From 1998 to 2022: One Bed, Two Dreams
From 1998 to 2022: One Bed, Two Dreams. Football is not just an ordinary game. If a team does not have the support of its fans and people, it is no different from a bunch of clowns chasing a ball pointlessly. This is a line from the book ‘Football Against the Enemy’ by Simon Kuper, translated by Adel Ferdosipour, which has been repeatedly shared since yesterday after Iran’s 6-2 loss to England. It seems as if the author’s prediction was about the current state of Iran’s national team. Kuper rightly discusses the relationship and impact of politics on football in his book and provides dozens of examples from different countries he visited.
If Kuper decides to revise and republish his book, the incident that happened to Iran’s national football team yesterday could certainly become a pivotal point in his book. It is something far beyond the impact of politics on football, with football being akin to politics itself.
A rare and astonishing event in the history of the World Cup, where the fans of a national team bought tickets to go to the stadium and chant ‘dishonorable, dishonorable’ against their own team. A moment in the history of the World Cup and football where people celebrated their national team’s loss and cheered for the opposing team’s victory, and the players didn’t sing the national anthem while wearing black armbands.
Kuper has highlighted the frightening similarities between football and politics in his book. According to him, football is used as an effective tool against a common goal, the enemy. Therefore, one can sometimes trace the historical hatred of fans of two national teams in their matches. However, Kuper never imagined that this politics would dominate football to the extent that this hatred would not be directed towards the rival team but would rebound towards the home team.
Who would have believed that one day people would express joy over their national team conceding goals? What strength does a player have to fight when they receive insults instead of encouragement in the middle of the field?
From ’98 to 2022
The people of Iran will never forget two World Cups in football history: the 1998 and 2022 World Cups. The qualifiers and then the 1998 World Cup itself were right after Mohammad Khatami’s victory and the rise of the Second of Khordad movement. Beyond the star quality of that team, one cannot overlook the atmosphere of excitement and hope created in society after the reformist government came to power.
The hope that was consequently injected into the national team, giving it undeniable confidence. The whole society had become two eyes fixed on the national team, following all its movements and news, and with full support, expecting victory.
The street celebrations of people after defeating Australia in the qualifiers and the USA in the World Cup remain in memories. In contrast to these days, although it should be said that the joy over the national team’s loss to England, with a score of 6-2, seems a bit unfair and unjust, and probably this feeling is not widespread among the majority of people, it can be said that most people have a kind of local anesthesia towards the national team’s participation in the World Cup. Perhaps indifference is the best description of the current mood of the people and national team fans.
The story began when campaigns for the expulsion of the national team from the World Cup competitions were formed abroad, and then whispers of the national team’s withdrawal from the World Cup competitions began in the social media space.
But people’s anger increased when images and news of the team members’ meeting with Ebrahim Raisi were published, while some football figures had already sided with the protesters, and even figures like Daei and Mahdavikia and some others rejected the federation or FIFA’s invitation to attend in Qatar and boycotted it in a way.
We Lost to Ourselves
Hossein Qadyani, a conservative writer and media activist, believes in a piece about yesterday’s loss that we lost not to England but to ourselves. We lost because we wished for the national team’s defeat. We lost because the leaders of the regime do not want to accept that when a president reaches the Pasteur with invalid votes, it means the gap between the public and the Islamic Republic is turning into a chasm between the nation and the government.
We lost because high-ranking officials do not accept the definite and necessary need for reforms in the country. We lost because in a newspaper run by the representative of the Supreme Leader, we falsely claim that 99% of the people are revolutionary, and of course, we tremble like a leaf at the suggestion of a referendum.
Mohsen Tanabandeh also immediately wrote on his Instagram page after the national team’s loss, ‘We lost, we had to lose. Not with this result. We had previously played with a much better team than England. We beat Spain, but we were excellent. It wasn’t a coincidence.
Argentina, Portugal. This result wasn’t about the field; it was about the bad mood and spirit. It was Kurdistan, Mahabad, Sistan, and Baluchistan. Many believe that the national team lost inside Iran, not on the football field, even before entering the match against England.
A team that every four years had the entire Iranian society united and in harmony behind it went to the field yesterday while hashtags like ‘I don’t see the game’ and ‘happy about the national team’s loss’ were being shared. The result of the game was not only on the football field but could be heard in the stands, on social media, among ordinary people in the streets, and in the voices rising from windows. Our national football team lost in advance when people started comparing it to a club team, with the women’s basketball team of Congo.
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