1-0. Of course rumorsimmediatelycirculated
thattheIsraelishadlost intentionally.
Domestically, too, football had a political charge. GeneralKhusravani,a
military man with close connections to the regime, was proprietorof a club
named Taj (crown) which had a majorsoccer team. In the football league of
TehranTaj was the perennialrival of anotherteam, Shahin. Taj and its off-
shoots, Afsar and Dayhim (both synonyms of "crown"),were, associatedwith
the regime,becauseof theirowner's affiliationwith the army,while Shahinhad
a moreintellectualmembership:its owner insistedthatplayersnot neglect their
studiesand manywent on to become, to use a Persianexpression,"doctorsand
engineers."The rivalrybetweenTaj and Shahinthus had a political dimension,
as oppositionists tended to cheer for Shahin. The latter team fell victim to
intrigueandwas dissolved in 1967, butits playersformeda new team,Pirspulis
(Persepolis).
The rivalrybetween Pirspulis and Taj, the reds and the blues, dominated
Iran'sprerevolutionary
football scene, especially aftera nationalsoccer league
was startedin 1974 (Jaim-iTakht-iJamshid);even today,video cassettesof their
gifts for the Iranianplayers after the game, they refused to accept the contributionof
Jewishmerchants,
ostensiblyon religiousgrounds.Thaiss,"ReligiousSymbolism,"227.
79. On September16, 1974/Shahrivar25, 1353 cAlamnoted in his diarythaton the
final day of the Asian Games, Iranhadcome second, which correspondedto the shah's
wish thatin Asia thereshouldbe two developednations,Japanin the EastandIranin the
West. Yaddiisht-hia-yicAlam (Bethesda,n.d.),4: 197-98.

legendarymatchescan be purchasedin Los Angeles.80The two teamshad very
different playing styles: Pirspulis had an English coach and played a more
spontaneousgame, while Taj's coach was Yugoslav and gave the team a more
Central
Europeanplayingstyle.
In the 1970s, Khusravanibuilt up a chainof aboutthreehundredTaj clubs
aroundthe country,andthe membersof these clubs wouldperformin the annual
ralliesorganizedin Iran'sstadiumson suchoccasions as the shah'sorthe crown
prince's birthday.CrownPrince Reza Pahlavi was a Taj fan, and he made his
supportfor the team known during television broadcastsof matches, further
identifyingTaj with the regime.Also, in the mid-1970s, Tajbeganpublishinga
sportsperiodical,which triedto gainreadersby printingphotosof playersin the
company of female film stars and singers. These two initiatives gave further
pretext to religious oppositionists to identify official football as yet another
aspect of the moral corruptionpropagatedby the Pahlavi regime. Pirspulis,
however,althou h havin a numberof religious playerson the team, could by
no means be identifiedwith the religious ogpposition:
PrincessFatimahPahlavi
wasreputedlyone of its majorshare-holders.'
80. The othermajorfootball rivalryis betweenthe teamsof BandarAnzali andRasht,
an expressionof the rivalrybetween the two maincities of Gilanprovince.This sortof
rivalrybetween two teams in the same city or region is very common,to wit the Celtics
andRangersin Glasgow, Boca JuniorsandRiverPlatein Buenos Aires, andHapoeland
Maccabiin Tel Aviv.
81. Manouchehr
Sabeti,personalcommunication.

388 Chehabi
In the last yearsof the shah's regime,oppositionistssometimesalleged that
the regime actuallypromotedfootball to keep the populationapolitical,andfor
some of the Islamistswho werebecomingactiveon the politicalscene, the foot-
ball crazeof the 1970s was a sinisterplot by the shahto divertpublic attention
from "serious" matters. On occasion Islamist militants would even disrupt
82 8
games. Revolutionariesoften have an ascetic streak,83
andso the idea thatrec-
reational pastimes detract from "serious" pursuits and should therefore be
rejectedis voiced by manyof them,religiousor not.84
Letus rememberthethree
F's which Portugueseleftists claimedthe Salazarregimeused to keep people in
line:Fatima,ffitebol,andfado.85
Butby the mid-1970sfootballhadtakenrootin Iran.At the apexof society,
the imperialfamily continuedbeing directly involved in football. The national
team's captainin 1947 was MuhammadKhatami,who laterbecame a four-star
general,commanderof the air force, and a brother-in-lawof the shah,86
and in
the 1970s anotherclose relativeof the shah, KambizAtabay(his uncle was the
husbandof the shah's oldest sister, Hamdamal-Saltanah),came to head the
Football Federation,and used his influence to promotethe game more effec-
tively.87The crown prince,bornin 1961, was a keen playerand spectator,and
often made the ministerof court, Amir AsadullahcAlam,play with him.88But
Iraniansof all social classes were passionately interestedin soccer, as either
playersor spectators,includingseminarians:
in Qum,SayyidAhmadKhumayni,
theAyatollah'syoungerson,playedon thelocal Shahinteam.
Underthe firstPahlaviruler,the statehadpromotedfootballfor the educa-
tionalvalueascribedto it, butunderthe secondrulerthe gamebecameabove all
a spectatorsport,occasionallyused to promotenationalism.This shift in empha-
sis is congruentwithdevelopmentselsewherein theworld:
Educatorsknow thatyoung people can discover in exemplaryfashion
the value of joint social membership,obligingness, camaraderie,and
fair play, as well as the value of fitness, initiative,vigor, andphysical
82. I have this informationfrom Ali Muradi,who as an Islamist militantdisrupted
footballgamesin Isfahan.Personalcommunication,
Berlin,March1993.
83. This is analyzedin BruceMazlish,TheRevolutionary
Ascetic:Evolutionof a Poli-
tical Type(New York,1976).
84. For a left-leaning analysis of Brazil's football craze see Janet Lever, "Soccer:
Opiumof theBrazilianPeople,"Transaction7 (1969).
85. Fatimarefersto the site on whichthe VirginMaryappearedto threeshepherdchil-
drenin 1917,andfadois thepopularmusicof LisbonandCoimbra.
86. Sadr,Razt,riuzigdri,
ffitbdl,29.
87. Sadr,RCzt,rizigarl,ffitbal,37
88. cAlinaqi 'Alikhani, ed., Yaddisht-hd-yi cAlam,(N.p., 1993), 2:376; 3:194-195;
and4:321.

