close button
Switch to Iranwire Light?
It looks like you’re having trouble loading the content on this page. Switch to Iranwire Light instead.
Features

Women Basketball Players Stranded as Incompetent Sports Officials Threaten Ban

April 11, 2018
IranWire Citizen Journalist
7 min read
Women Basketball Players Stranded as Incompetent Sports Officials Threaten Ban

The following article was written by an Iranian citizen journalist on the ground in Iran, who writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity..

 

An Iranian women’s basketball team left to compete in Jordan in the early hours of April 10 after initially being blocked from leaving the country. 

The team, which is owned and operated by Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, was waiting to board a flight at the airport when the players were told they were not allowed to leave. According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), they were sent home, but later told they could return to the airport, board a flight, and take part in the Jordan competition [Persian link]. 

It was the second time in less than 10 days that an Iranian women’s basketball team was told they would not be able to compete internationally. First it happened to the National Women’s Basketball Team. During the Iranian new year holidays, Iran’s National Olympic Committee opposed plans to send the team to the 2018 Asian Games, which will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from August 18 to September 2. At the time of publishing, the team was still banned from taking part in the competitions. 

Prior to 2014, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) did not allow athletes to cover their heads during international competitions. The ban included headgear stipulated under Sikh, Muslim and Jewish religious rules, and applied equally to both men and women. Then, in September 2014, FIBA announced that it intended to relax the rules for a trial period of two years. It also informed basketball federations in Muslim countries that if they wanted their women’s teams to take part in international competitions wearing hijab, they must use this trial period to persuade FIBA that they were committed to their women’s teams by holding tournaments in the presence of spectators and sponsors, and by allowing them to travel to international competitions on a regular basis. 

But the only Muslim country that adequately complied was Qatar, which held three domestic tournaments for women’s basketball and sent its women’s basketball players to international games more than 10 times. Mahmoud Mashhoun, the head of Iran’s Basketball Federation at the time, simply ignored FIBA’s letter and presumably filed it away.

In 2016, when the FIBA two-year trial period was over, Ashour Golmohammadi, a former basketball player and current commentator on Iran’s Sports Radio, and Farank Tayyari, the women’s basketball coach, decided to act independently of the basketball federation and send a team from Azad University to international competitions in Turkmenistan. Expenses were covered by individual contributions.

Punishment for Women Athletes

The basketball federation — meaning Mahmoud Mashhoun — most likely assumed that the sports ministry's Overseas Council, which has the power to approve or reject participation in competitions outside Iran, would refuse Azad University team’s request to travel to Turkmenistan. But that did not happen, and the team competed. When the players returned to Iran, the federation sought punishment for them, demanding that authorities take “legal” and “security” action against them.

But Iran’s sports ministry not only disregarded the federation’s demand, it designed a uniform complete with hijab for Iranian female basketball players and sent it to FIBA for approval. Eventually, in early 2017, FIBA accepted that Iranian women athletes could be allowed to participate in international competitions if they wore the uniform with hijab.

With this, a 37-year-old shackle on Iranian women basketball players was removed. However, any euphoria was short-lived, and the only recompense female players got was an agreement that they could send the under-16 women’s team to Asian competitions. However, there was a chance even this team could be eliminated from competitions because Iran’s basketball federation owes the international federation $325,000.

But the National Olympic Committee’s latest opposition to the female team traveling to Jakarta for the Asian Games posed the biggest threat to the future of women’s basketball in Iran. 

In 2011, Iran’s Olympic authorities set up a “technical committee” to decide whether Iranian teams qualify to participate in international competitions, and since its establishment, it has faced much criticism. For example, some critics point out the dubious merits of a committee of 10 people being given the power to decide on the qualifications of national teams from an extremely diverse range of sport and athletics, ranging from water polo and women’s handball to martial arts, fencing and horse riding.

How Can They Win after 37 Years?

