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The Great Game: Iran v USA

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
For those who may have missed it, there was a great programme on BBC2 on Thursday night, The Great Game: Iran v USA (link below). It’s about the France 98 game between Iran and the USA, obviously (which Iran won, by the way :) ).

For those who don’t know much about it, the diplomatic situation isn't very good between Iran and 'the West' and it was as bad then as it is today. Iran was then, as now, pretty much a pariah on the world stage.

The programme is about the build up to and background around the match. But what I drew from it was that it provides an insight on Iranian people and how they/we, like everyone else, have the same wants and desires, crystallised in the prism of football.

There are around 90,000 Iranian-born or people of Iranian heritage living in the UK. Many, if not most, feel a deep connection with Iran, because it is such a beautiful country, with a deep and rich history. Personally, it causes me a lot of sorrow to see what it has become.

I know that the regime is in the hands of barbarians. Barbarians who have no real interest in whether the state is Islamic or not as long as they hold the reins of power. But it still causes me and many of my contemporaries pain when the whole country is portrayed in broad brushstrokes; when anything it does is fed through the 'Iran BAAAAAD' filter. Like the commentators describing Iran's gamesmanship against Spain as 'cheating'. That term hasn't been used since, even with more egregious examples on offer (Neymar's antics against Costa Rica being a prime example). That hurt.

So this programme, for me, explores what a normal Iranian is, through the prism of a football match, against a white-hot political background of US-Iranian relations that existed in 1998 (and continues to this day).

Like many others, I am proud of my Iranian heritage. There is joy in belonging to a culture that's over 2,500 years old, to have a connection with that history. And likewise, I’m proud to be English too. With England, I belong to a culture that has a long and storied history, that has likewise given so much to the world. For me, there is no conflict between the two, only fortune, fortune in having two cultures to draw upon – to live an English one while still being steeped in an Iranian one.

And I think it goes some way to explaining my own vociferousness in supporting Iran at this World Cup. I want England to win the World Cup and always have, since the first World Cup I can remember watching, Italia 90. But I don't need to shout my support for the country of my birth and life because it doesn't need saying. I do need to support Iran loudly because it's a rare thing to be able to point to something good that is happening to it.

Anyway, have a watch and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7jh9d
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Fucking great match. That goal by Mahdovikia is filed in my favourite World Cup memories. I remember Spurs were linked with him after that.
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
Fucking great match. That goal by Mahdovikia is filed in my favourite World Cup memories. I remember Spurs were linked with him after that.
Mahdavikia's goal was beautiful to watch. I watched that match in a pub with some friends and I think I scared them a little celebrating that goal. :D
 

Mornstar

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
4,897
1,589
Ayee raan, holy shmoley....they're a bayad buncha evil kaneevals. You otta be careful mentioning their name on a public forum like this young man. I gotta go fetch me loose buffalo.....yeeehaaa (in my best texan cowboy accent)
 
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