agility, thanksto [practicing]football in a pleasantclub atmosphere,
butthatis not 'real'football. . . 'real'footballis thespectatorsport.89
In the revolutionaryupheavalsof 1978 athletesplayeda minorrole. Parviz
Qilichkhani,arguablythe country'sbest footballplayerat the time, held a press
conference in California,where he played for the San Jose Earthquakesin the
now defunctNorthAmericanSoccerLeague,to announcethathe wouldnotjoin
Iran'snationalteam for the WorldCup in Argentina(the first time Iranpartici-
pated in that championship),to protestagainstrepressionin Iran.With the tri-
umphof therevolutionaries
in early 1979,soccerfell on hardtimes.
Footballin theIslamicRepublicof Iran
At a meetingwith sportsmensoon afterhis return,AyatollahKhumaynisaid:"I
am not an athlete,but I like athletes,"a phrasethatbecame a mantrafor sports
functionariesof the new regime.But on the whole it is safe to say thatsportsdid
notfeatureveryprominently
on theagendaof therevolutionaries.
Athletic contests are not expressly mentioned in the Koran. One game,
maysrr,however, is expresslyforbidden(Qur'iin2: 219 and5: 90-91),90 and in
compendiaof jurisprudencethe only sportsthatare mentionedarehorse racing
andarchery,sabaq and ramiayah
in Arabic.The reason is thatit is permissible
for the competitorsto bet on the outcome, andfor thirdpartiesto set a prize.9'
According to the hadith, the Prophet practiced many sports in public, and
encouragedhis followers to do likewise.92 Among Shicites,the first Imam,cAli
b. Abi Talib, has a formidablereputationas an athlete.But the foundersof the
Islamic republicwere not traditionalistsintent on turningthe wheel of history
back, but puritansreactingagainstwhat they saw as the hedonisticexcesses of
Iran's westernizedelites. For instance, equestriansports were at first frowned
upon because of their elitist image, even though horse races are doctrinally
approved,andIranians'football fever met with a lot of suspicionon the partof
the revolutionaries,as did footballersin Englandtwo centuriesearlier.A com-
parisonwiththeEnglishexperienceis instructive.
When James I and Charles I of England legalized a certain number of
popularamusementson Sunday, as contained in the Book of Sports, puritans
were furious.They acceptedsport"if it serveda rationalpurpose,thatof recrea-
tion necessary for physical efficiency. But as a means of the spontaneous
expressionof undisciplinedimpulses, it was undersuspicion;and in so far as it
89. Buytendijk,Le Football, 17.
90. See A. F. L. Beeston, "TheGameof maysirandsome modem parallels,"Arabian
Studies2 (1975).
91. See, for instance, Sayyid cAli Husayni, Tarjumahva tawzih-i Lumcah,(Qum,
1994),2:393-96.
92. M. Naciri, "Die Einstellung des Islam zum Sport," in Sport in unserer Welt:
ChancenundProbleme(Berlin, 1972),652-54.

390 Chehabi
became purely a means of enjoyment,or awakenedpride, raw instinctsor the
irrationalgambling instinct, it was of course strictlycondemned."93
When the
Puritanscame to power in Englandthey had an opportunityto put theoryinto
practice."Betweenthe over-throwof the king andthe restorationwas muchthe
most thorough-goinggovernmentalattemptto amendthe sportinghabitsof the
people that [England]has experienced."But in the end even Oliver Cromwell
hadto come to termswith whatAdamSmithmighthave called people's natural
propensityto play and compete, and sportand games never completely disap-
peared,excepton Sundays.94
Religiously inspiredpuritanismcombinedwith revolutionaryasceticismto
affect sportpolicies in the Islamic Republicin its early years. Elite sportssuch
as horse racing, fencing, and bowling were temporarilyeliminated.Given the
affiliationof manyowners of sportsclubs with the previousregime,all private
clubs were nationalized.Chess, boxing, and kung fu were forbidden,the first
because most Muslimjurists associate it with gambling,the lattertwo because
they inflict physical injury,which is contraryto the sharica.At the same time
martialartslike karateandtae-kwon-dowerepositivelyencouraged,so muchso
thattrainingfacilities were providedin mosques.Yet, women's sportscompeti-
tions were discontinueduntilfurthernotice, the reasonbeing the athletes'insuf-
ficient covering during the competitions.95In Tehran, as if to avenge Reza
Shah's seizing of mosque land to build sports facilities, the football field of
TehranUniversitywas appropriated
to hold the weekly Fridayprayersat which
the hightheocraticdignitariesof the stateaddressthe nationon social andpoliti-
cal matters.96
As for the majorfootball teams, they were nationalizedandrenamedafter
the revolution.Tajbecame Istiqlal(Independence),andPirspulisbecamePiruzi
(Victory);97
playerswere not allowed to wear shirtswith Latinletterson them.
The rivalry between the "blues"and the "reds"continued, and for a while it
manifesteda new political dimension:Istiqlal had a few mujahidinamong its
members (the club endorsed Mascud Rajavi for the presidentialelections in
1980),98while Piruzi, which most people never stopped calling Pirspulis,was
morediverse.Withthe eliminationof politicalpluralismin the early 1980s, the
political dimension of the rivalry diminished somewhat, but the rivalry itself
93. Max Weber,TheProtestantEthicand the Spiritof Capitalism(New York, 1958),
166-67.
94. Dennis Brailsford,"Puritanismand Sportin SeventeenthCenturyEngland,"Sta-
dion 1 (1975). Thequoteis on 324-25.
95. Ittilacat-ihaftagf,1980(Isfand24,1358/ March15, 1980):23.
96. I amgratefulto HamidDabashiforpointingthisoutto me.
97. Which led supportersof both teams to cover the walls of Tehranwith somewhat
counter-intuitive
graffitilike "deathto Independence"
and"deathto Victory"!
98. One memberof the Humateam, HabibKhabiri,who had briefly been captainof
thenationalteamandwasa Mujahid,wasexecutedin 1983.

