The Plight of the Iranian Female Football Team
By: Deji Yesufu
The plight of an Iranian Female football team might eventually have put the stark reality of what is really happening inside Iran in a proper context for the international community to understand. On Saturday, 28th February, 2026, the United States of America and Israel began airstrikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The conflict has since claimed the life of the maximum ruler of the country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Before the war commenced, the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup was taking place in Australia, and Iran had its female team participating in the competition. On March 2nd, in an unprecedented manner, the girls refused to sing Iran’s national anthem on their very first outing in the tournament. The Iranian authorities, which were themselves busy fighting the Americans and Israelis, called the girls traitors. They told them that if they continued the silent protests, their families back at home would be arrested and killed. The girls were then forced to sing the country’s national anthem on the 5th and 8th of March, as they faced Australia and the Philippines, respectively. They lost all three matches, and it is quite understandable that they would not be able to even concentrate on playing football with the thoughts of their families back home being threatened both by war and the authorities. There have been calls by human rights groups to the Australian authorities to grant the girls asylum because if they are permitted to return to Iran, their lives would not be safe. This story here brings into stark reality the situation in Iran at the moment.
It is true that the forces against Iran, Israel and the USA, are formidable. But the greatest opposition to the present Iranian regime might actually be the people of that country. The population of Iran is approximately ninety million. Another ten million Iranians live in the diaspora, most of whom fled Iran to escape the Islamic regime that took over in that country. The reason is simple: Iran was not always an Islamic republic. Iran was a constitutional monarchy that was overthrown by Shia Islam, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini became the maximum ruler of the country, having been backed by Marxist thinkers in academia and the United States government led by Jimmy Carter. Like all new governments, Khomeini promised Iranians everything good but made the country increasingly bound by Islamic jurisprudence. After forty-seven years of this kind of government, the Iranians had had enough. So, the Iranian government is having to not only battle the Israelis and Americans, but they are also having to wage war against their own people. In the last count, no less than 30,000 Iranians, most of whom were young people, were killed by their government in protests that tore through the country in December and January. What we saw in the protest by the Iranian female team was the aftermath of the situation in their country. Those young women refused to sing the national anthem of the Muslim mullers that rule them. They were eventually coerced into singing it; in fact, they were told that while they sang the anthem, they were to give a symbolic salute to the country. Something no one does when singing a national anthem during international games. The Islamic government ruling Iran is not just oppressive; they are murderous, and the fate of these young girls lies in the balance.
The Islamic regime in Iran has backed rebel groups all around the world, including, reports are now showing, even ISWAP – the successors to Boko Haram, whose murderous activities continue to kill innocent Nigerians and our security personnel. Boko Haram and ISWAP hold the theory that Western civilisation, which is inherently Judeo-Christian, is haram (forbidden). They argue that the whole world should be ruled by Islamic jurisprudence. If, for a moment, we agree to this theory, Iran is one leading reasons why no one should allow an Islamic government over them. Western civilisation has developed through the centuries with systems of government that were initially monarchical, and then elements of Greek and Roman systems of government were employed. Today, most countries adopt democracy as their system of government. Democratic principles dictate that the people of a country can choose their rulers via free and fair elections. It also means that party political systems can be developed that will allow persons to build workable political theories, sell those ideas to the people, and encourage the people to vote such parties into government. It is true that in Nigeria, a lot has gone wrong with our democratic practices. Along with our democracy comes the foul play of election rigging. This has led to individuals who naturally should not be in public office becoming rulers. At the close of the day, Nigerian public institutions are suffering, and the result is that the Nigerian military cannot fight off Islamic insurgents. The real danger is that if corruption continues to eat at our national life, then these Islamic fundamentalists could someday organise themselves and take over government in this country. Leading to an Islamic Republic of Nigeria. We should never say never on issues like these. If it ever happens, I recommend that Nigerians look to Iran or Afghanistan to see what type of government they would have.
For whatever it is worth, and hoping that this gets to the ears of those in authority, I appeal to the government of Australia to grant those young and brave Iranian ladies asylum in their country until the military actions that Israel and the USA are carrying out in Iran are over. What they did is what Nigerian footballers failed to do during the ENDSARS protests in October 2020. If our players, who were on a national assignment at that time, had refused to play in protest of the young persons killed by the previous administration, the attention of the whole world would have been brought to that matter, and Nigeria may have fixed its policing system permanently. Unfortunately, those players failed us. But the Iranian girls have not. They deserve to be protected from these murderous mullahs back in Iran.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
Share this: