Iran’s women take to rugby: Complete a successful tour to Italy
Many would find it difficult to associate rugby, women and Iran. But at the moment, rugby is a growing sport in the conservative country and even the women’s game is progressing by leaps and bounds. From humble beginnings to becoming a much sought after sport in Iran, rugby has become a favourite amongst women in the country. In 2009, Iran’s rugby team finished at the tenth place in the World Rugby Sevens tournament. By merging their traditional clothing with a very active and full contact sport like rugby, the women of Iran have forged new grounds for women’s rights and a movement in the country.
It seems women’s rugby was introduced formally into the country 10 years ago by the British. In a short span of time, the game has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1979, when the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran, it would have been unthinkable for women to take part in sports of any kind. But slowly, Iran, like other Islamic countries around the world, has been seeing a little bit of liberalism creeping into its folds. Through nooks and crannies, women’s rights and the women’s movement is growing and one of the strongest ways to show this off in the country and internationally is through sports. Because sport usually takes place in international venues, a lot of people get to see women playing sport and it is usually their first experience of women from that part of the world. To see women playing rugby from an ultra conservative place like Iran is a great sight for the sport.
The women of the Iranian rugby team play in a complete veil and they say it does nothing to affect their playing style or abilities. The full veil covers their head, neck and their shoulders leaving their faces and their hands exposed only. It is called a maghnaeh and is specifically designed to be used by the women when they play rugby. The women’s team has a male coach and he has a problem in teaching them the moves and styles because he is not allowed to touch any of the women players as Iranian edict forbids it. He goes around this problem by giving out instructions and then having a female player demonstrate it on her teammate.
Women’s rugby in Iran has grown over the years and is becoming very popular amongst more and more women in the country. It seems they have been getting official encouragement from the government to take part in more sports. Iranian women see themselves as the most liberated amongst their Middle Eastern and Arab counterparts and a large portion routinely have careers and also raise children. They have a need to balance their careers and their household duties as they state them to be. The women also say that playing rugby is a good way for them to let off steam and release energy that they build up in the course of their daily lives. To them, rugby is not a mindless physical full contact sport; it is so much more than that. The sport for them is a way to engage in physical activity, is a lot of fun and brings the women’s rights movement to the forefront of everyone in Iran and around the world. To them, there can be nothing better than that.
The team recently played in Italy in a major tournament where they lost the first match against the Italian Dolomites 10-0 and also the second one 33-0. However, they managed to rally back and defeat Italian club side Valsugana 10-3. This was a small step for the team who played for the first time in Europe. It gave the people of Europe a chance to witness the Iranian women play which got them a lot of media coverage as well.
Even though they did not triumph outright in Italy, the women’s rugby team of Iran still showed the world that they have what it takes to stand proudly amongst the best women’s teams of the world and make their country and the women of the Islamic world proud of their achievements.
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