remained and games between the two teams continued to attracthuge and
intenselypartisancrowds.
In early 1980, while the national team was in Bushire preparingfor the
Asian Games, it becamethe targetof attacks.Demonstrators
chantedthe slogan
"TheNationalTeam's TrainingCampis a Treasonto the People," and a local
Islamicpropaganda
organizationpublisheda pamphletthatasked:"Wouldit not
have been betterif insteadof spendinga lot of money on this sortof entertain-
ment, it were spent on sending some of our nations's young people abroadto
acquireskills thatourcountryneeds?Wouldit not havebeen betterif insteadof
spending this innocent and oppressednation's blood on such useless pursuits,
clinics were built and villages electified? Would it not have been better if
instead of clowning around like the British and the Americans in order to
"shine"in international
arenas,[theplayers]shone in the companyof the broth-
ers of the ConstructionJihadin our villages, where the simplest amenities are
lacking? Have all our political, economic, and culturalproblems been solved
thatwe have turnedto sport?"99
Not only were they not solved, but soon a new
problemwas addedto them:war.
On September22, 1980, while the nationalteam was in Kuwaitplaying in
the Asian Nations' Cup, IraqinvadedIran.Iranlost the game 2-1, inaugurating
a long series of losses sufferedby the nationalteam in the 1980s.'??The new
headof the nationalphysicaleducationorganizationsaid in the autumnof 1980,
thatunderconditionsof war,therewas no reasonto hold footballgames.'0'But
young men wanted to play, and so despite the official indifference to soccer,
they organized neighborhood games (gul kuchak). The popularity of these
games in neighborhoodsinhabitedby people who formedthe social basis of the
new regime worriedthe men now in power, who would have preferredto see
youngsters in the mosques ratherthan on the playing fields. When mosques
were not full enough duringthe Ramadanmonths of the early 1980s, critical
articles began appearing in the press that accused the counterrevolutionof
organizingthese games and creatingdistractionsfrom religious observance.As
one eye-witness explainedit, the popularityof "littlegoal"football hadno poli-
tical overtones, but signified merely that playing football was more fun than
listeningto preachers.'0
The revolutionhad put an end to the Takht-iJamshidCup, but in 1981 a
numberof provincialleagues were formed, whose championswould then play
each other for the nationalchampionship.Reflecting the ideology of the new
regime, the cup was called the Quds(Jerusalem)Cup.The continuedpopularity
of footballriledthe fundamentalists,
andin the autumnof 1983, an articlein the
99. Kayhmn-i
varzishf 1327 (Bahman20, 1358/February9, 1980), as quoted in Sadr,
RCizi,
razigjrT,
fltbal, 43-44.
100.Sadr,Rizi, razigdri,fitbMl,
47.
101. KayhMn-i
varzisht 1366 (Azar 15, 1359/December6, 1980), as quoted in Sadr,
Ruizi,
razigdri,
fAtbdl,44.
102.Personalcommunication.

392 Chehabi
organof the rulingIslamicRepublicanPartycomplainedbitterlythatduringthe
mourningmonthof Muharram110,000 spectatorshad cheeredandclappedfor
Istiqlal and Pirspulis, and that spectator sports were a legacy of the shah's
regimewhichthe revolutionshouldhave replacedwith participatory
sports.'03A
few monthslaterthe primeministerechoed this view when he called the cult of
championsa legacyof imperialism.104
Majorfootballgamespresenteddifficultiesforthe regime.Theyoften led to
troubles,and were sometimes canceled.'05 In a country in which most public
entertainmenthad been banned,attendingfootball matcheswas one of the few
remainingleisureactivitiesfor young men. From 1981 on, womenwereexclud-
ed fromstadiums,andthepresenceof tensof thousandsof frenziedyoungmales
occasionally led to riots, one of the worst of which occurredon October9,
1984. A game thathadbeen scheduledfor the Azadi Stadium,wherethe Asian
Games had been held a decade earlier, was transferredto the ShahidShirudi
(formerlyAmjadiyah)Stadiumin centralTehranbecause the city did not have
enough buses to transportfans to the Azadi sports complex. The ShirudiSta-
dium had a much smaller capacity, however, and many ticket holders were
denied admission to the grounds, precipitatingthe riot. The game had to be
stopped midway, spectatorswent on a rampage,and nineteen were injuredin
clashes with security forces.06 The undergroundor exiled opposition readily
ascribeda politicalsignificanceto the riotswhich they probablylacked,butlike
seventeenth-century
Englishpuritans,who reportedin 1647 that"underpretence
of footballmatches[there]have been lately suspiciousmeetingsandassemblies
at several places made up of disaffected persons,"'07
the Islamic republicans
fearedlargegatheringsof excitableyoung men.'08Sportper se was healthyand
thereforea good thing, but the excitement it generatedwas not. Following the
Octoberriot, the official newspaperof the Islamic RepublicanPartypublished
an articlearguingthatthe event was the resultof panderingto footballfever and
paying too much attentionto Europeanfootball.'09A few months later, after
more researchon the incident, anotherarticle analyzedthe destructiverole of
footballin theThirdWorld,arguedthatfootballfever was a colonialistplot,and
103.Jumhirr-yiIslimi (Mihr27, 1362/October19, 1983/12Muharram
1414):11.
104.Jumhiri-yiIsliimf(Isfand18, 1362/March8, 1984):15.
105.Sadr,Razt,ruizigirt,
f-utbal,
44-47.
106. The events were analyzed in detail in a series of articles in Kayhan (Mihr 18
1363/October 10, 1984): 19; (Mihr 19, 1363/October 11, 1984): 19; (Mihr 21, 1363/
October13, 1984):23; (Mihr22, 1363/October14, 1984):19.
107. Quoted in Brailsford,"Puritanismand Sportin SeventeenthCenturyEngland,"
325.
108. Interestinglyenough, nine decades earlierthe governmentof SultanAbdulhamit
had forbiddenfootballgames playedby non-foreignersin Istanbulon the same grounds,
anddisbandedthe firstTurkishfootballclubs (Black StockingsandKadikoy)beforethe
firstgamewas over.Fi?ek,"Thegenesisof sportsadministration
inTurkey,"626.
109.Jumhirr-yiIslmi (19 Mihr1363/October11, 1984): 10.

