Iran players remain silent during national anthem at World Cup
By: Dave Lawler (Axios)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Iranian fans hold up a "Woman Life Freedom" banner during the Iran-England match. Photo: Juan Luis Diaz/Quality Sport Images/Getty
Iran's players remained stone-faced as the national anthem played ahead of their opening World Cup match against England on Monday.
Why it matters: The decision to remain silent during the anthem came a day after the team captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, spoke in solidarity with the protests in Iran, which began two months ago after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody after being arrested by morality police for "improper hijab."
- Asked about the protesters in a press conference on Sunday, Hajsafi said, "They should know that we sympathize with them," adding: "I hope the situation changes as the people wish and that everyone will be happy."
- Some fans in the stadium could be heard booing the anthem, while a few held signs or wore shirts with the protesters' rallying cry, "Woman, Life, Freedom."
The team wore black jackets over their jerseys during the anthem ahead of a match in September in an apparent sign of dissent, but the players were reportedly pressured not to speak out ahead of the tournament.
- Iranian authorities have criticized and in some cases even arrested celebrities who have backed the protests.
- The team drew the ire of some Iranian activists by attending a farewell ceremony in Tehran alongside President Ebrahim Raisi.
Several Iranian players have declined to answer questions about the protests and one, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, accused the press of trying to "destabilize" the team with such questions.
- Jahanbakhsh also said the team would decide collectively whether to sing the anthem, adding: "Obviously, everybody's talking about [it]." The current anthem was chosen in 1990 and is seen by some as a symbol of the regime.
- The team did sing the anthem during previous tournaments, including the 2018 World Cup.
The latest: Iran lost to England 6-2 on Monday. The team will play Wales on Friday and the U.S. next Tuesday, with the top two out of those four teams advancing to the knockout rounds.
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Colin Kaepernick is smiling somewhere.
Is he being paid by Qatar? Or the ayatollahs? Since, as Kaepernick's defenders taught us, protesting during a national anthem is the highest form of patriotism, the Iranian players must be ultra supporters of the Islamic Republic...
You know he's making bank off this somehow, right?
“Is he being paid by Qatar? Or the ayatollahs?”
No and no.
But know a protest is a protest. Shining light upon darkness is positive, regardless of those that lurk in the shadows.
Are you trying to say the Iranian soccer players are not patriotic?
if you say so, but it seems to be a meek protest at best. It not like marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge or facing the fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham, is it. Refusing to participate in these matches would have been a bigger protest.
Not at all. I'm mocking the claims that Kaepernick's protest were patriotic. Remember when all the progressives ignored what he actually said to argue kneeling during the anthem was patriotic?
“It not like marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge or facing the fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham,”
No, it is not.
It is an attempt at refocusing attention on the very same issues; that we still struggle with the same, and that we still have a long way to go.
“I'm mocking…”
When that is all one has, that is all one does…
There are peaceful and patriotic protests. I found Kaepernick's to be absolutely neither!
www.marca.com /en/world-cup/2022/11/21/637ab95be2704e53598b45c9.html
England copies Colin Kaepernick's protest against racism and will kneel before all World Cup games
AP 2-3 minutes 11/20/2022
LW
Actualizado 20/11/2022 - 17:38 CST
England's national team starts this Monday the path to try to be for the first time World Cup champion in 56 years and also for the first time away from home when they face Iran with the start of Group B activity in Qatar 2022, however, along with that goal is another that is perhaps, at least for them, equally important.
According to what their coach Gareth Southgate mentioned in the press conference the day before the game, after having spoken to his entire roster, they will maintain the protest from the last European Championship of kneeling before the start of all their games, as a symbolic sign of their opposition to all types of racism around the world.
England's protests against racism
"We have discussed taking the knee, we feel we should," Southgate said. "It's what we stand for as a team and have done for a long time. We understand in the Premier League that the clubs have decided to only do it for certain games, big occasions. We feel this is the biggest."
While this protest has been common in Premier League games after the disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic , it has not been constant, as mentioned by Southgate, who also recalls that the protest they made at the game vs. Croatia at Wembley cost them booing from a certain section of fans.
The example of Colin Kaepernick
The most famous athlete to make this type of proposal was then NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick , whose act of kneeling during the singing of the U.S. national anthem prior to his games caused a negative impact that ended up costing him his professional career.
"We think it's a strong statement that will go around the world for young people in particular to see that inclusivity is very important," Southgate said.
Maybe Iran declared a ban against singing, and they don't want to be beaten to death by the Iranian "Morality?" Police when they return.