But it could be argued that the Iranian National Olympic Committee has only one aim, and that is to ensure Iran wins medals. The basketball federation certainly claimed that the female team was denied the opportunity to compete in the Jakarta games purely on practical grounds — that it had no chance of winning a medal. Speaking to ISNA, Farideh Shojaee, the head of women’s basketball committee at Iran’s basketball federation said: “How can a team that was not allowed to participate in international competitions for 37 years hope to win a medal?” 

In addition, it was estimated that sending the team to the Jakarta competition would cost close to 180 million tomans, or almost $48,000. In an effort to convince the National Olympic Committee to reverse its decision, the basketball federation did its best to come up with the money for part of the expenses. However, the actual cost of sending the Ministry of Petroleum women’s basketball team to Jordan ended up being less than 90 million tomans, or under $24,000. Even with the dollar approaching 6,000 tomans in currency markets, the trip would not have gone over 90 million tomans. Still, according to ISNA [Persian link], while the athletes were waiting to board the plane on Sunday, April 8, ministry officials contacted them and told them to go back home.

Then, a few minutes later, and after pleas from the coaches and players, ministry officials agreed to send them to Jordan via Dubai on a midnight flight. The team spent more than 14 hours in Imam Khomeini International Airport’s chapel only to be told: “The Ministry of Petroleum did not find a sponsor. The trip is canceled.”

The Asian Basketball Confederation announced that, if the Petroleum Ministry team did not show up on time, it would be removed from the competition schedule. Iran’s basketball federation remained in talks with the secretary general of the Asian confederation to keep the team on the list while it tried to confirm next steps.

On Again, Off Again

“They repeatedly gathered us [up] and told us to be ready,” one of the basketball players told IranWire. “The ministry told us they had the tickets. But they canceled the 5pm flight. Then they said we would go with the 11pm flight. At 10pm we learned that the ministry had yet to buy the tickets. Then they said that at 5am we would first go to Dubai and then to Jordon. At 2am, they told us the ministry was against our trip. Nevertheless, they kept us at the airport until six in the morning in case they changed their mind.”

According to Tasnim News Agency, money was not the only excuse given for the delay. The ministry’s High Sports Council claimed that because the head of the ministry’s sports club had retired, it had not been informed about the trip. As a result, it had not been able to issue the necessary permit. In other words, they blamed the club’s managers for failing to get the permit.

To the basketball players at the airport, this excuse must have sounded hollow. They were told there was no problem with the rules and regulations, but that the ministry had simply opposed the trip because of the costs, which were not only high but also unpredictable due to the rise of the dollar against the Iranian currency.

After all the confusion, Ahmad Parou, the new head of the sports club, told ISNA on midday on Monday, April 9: “The problem is solved and the team will fly to Jordan at 1:15am on Tuesday.” He confirmed that both money and the permit had been settled.

According to Fars News Agency, if the team did not show up in Jordan, Iran would have to pay a $75,000 fine to the Asian Basketball Confederation, considerably more than what the trip would cost.

Iran’s female basketball players fought for 37 years to be allowed to compete in Asian and international tournaments. Wearing hijab is no longer a problem, but now they have other irritating problems to contend with, including petty excuses from the very institutions that should be supporting them — their country’s National Olympic Committee, the basketball federation and their ministry sponsors. 

 

Sanaz Kalantari, citizen journalist

 

More on obstacles for Iranian sportswomen:

Mahsa Ghorbani, Iran’s Female International Football Referee, March 2018

Female Bodybuilders Face Bans and Arrests, January 2017

"I don't want to play for Iran anymore because they appreciate men more than women", March 2016

How Does Iran Treat its Women Athletes?, August 2016

The Woman Who Ignored all the Stop Signs is Now a Model of Inspiration, December 2016

Athlete Sacked after Husband Bans her from Traveling, September 2015

Going out? Ask your Husband First, September 2015

Women Athletes: National Uniform, Hostile Treatment, January 2014

comments

Features

The Plight of Iran’s Unpaid Workers

April 10, 2018
Behrouz Mina
6 min read
The Plight of Iran’s Unpaid Workers