concludedthatthe corruptionthathad beset Iranianfootball in the shah's time
was still present.The articleclaimedthatfootballgamesbetween two important
clubs createda black marketin tickets anddrugs,thatthe supporterswere well
organizedin theirinsubordination,
andhadcome with preparedchants,andthat,
worstof all, when membersof the Islamic PropagandaUnit triedto get specta-
torsto chantIslamicslogans at the beginningof the match,spectatorshadmade
funof them!"
0
However, if the regime triedto stop football, it would antagonizeprecisely
the popularclasses on whose supportit dependedmost."' The result was con-
stantattemptsin the press to contrasttraditionalIranianvalues of chivalrywith
the commercialization,exploitation,andhooliganismthatcharacterizedsportsin
the corruptWest."2Footballremainedthe most popularsportamongthe young,
and was a means of diffusing Western cultural influence into the country.
Maradona'sear ring, ChrisWaddle's haircut, and the Germannationalteam's
uniformswere all imitated,much to the chagrinof regime hard-liners.For the
young men increasinglyimpatientwith the officially enforcedpuritanism,foot-
ball matches provided a means to vent their frustrations.Football, like many
sportingevents, is in manyways a ritual,andsharescertaincharacteristicswith
a religious ceremony,"
3 and it is perhapsprecisely because of this that it was
perceivedas a threatby thehard-liners
in theregime.
In the late 1980s, some of Iran's leaders began to realize that the post-
revolutionary policy of disapproval of all forms of entertainmentwas self-
defeating,as it gave rise to illicit practicesfar moreobjectionablethanthe ones
outlawed.One of the resultsof this was a greateremphasison sports,presuma-
bly because a mens sana resides in a corpore sano. Iraniantelevision was hard
pressed to produce programsthat people actually liked, and sporting events
seemed innocuous enough, except that neither football players nor wrestlers
cover theirlegs betweenthe navel andthe knee, andso conservativeswerecon-
110. Jumhari-yi lsldmt, (Azar 22, 1363/December 13, 1984): 5; and (Day 3,
1363/December24, 1984):7.
111. It is noteworthythatIranianadolescentPOWs at an Iraqiprisoncamp, who had
volunteered for the war, knew all about British football, and that soccer competitions
were one of the main attractionsof camp life. Ian Brown, Khomeini'sForgottenSons:
TheStoryof Iran'sBoySoldiers(London,1990),9, 54, 57, 74-75.
112. For instance two articles titled "The role of politics in football" in Jumhuri-yi
Islami (Urdibihisht30, 1365/May20, 1986):5; and(Urdibihisht31, 1365/May21, 1986):
5, which called football an instrumentof imperialism.See also a children's story titled
"Whois the champion?,"which contraststhe violence between supportersof rival foot-
ball teamsat a game set in 1977 with the harmonyandsolidaritywitnessedby the story's
little hero during the cAshurademonstrationsof December 1978, a key event in the
revolution.RizaShirazi,QahramankT-eh?
(Tehran,1988).
113.The similaritiesbetween attendinga football matchandattendinga religious rit-
ual areexplainedin RobertW. Coles, "Footballas a 'Surrogate'Religion?"A Sociologi-
cal Yearbookof Religionin Britain(London,1975);andBromberger,"Footballas world-
view,"305-1 1.

394 Chehabi
stantlycriticizingthe headof the radioandtelevision organization,Muhammad
Hashimi, younger brotherof cAli-AkbarRafsanjani.In the end, the matterof
sports broadcastswas referredto Imam Khumaynihimself, who in late 1987
issued a fatwa authorizingtelevision not only to broadcastfilms featuringonly
partially covered women, but also sports events, provided viewers watched
withoutlust."14Afterthis rulingsportscoverageexpandedto the pointwherein
1993 a thirdchannelwas set upto broadcastsports.Thispolicy still occasionally
raninto oppositionfromrevolutionary
purists,for instancein 1994, whencover-
age of the football World Cup in the United States promptedthe newspaper
Jumharr-yiIslaimito write thatby broadcastingthe games, television provided
propaganda
forAmerica,Iran'senemy.'15
A few monthsafterthe warwith Iraqended in 1988, the nationalteamsof
IranandIraqplayedto a drawin Kuwait,in a show of peace repletewith white
pigeons. Politicians were finally becoming alert to the use of football."6 In
1989, a new nationalsoccerleaguewas formed,namedLig-i Azadigan,afterthe
POWs who had come home. But the league did not function regularly,since
teamsthatplayed in internationalchampionshipswere excused fromplayingas
often as others, leading to highly unconventionaldecisions that were regularly
criticizedby otherteams andthe press."
7 Once the footballteams were nation-
alized, the Armenianclub, Ararat,was for a long time the only privatelyowned
club, butin 1994 a new club, Bahman,was foundedin Karajandbrieflybecame
quite successful. The remainingtop clubs are now affiliated with companies,
many of them state-owned,ministries,or otherstateorgans.Pirspulisis partof
the ministryof industry,while its perennialrival Istiqlalis associatedwith the
organizationof physical education."8Otherteams' names reflect their affilia-
tions: Traktursazi-yiTabriz (Tabriz TractorWorks), Sancat-i Naft-i Abadan
(AbadanOil Industry),Fulad-iKhuzistan(KhuzistanSteel), and,reflectingIsfa-
han's role as cradleof Iran'stextile industry,Poliakril-iIsfahan(IsfahanPoly-
acrylic)."
9
114.Risiilat(Day 1, 1366/December22, 1987): 1, 2. Khumaynimerelyacknowledged
what is well known but not commonly talked aboutin the West. See Allen Guttmann,
TheEroticin Sport(New York,1996).
115.The articlealso claimed thatbecause of these broadcastsgovernmentemployees
came to worktired,having stayedup all nightto watchTV. Iran Times(July 15, 1994):
6, 12. On thatworldcup see JohnSugdenandAlanTomlinson,eds., Hosts and Champi-
ons: SoccerCultures,NationalIdentitiesandthe USAWorldCup(Aldershot,1994).
116.Sadr,Razi,riizigari,
fautbMl,
50.
117. Ludwig Paul, "Der iranischeSpitzenfuBballund seine sozialen und politischen
Dimensionen,"Sozial-undZeitgeschichtedes Sports12(1998):77-78.
118.Gilles Paris,"ToutTeheranvibrepourles 'Rouges' du Pirouzi,"Le Monde(June
25, 1998):3
119. Paul, "DeriranischeSpitzenfuBball,"
79; andChristianBromberger,"Lefootball
en Iran,"Societes&Representations
(1998): 107.

