Iranian soccer players wear green for live televised game.
Iranian soccer players wear green for live televised game.
The stars of Iran’s soccer team wore green wristbands in support of the anti-government protesters, during a game broadcast live on Iranian state TV yesterday. “State television, which has been broadcasting Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s competing rallies, has steered clear of images of Mr Moussavi’s protests,” the Financial Times notes. “But given the popularity of football in Iran, keeping the match off the air would not have been an option.” Twitter user mehdi115 posted this photo:
After half-time, only one player kept his green wristband on. Iranian bloggers speculated that “Ali Abadi, chairman of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI), who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had telephoned Seoul during half time and instructed the players to remove the green wristbands immediately.”
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Courage can be shown in many ways…
June 17th, 2009 at 11:59 amLet’s see — in this “democracy” under Ahmadinejad, we now have squelched the right to peaceful protest, the right to free speech, the right to communicate via e-mail, facebook, twitter, and now the right to wear a green wristband.
Why is this looking more like a despotic dictatorship?
June 17th, 2009 at 12:06 pm…
even though soccer is a
sissy sport i admire their courage.
:\
June 17th, 2009 at 12:17 pmBecause it is a despotic dictatorship.
The dictator is the Ayatollah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the puppet.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:17 pmNext up, they might as well just give Khamenei the title of “Shah” and get it over with.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:18 pmmisscoleopteramolly,
No more despotic than the GOP and the conservatives agenda for the US?
June 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pmjoe cantwell Says: even though soccer is a sissy sport i admire their courage.
them’s fightin’ words joe, don’t get me started! :D
June 17th, 2009 at 12:22 pmWell done, Iranian soccer team.
I wish more Americans had had such courage during the Bush years.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:24 pmranus69 Says
June 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
No more despotic than the GOP and the conservatives agenda for the US?
_____________________________________________________________
Yes, I saw that parallel, too.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:29 pm????? ??????????? ??? ??????? ?? ????
June 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
Goooooooaaaaalalllll!!!!!!!!!
:)
***
doc,
i’ve head that guy and you’re
only off by a few thousand “o’s”
and “a’s” and “!’s”.
:::
June 17th, 2009 at 12:46 pmDon’t kick us in the balls with your tyranny!
June 17th, 2009 at 12:47 pmInsert Cheney for the Ayatollah and Bush for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and whaddaya got?
The Family Values Party…in Iran.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:48 pmWhat the media has not disclosed is that many within the suburbs of Iran voted for Ahmadinejad. Most within the major cities voted for the opposition. This sounds like people who refuse to accept victory.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:00 pmHi Daryll!!!
June 17th, 2009 at 1:07 pmvinylspear Says:
Hi Daryll!!!
…
gino jennings?
didn’t he use to be a pip?
???
June 17th, 2009 at 1:22 pmraynman Says: “Courage can be shown in many ways…”
How will we show ours? We’ve lost our country too.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:27 pmHi Daryll.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:31 pmjoe cantwell Says:
even though soccer is a
sissy sport i admire their courage.
Aw, man. Soccer’s great. Don’t knock it. :)
June 17th, 2009 at 1:42 pmjaimymoore Says:
????? ??????????? ??? ??????? ?? ????
June 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
_____________
Trying to post in Farsi? You need to convert to string literals first – Wordpress is bad at Unicode.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pmlooktothehills Says:
What the media has not disclosed is that many within the suburbs of Iran voted for Ahmadinejad. Most within the major cities voted for the opposition. This sounds like people who refuse to accept victory.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
_________
Yes, but according to who? The results released by the Ahmedinejad-appointed election officials before the votes had been counted?
June 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pmRead ALTERNET today!!!!
This is of great and pressing importance. It is one thing which is missing in TP since ObaOba took office…
Shame: The ‘Anti-War’ Democrats Who Sold Out
ALTERNET
June 17th, 2009 at 4:30 pmA few comments if I may:
Ahmedinijad is a soccer fan himself. Back in 2006 there was an issue in that he wanted to go to Germany for the World Cup. The German government did not want him to go, but the neo-Nazi NPD offered to welcome him (IIRC, Iran played in one of the states where the NPD had representation in the state parliament).
Soccer is a big thing in Iran. A few years back the regime got worried because soccer crowds started chanting anti-regime slogans during games (soccer stadia are the one place in Iran where people can assemble in large numbers legally).
Because uppity Iranian women seemed to be starting the chanting, the regime at one point banned women from soccer games. They claimed it was for their own protection, as soccer crowds have a tendancy to get a bit “fluent” in their language during games. The regime said that women would be allowed back in after the stadia were “cleaned up”.
I was in France for the 1998 World Cup and attended the US-Iran debacle (fire Sampson!)
When entering the stadium. the French police checked our banners to make sure there were no “political” banners. I understand that many Iranian ex-pats who entered the game had banners taken away. Some apparently were as inocuous as the alternative Iranian flag, which has the winged syphix instead of the current emblem.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:50 pmIt’s funny to watch Republicans cheer for the color of Islam. Moussavi may be for reform, but he had no intention to budge on the nuclear energy issue or to become an American stooge. This is a struggle for power within Iran, not an effort to become Western.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:51 pmjoe cantwell Says:
…
even though soccer is a
sissy sport i admire their courage.
:\
June 17th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I frequently admire your style, but sissy? Probably you’ve never experienced a kick from a foot that can shoot balls at 100mph. Or a head butt from a guy who wants to hit the ball before you. And, football players wear no protections as american football players do.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:00 amGooooaaaaalllllll!!!
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