An Iranian citizen journalist, who writes under a pseudonym to protect his identity, wrote the following article on the ground inside Iran.
The “spontaneous” attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad have presented the regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia in an unusual light. With its decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran — prompting its allies to do the same — Saudi Arabia has reminded the world once again that it sees itself as the real power in the region. And, as a recent row in football demonstrates, this vision of dominance and power extends far beyond direct politics.
In spring 2015, Abdulrahman Bin Musa’ed, the wealthy owner of the Saudi Al-Hilal Football Club, spoke publicly about Iran’s behavior on the football pitch. “We ask Saudi and Arab sports clubs to join us in sending this message to the Asian Football Confederation: Either our matches with Iranian teams must be transferred to neutral countries or Iran must be transferred to the East Asian group, so that Iranians cannot chant religious and sectarian slogans,” he told Saudi TV network Al Arabiya.
The story started when Al-Hilal football team traveled to Iran to play against the Iranian team Persepolis at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. “When we entered the stadium, the Iranians welcomed us by throwing stones and firecrackers,” said Bin Musa’ed. “They were conducting a religious ceremony in the stadium and chanting sectarian slogans, while at the same time shouting insults at our players. It was hard to say whether it was a stadium or a Hosseinyeh [Shi’a congregation hall]”.
Deputy president of Al-Ahli Saudi Sport Club Abdullah al-Batarji has filed many complaints against Iranian football teams, including with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). But last summer was the first time it won a case. Now al-Batarji and Bin Musa’ed have joined together to make their demands clear. “We want Saudi clubs to write a letter to the Asian Football Confederation and demand that we play against Iranian teams on neutral ground”, he says. “We do not want to go to Iran and we do not want them to come here.”
When the Iranian Labour News Agency published these remarks, they also accused al-Batarji and Al-Hilal club officials of having substantial records of “anti-Iranian” sentiments.
“We want Arab clubs to sympathize with us and understand our demands,” Bin Musa’ed said on Sunday, January 3, the same day a group of Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic buildings. “The safety of players has top priority. Their safety cannot be guaranteed in a country that is our enemy. There is no need to repeat how they have treated us.”
Top officials from Al-Hilal and another team, Al-Ahli, have also come together. The Saudi royal family (or the House of Saud, as it is also known), runs both teams, though links between Al-Hilal and the ruling family go all the way back to when the team was first set up, and the team is referred to fondly with the nickname “The Bosses.” Its home turf is King Fahd Stadium.
Thanks to the AFC Champions League’s lottery system, it is likely that four Iranian teams and four Saudi teams will most likely come up against each other: Al-Hilal against the Iranian team Tractor Sazi; the Saudi team Al-Nasr against Zob-e Ahan; Iran’s Foolad against Al-Ittahad; and Iran’s Naft against Al-Jeysh, and later against Al-Ahli if Naft wins. This is a guaranteed recipe for the resumption of political, ethnic and religious fights in stadiums.
“Kick Out the Dogs”
But how did the current situation arise? When Iran’s Persepolis team played Al-Hilal, Iranian spectators shouted racist and sectarian slogans. Then, in retaliation, spectators at a stadium in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, chanted “kick out the dogs!” at Iranian fans. Both Persepolis and Al-Hilal complained to AFC and AFC punished both by sentencing them to pay fines.
Although Saudi officials have complained regularly, the Iranians have not exactly remained silent. Mehdi Taj, president of Iran’s Football League Organization, was first to speak out: “We have drawn up a complaint and after coordinating with the president of [Iran’s Football] Federation, we will file it with the Asian Football Federation,” he told a sports website.
After years of managing clubs, Taj says he is familiar with how Saudi sports officials operate. “Articles 3 and 4 of the AFC charter specify that political interests must not enter the field of sports,” he said. “The Saudis have done this before. They once accused us of chanting political slogans at Azadi Stadium, but we sent AFC the records and they told them off. They even told us that we could file a complaint against the Saudis. Another time they said that their water had been poisoned but this got nowhere either.”
Saeed Abbasi, the CEO at Tabriz Tractor Sazi Club, has also complained. Abbasi is much less experienced in these matters than Mehdi Taj. Like Taj, Abbasi is a retired Revolutionary Guards commander who has exchanged his uniform for the boardroom of a football club — but he is far less subtle. “If they are unhappy they can play in the East Asia League instead of the West Asia League,” he told Mehr News Agency when asked what he thought of the Saudi-Iran football dilemma.
It is Mehdi Taj’s comments that appear to have had the most impact on the Saudis. According to the German news agency DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), Taj has asked Saudi clubs not to play into the hands of politicians and to keep sports separate from politics. The Saudi website Sport 24 quoted the DPA report and said: “The president of Iran’s Football League Organization has cited articles 3 and 4 of the AFC charter about not mixing politics and sports.”
When the AFC Champions League games get underway, sectarian and racist chants are likely to be heard in both Iranian and Saudi stadiums. The tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are bound to worry AFC officials responsible for organizing the eight matches between Iranian and Saudi teams — and who have worked hard to achieve calm in the stands.
But will the matches really be played on neutral ground? Wherever they take place, the political battles are already underway, and many believe the Saudis currently have the upper hand.
by Pedram Ghaemi, Citizen Journalist
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