In the early 1990s, women's sports were revived throughthe initiative of
Facizah Rafsanjani,the daughterof the then president. After women's sports
became moreestablished,'20
the question of women's presence at male games
was reopened.InJuly 1994,on the occasionof preliminarymatchesin the Asian
Youth Cup, it was announcedthat women could attendfootball matches. The
conservative newspaper, Risialat, objected on the grounds that the disputes,
fights, andfoul languageprevalentat footballmatchesmadetheminappropriate
venues for families, an allusion to the bawdy chantsof sportsfans thatusually
elaboratemetonymicallyon the fact thatin a team sportthe object of each team
is to penetratethe otherside.121Jumhiirt-yilslUmT,
objectedto women watching
men in shorts.Nonetheless, on July 18, aboutfive hundredwomen, seated in a
special section of the stadiumseparatefrom the men, attendeda game between
India and Bahrain.Only three days later the football federationrescinded its
decision, statingthatunfortunately
some footballfans hadnotbeen ableto adapt
themselvesto the IslamicnormsthatgovernedIraniansociety: apparentlya few
women had surroundedplayers and asked for their autographs.'2 The contro-
versy would not go away, however, andon February22, 1995, the head of the
Physical EducationOrganizationannouncedthathe was personallyin favor of
allowing women to attend football matches but not wrestling and swimming
events, in which men are not "appropriately
dressed."Conservativesdisagreed.
The weekly sports paper Pahlavan pointed out that according to the sharica,
obligatorycoveragefor a manextendedfromthe knee to the navel, whereasthe
shortsof football playersleft players' thighs uncovered.To settle the question,
the paperasked Iran's SupremeLeader,AyatullahKhaminah'i,for a fatwa on
whetherit was permissible[for men] to play team sportsdressedin t-shirtsand
shorts in the presence of unrelatedwomen, and whether women could watch
them if they did not feel lust. On both issues Khaminah'iruled that "anunre-
lated women may not look at the nakedbody of an unrelatedman, even if the
intent is not deriving lust."'23
Even this restrictiondid not satisfy one particu-
larly sensitive cleric, Hujjatal-IslamQaracati,who called on Iranianathletesto
foreswearshortsandtight-fittinguniforms.'24
Gradually,then, Iran'srulerscame to accept thatfootball was undoubtedly
Iran'smost popularsport.By the early 1990s, a numberof companieswere spe-
120.Women's soccer was declaredto be unobjectionable
by a numberof seniorclerics
in 1998, and in 1999 the first female indoor tournamentwas held. But no men were
allowedto attend.
121.This is a worldwidephenomenonand has received considerablescholarlyatten-
tion. See Alan Dundes, "Intothe Endzonefor a Touchdown:A PsychoanalyticInterpre-
tation of American Football," Western Folklore 37 (1978); Marcelo Mario Suarez-
Orozco, "A Study of ArgentineSoccer: The Dynamics of its Fans and Their Folklore,"
TheJournalof PsychoanalyticAnthropology5 (1982).
122.IranTimes(July15, 1994):6, 12;(July29, 1994):6, 14.
123.Pahlavan(Shahrivar
7, 1374/August29, 1995):7.
124.IranTimes,June1998,ata seminaron sportandspirituality.

