Why let anyone else choose what you're allowed to wear? If Iranian women are happy with that, what's the matter? For many years they played with many countreis, wearing the same dress, and nothing happened! "In April 2010 FIFA announced that it was planning to ban headscarves and other religious outings during the 2012 Olympics. Following the ruling, Iran’s team designed special headscarves that players wrapped tightly around their heads and necks. The team said they were in line with guidelines set by the football association" Olympics 2012: FIFA bans headscarves for Iranian women’s soccer team , Published: June 6 TEHRAN — Not participating in the 2012 London Olympics is a nightmare for every serious athlete, but for the Iranian women’s soccer team the defeat was extra bitter after they were disqualified right before a crucial qualifying match because they wore Islamic headscarves. Ready to play a crucial Olympic qualifying match with Jordan in Amman on Friday, the Iranian team was dismissed by officials of the international football association, FIFA. The officials decided just before the kickoff that the tight headscarves the Iranian players were wearing to cover their hair broke the association’s dress code, FIFA said on Monday. After Jordan was awarded a 3-0 victory, Iran’s players took to the field crying, Press TV, Iranian state TV’s English-language outlet, reported. In the Islamic Republic of Iran all women are obliged to cover their hair, neck, arms and legs according to the state’s interpretation of Shiite Islamic tenets. Female athletes who compete internationally have to obey the country’s dress code. Iranian women athletes have excelled during international events in sports such as karate and volleyball, but are notably absent from sports such as swimming and gymnastics. “This ruling means that women soccer in Iran is over,” said Shahrzad Mozafar, the team’s former head coach. She said that now that FIFA is no longer allowing Iranian women to wear scarves, the Iranian government will no longer send them abroad for competitions. “Headscarves are simply what we wear in Iran,” she said. In April 2010 FIFA announced that it was planning to ban headscarves and other religious outings during the 2012 Olympics. Following the ruling, Iran’s team designed special headscarves that players wrapped tightly around their heads and necks. The team said they were in line with guidelines set by the football association. FIFA did not agree and told the Associated Press on Monday that its officials had been right to stop the Iranian women from playing the qualifier. Iranian officials were “informed thoroughly” before Friday's match against Jordan that the headscarf covering a woman’s neck is banned for safety reasons, an unidentified FIFA official said. The Iranian football organization, which is lead by allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is planning to protest the ruling. Mozafar said the ruling killed professional athletic ambitions of Iranian women. “When a serious women athlete can’t participate internationally, which ambitions are left for her?” she said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/united/olympics-2012-fifa-bans-headscarves-for-irans-women-soccer-team/2011/06/06/AGzT1JKH_story.html Soccer-Iran to complain to FIFA over women's ban TEHRAN, June 5 (Reuters) - Iran will complain to world soccer's governing body FIFA after its women's team were banned from a qualifying game for next year's Olympics due to their Islamic dress, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. The Iranian team were banned from a match against Jordan shortly before the game was due to start in Amman on Friday, Iran's state-run Press TV reported. Jordan were awarded a 3-0 win in the second-round qualifying match. "We will file a complaint to FIFA against the official in charge of the matches," Ali Kafashian, head of Iran's football federation, was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA. The row over what Iran's women players are allowed to wear has been brewing for more than a year. FIFA banned the team last April due to their plan to wear headscarves, in accordance with the Islamic dress code which requires all women in Iran to cover their hair in public. The Iranian federation made changes to the kit and believed it had reached an acceptable compromise. A photograph on Press TV's website (www.presstv.ir) showed players at Friday's match in white tracksuits and head coverings that concealed their hair and ears, kneeling around the Iranian flag on the pitch. "Although it has been said in FIFA's regulations that no country can play with Islamic dress, we had necessary negotiations with FIFA officials," Kafashian said. "Unfortunately, I do not know why the Bahraini official in charge of the matches refused to let our team play." News reports in Iran stressed the Bahraini nationality of the official. Iran has been a vocal critic of the Sunni Muslim Bahraini monarchy's violent crackdown on democracy protestors from the Shi'ite majority in recent months. (Reporting by Mitra Amiri; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23298:soccer-iran-to-complain-to-fifa-over-womens-ban&catid=4:iran-general&Itemid=26 With Regards Abi “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst” - Aristotle -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "newsline" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/newsline?hl=en?hl=en http://www.newstower.blogspot.com/