396 Chehabi
cializing in selling footballvideos, posters,andmagazines.International
football
lore was eagerly adopted by young Iraniansin spite of all the government's
exhortationsto resist the West's "culturalaggression."Even newspaperspub-
lished by regimefiguresreportedextensively on international
football, so much
so that in 1993 the head of the WrestlingFederation,who doubled as Iranian
defense minister,said in an interviewthatalthoughthe only sportin which Iran
was successful internationallywas wrestling, the press emphasized football,
adding,"if we're not careful,football will destroywrestling."25 It is only natu-
ral that the two disciplines became entangledin the factional struggles of the
1990s.The newspaperSalam,mouthpieceof the liberalwing of the regimeuntil
it was closed down, emphasizedfootball in its sportscoverage, while Risialat,
the organof the conservatives,stressedwrestling.126In the presidentialelection
of May 1997, many football playersendorsedMuhammadKhatami,while cAli
AkbarNatiq Nuni,the official candidateafter whose martyredbrothera major
annualwrestlingtournamentis named,was endorsedby some of the country's
topwrestlers.Khatamiwon in a landslide.
The greatersupportof the statefor sportin general,andsoccerin particular,
after the end of the Iran-Iraqwar led to the improved performanceof the
national team in the early 1990s. At the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, the
Iranianteam won the gold medal in football, a turningpoint for the sport in
Iran.127
The manwho hadled the nationalteamto victory,cAli Parvin,was him-
self a popularformerplayerof pre-revolutionary
times, but he ranafoul of the
hard-linehead of the football federation,who reportedlyresentedthe renewed
ascendancyof pre-revolutionary
figures,andwas forcedto resignfromthe team
aftera series of defeats in 1994.
12 In the second half of 1997, footballfever in
Iranacquireda new political importancein partdue to the opennessof the poli-
tical struggle between the different factions in Iran.The head coach of Iran's
nationalteam, Mayili-Kuhan,who was identifiedwith the conservativefaction,
did not allow some of Iran's star players, who played in GermanBundesliga
teams, to join the nationalteam. The result was a dismal performanceof the
team in the last qualifying games for the World Cup. When Iranlost 2-0 to
Qatarin Doha on November7th, the matterbecame an affairof state and was
discussed in parliament. Mayili-Kuhan was dismissed and replaced by the
recentlyarrivedBrazilianhead coach of Iran'sOlympic football team, Valdeir
Vieira, a formerheadcoach of the CostaRicannationalteam.Underhis super-
vision the team achieved two ties against Australia,allowing it to become the
thirty-second
andlastteamto qualifyfortheWorldCup.
125.Interview,Arzish(28 Tir 1372/July 19, 1993):12.
126. This division parallelsthe situationin Turkey,where football is the emblematic
sportof the secularists,while wrestlingis preferredby moretraditionalpeople. See Mar-
tin Stokes, "'Strongas a Turk:Power,PerformanceandRepresentation
in TurkishWres-
tling,"in JeremyMacClancy,ed., Sport,IdentityandEthnicity(Oxford,1996).
127.Sadr,Rizi, razigdri,
ffitbiil,50-53.
128. Morteza Qolamzadeh, "Whatever Happened to Ali Parvin?," at
http:Hlwww.iranian.comnNov95/Parvin.html.

When the news of the "victory"reached Iraniansaroundthe globe, they
celebrated everywhere. As soon as the referee blew the final whistle, people
poured into the streets in Tehranand the country's other big cities and cele-
brated, defying the official insistance on somberness in public places.129In
Ardabil,Tabriz,andMashhadpeople went to the homes of the parentsof Iran's
starplayers,cAli Daci, KarimBaqiri,andKhudadad
cAzizi, andpaidhomageto
theirparents.These celebrationsshouldbe interpreted
in light of the presidential
election of May 1997. By Decemberthe millions who had cast theirballot for
MuhammadKhatamifelt thatthe change they had voted for was being stymied
by the political establishment,andthey leapt at the opportunityto let off steam
thatwas patrioticin tone, since the regimecould not very well criticizetheirjoy
at theircountry'ssuccess. ButJumhuirc-yi
Isliimr,ever the guardianof ideologi-
cal purity,characterized
thecelebrationsas a "cultural
fall"(suqut-ifarhangr).'3%
FromMelbournethe teamflew to Dubai,whereit was greetedwith acclaim
by thousandsof Iranianexpatriates.Before the athletes' returnto Iran,the gov-
ernmentrequestedthatthe people not greetthem at the airport,as is customary,
but to proceedto the big Azadi Stadiuminstead,to which the footballerswould
be brought by helicopter. But sexual segregation at the stadium was to be
upheld:"sisters"were askedto stay at home and watchthe event on television.
In spite of this, of the seventy thousandfans who turnedup at the stadiumto
greet the returningheroes, about five thousand were women they literally
crashedthe gates.1 1 The mingling of the sexes at the stadiumwas of course a
breakwith post-revolutionarypractice, and it was reportedthat a few women
took off their veils in defiance of the very strict dress codes that had been
enforced since 1981. A football stadium, wrote Bromberger,"is one of those
rarespaces where collective emotions are unleashed,where socially taboo val-
ues are allowed to be expressed."'32
In the aftermathof this event, the feminist
press pressed the issue of women's presence at soccer matches, arguing that
womenshouldbe allowedto voice patrioticfeelingsas well.133
After the exuberantcelebrations of December, Iran's leading politicians
finally learnedwhat South Americanpresidentshave known all along, namely
thatby associatingthemselves with a popularactivitythey show thatthey share
the passions of the people.'34 The speakerof parliament,Natiq Nuri, let it be
knownthathe was a footballfan,and-such is thebeautyof deliberativepolitics
in which politicianscompete for the same vote-Khatami attendeda wrestling
meetandproclaimedhis supportforthetraditional
discipline.
129.Bromberger,
"Lefootballen Iran,"102.
130.Bromberger,
"Lefootballen Iran,"103.
131. The Independent(December 6, 1997): 22. This may also have been because the
governmenthadgiven boys' schools a dayoff, butnotgirls' schools.
132.Bromberger,
"Footballas world-view,"302.
133.See, forinstance,Zandn39 (1376/1997).
134.Mason,Passionof thePeople,61.

398 Chehabi
In January1998, ValdeirVieira,in spite of his popularity,was fired, anda
Croatian,Tomislav Ivic, was chosen insteadto coach the nationalteam.'35 But
underthe pressureof conservativeshe was dismissedin May 1998 andreplaced
by an Iranianwho had returnedaftera long stay abroadto coach Bahman,the
risingteamof Tehran.136The intervalbetweenIran'squalificationfor the World
Cup in November 1997 and the game with the United States in Lyons on June
21, 1998 was markedby intenseinfightingamongIran'ssportfunctionaries.In
the end followers of PresidentKhatamiemergedvictorious,andbeforetheCup,
spokesmenfor the teamproclaimedthatthey would surprisethe world.The tra-
dition of Takhtialso played a role here: it provideda reservoirof values and
attitudesembeddedin traditionalIranianculturethat could be called upon to
correctthe imageof the "uglyIranian."
InFrancethe Iranianplayerscameto the
groundswell groomedandclean shaven,'37
andpresentedtheircounterparts
with
a bouquetof flowers before each game. The United States-Irangame hadbeen
builtup as a grudgematchby the media,butAmericanandIranianofficials had
instructedtheir players to be polite, and FIFA, the world goveming body of
football,haddeclaredJune21st "FairPlay Day."PresidentClintontapeda mes-
sage thatwas broadcastbefore the game, a message in which he expressedthe
hope thatthe game would be a "steptowardending the estrangementbetween
ournations."'13Whenthe big momentcame, the two teamsexchangedgifts and
eschewed the customarypre-gameteamphotos in favorof a joint one with the
twenty-twoplayersintermingled.The two teamsjointly receivedthe FIFAFair
Playawardon February1, 1999.
In Iran,people celebratedthe victoryof theirteamratherthanthe defeatof
the United States, and public revelry was devoid of any anti-Americanflavor.
Again, thejoyous atmospherewas in directdefianceof the cultureof mourning
andsobrietythathard-linersin the regimepromoted.'39
Elsewherein the Middle
East, however, crowds celebratedthe defeat of the United States, especially in
the Shicite areas of Lebanonand in the West Bank. In the United States, the
gamewas hardlynoticed.'14
135.IranTimes(January16, 1998):2; (January
23, 1998):1.
136. From 1973 to 1976 the national team had been managed by the Manchester
UnitedcoachFrankO'Farrel,butthoseweremorecosmopolitandays.
137. N[awid] K[ermani], "Gut rasiert,"FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung (July 11,
1998):32.
138. JereLongman,"Diplomacyand Urgencyas the U.S. Faces Iran,"TheNew York
Times(June21, 1996):C2.
139. Elaine Sciolino, "Singing,Dancing and Cheeringin the Streetsof Tehran,"The
New YorkTimes(June22, 1998):C9; andBehzadYaghmaian,Social Changein Iran:An
Eyewitness Account of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movementsfor Rights (Albany,
2002), 49-54.
140. See AndreiS. Markovitsand Steven L. Hellerman,Soccer andAmericanExcep-
tionalism(Princeton,2001).

Many Iraniansand Americans hoped that this game, and others that fol-
lowed, mightlead to a thaw in US-Iranianrelations.While PresidentClintonin
the United Statescongratulatedthe Iranianteam on its victory;in Iranthe offi-
cial reactionwas Janus-faced,like the government.PresidentKhatamiput the
accenton sportsmanship
andcommentedthat"whatcountsis the endeavor,hard
work,solidarity,skill andintellectdisplayedby ouryoung people,"butadmitted
that"of course, one feels even happierwhen the resultof this worthyendeavor
is victory."Ayatollah cAli Khaminah'i,by contrast,likened the victory to the
revolutionand the war againstIraq,and stated:"tonight,again, the strong and
arrogantopponent felt the bitter taste of defeat at your hands."'14'In the end,
nothingcame of "sportsdiplomacy"at the state-to-statelevel,'42but in Iranthe
celebrationhad a catharticeffect. For Iranianyouth, Iranianparticipationat the
WorldCupmeantthattheirpariahnationhadrejoinedthe international
commu-
nity, andparallelswere drawnbetweenJiam-i
jah?ini(WorldCup) andJamicah-
yi jah?inT
(worldsociety). The integrationof Iraniansin world society was sym-
bolically furtheredin the aftermathof the 1998 World Cup when many top
Iranianplayers startedplaying on foreign soccer teams, mostly in Germany,
wherelongtimeIranianresidentsbeganactingas middlemenandagents.'43Soc-
cer fans in Irannow hadan emotionalstakein the fortunesof Europeanfootball
teams. Conversely, some Iranianplayers abroad,like KhudadadcAzizi, used
theirnewly acquiredwealthto fundprojectsathome.'44
The soccer fever of the late 1990s undoubtedlygave a boost to national
integrationin Iran.SecularandreligiousIranians,men andwomen, people from
the capital and from the provinces, were all united in their support of the
national team, and followed its uneven fortunes with joy and anxiety. This
enthusiasmwas even sharedby membersof the Iraniandiaspora,whose rela-
tions with theirhome countryhave not been free of tension. This rapproche-
mentmayyet haveramifications
forpoliticaldevelopmentsinsideIran.
In the autumnof 2001, the Iraniannationalteamfaredbadly in the qualify-
ing matchesfor the 2002 WorldCup. Again people pouredinto the streets,this
time to vent theirfrustrations.
Disappointment
over the team's loss mingledwith
disappointmentover stalled reforms in Iran, and, fueled by Persian language
radiobroadcastsfrom Los Angeles, rumorscirculatedthatthe governmenthad
141.IranTimes(June26, 1998):2.
142. For a more detailedaccountsee H. E. Chehabi,"US-IranianSportsDiplomacy,"
DiplomacyandStatecraft12(2001):89-106.
143. Hans-Gunther
Klemm, "Traumaus 1001 Nacht,"Kicker:Sonderheft(1998): 74;
and idem, "Deutschland als Ziel, Daei als Pionier," FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung
(August20, 1999):39.
144.Bromberger,
"Lefootballen Iran,' 108.
145.See, forexample, ManuchehrSanadjian,"'TheyGot Game'-Asylum Rightsand
Marginality in the Diaspora: the World-Cup and IranianExiles," Social Identities 6
(2000): 143-63; and"Watchingwith Pride:Iraniansoccerfansexcited aboutmatch,"San
Jose MercuryNews(January16,2000): 3B, 7B.

400 Chehabi
deliberatelyinstructedthe nationalteam to lose so as to preventa repetitionof
the celebrationsof 1998. The demonstrationsturnedinto riots in which a num-
ber of buildings were ransackedand hundredswere arrested.146That young
Iraniansshouldpourinto the streetsboth when theirteamwon andwhen it lost
is notastonishing,for
[flootball is full of vicarious achievementand vicarious 'frustration.'
Where achievement is frustrated,the 'unjustified defeat' is usually
ambiguous enough to permit further argument and redefinition, in
similar style to the ways in which religious systems have previously
legitimized other hostile worlds to their adherents. . . . Just as sects
developed as 'religions of the oppressed,' so football offers an attrac-
tive andexciting interludeto those whose economic or 'profane'life is
dominatedby lack of hope, lack of realisticambition,andlack of any
meansthroughwhichtheycanfeel achievementorfulfillment."
'47
Conclusion
As this article has attemptedto show, the history of football in Iranhas been
intimatelyintertwinedwith politics, bothdomesticandinternational.
Successive
Iranianregimes have tried to use sportsfor internaland externallegitimation.
But underboththe Pahlaviandthe Islamicregimethisefforthas beenhampered
by the appallingstate of the sportsbureaucracies,which have been inefficient,
corrupt,nepotistic, and riven by personal rivalries and jealousies. The rapid
turnoverof functionarieshas madeplanningall but impossible.While it is per-
hapsexaggeratedto claim that"sportsis one of the disasterareasof the Iranian
way of life,",148
the fact that Iranianathletes gain any medals at all at interna-
tional competitions is a minor miracle, if one comparesthe conditions under
which they trainwith the facilities at the disposal of people in industrialized
nations. In 1998, the head of the IranianFootball Federationsummarizedthe
woes of Iranianfootballas follows: the statedoes not providesufficientsupport,
thereare no real clubs, the state enterprisesthatsponsora club do so illegally
and their directors can be taken to task, there are far too few grass-covered
playingfields, ticketpricesaretoo low to generateany significantrevenue,there
areno scientific centersto help playersenhancetheirperformance,the inputof
theeducationalsystemis nil, andIranhasno voice attheinternational
level. 49
146. Nazila Fathi,"SoccerMelees Keep Eruptingin Iran,With a Political Message,"
New YorkTimes(October26, 2001):A7.
147.Coles, "Footballas a 'Surrogate'Religion?"75.
148. William H. Forbis, Fall of the Peacock Throne:The Storyof Iran (New York,
1980), 170.Fora revealingaperqu
of sportslife undertheshah,see 170-74.
149. Muhandis Sayyid Mustafa Hashimi-Taba, Diistin-i yak su'cad (Tehran,
1376/1997-98), 102-106.

Therecan be little doubtthatit was the Pahlavistatethatcreatedcontempo-
raryIran's"fieldof sportpractices,"to use Bourdieu'sterm.'50
But once created,
a demandwas generatedfor the productsof this field thatsurvivedthedemiseof
the monarchy.The passion for football became a sign of dissent, and its mani-
festationsreflectedthecounterculture
thattheofficial puritanism
generated."5'
The privilegingof teamsports,especially football,was initiallya deliberate
act to foster a spiritof cooperationamong Iranians.Durkheimrecognizes that
the passing of mechanicalsolidaritydoes not necessarily heraldthe advent of
organicsolidarity,andcan insteadlead to whathe termed"anomie.",'52
It would
seem thatsocial changein Iranhas producedat least as muchanomieas organic
solidarity.A sportsteamis ideallymorethanthe sumof its parts,butin Iranone
has the uncanny impressionthat the team is at times less than the sum of its
parts.In the 1930s, an Englishobserverwrote aboutfootballplayersin Kerman
thatwhile the idea of team-spiritwas growing, "onless importantoccasions . . .
some men will not pass the ball."'53
Threedecades later,in 1967, the American
basketballcoach of the national Iranianteam noted that he had to work with
individualswho relatedatomistically.The key relationships,he reported,were
not cooperativepatternsof teamworkbut rathercompetitive interpersonalrela-
tionships that extended well beyond the basketball court.154 Another facet of
anomie is the violence all too often displayedby spectators.Conservativeshave
a point when they pointout thatfromthe attackon the headquarters
of NMihd
to
the scuffles that regularlymarsoccer matchesin Iranthere is a long threadof
violence thatweaves throughthe historyof Iranianfootball.i55 But even writers
critical of the conservative establishmenthave recently become more candid
aboutthe violence thatattendsmanyfames, especially those thatpit the "Reds"
and the "Blues" against each other. The hostility between Istiqlal/Tajand
Pirspulisfans wouldremindone of the traditional
rivalrybetweenurbanHaydari
andNicmatifactionsin Iraniancities,157were it not for the fact thatsuch hostil-
150.PierreBourdieu,"Commentpeut-onetre sportif?"Questionsde sociologie (Paris,
1984).
151. On the concept of counter-culturein contemporaryIran see Asghar Schirazi,
"Gegenkulturals Ausdruckder Zivilgesellschaft in der Islamischen Republik Iran,"in
ProblemederZivilgesellschaftim VorderenOrient(Opladen,1995), 135-63.
152.Durkheim,TheDivisionof Labor,291-309.
153.Merrit-Hawkes,
Persia, 165.
154. James A. Bill, "The Plasticity of InformalPolitics: The Case of Iran,"Middle
East Journal 27 (1973): 139-40, quoting Donald J. Linehan,who coached Iran'steam
1966-67.
155.See forinstanceSarvistani,"Dastan-ivarzish-imudirn,"
Subh76 (1376/1997).
156.Sadr,Rfil, rfuzigdrT,
fatbdl, 74-80.
157. On this phenomenonsee John R. Perry,"ArtificialAntagonism in Pre-Modern
Iran:The Haydari-NecmatiUrbanFactions,"in Donald J. Kagay and L. J. AndrewVil-
lalon, eds., The Final Argument:The Imprintof Violence on Society in Medieval and
EarlyModem Europe(Woodbridge,1998) andJohnR. Perry,"Towarda Theoryof Ira-

402 Chehabi
ity is endemic in the world of soccer andby no meansuniqueto Iran.The tri-
umphof football worldwideis a facet of the globalizationof culture,'58
and by
now footballhas conqueredmost of the world,with the exceptionof the United
States of America,but even here it is progressingsteadily. 9 The game's per-
sistent popularityin Iran shows that Iranians'gradualimmersion into global
culturehascontinuedunabated.
nian UrbanMoieties: The HaydariyyahandNicmatiyyahRevisited,"IranianStudies32
(1999): 51-70.
158.Guttmann,
chap.2 of Games&Empires.
159.MarkovitsandHellerman,SoccerandAmericanExceptionalism.

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