There’s a big football match on tonight.
I’m sure you’re aware and if you read this when it’s first posted you’ll be an hour away from kick-off.
I’m not sure which side you might be supporting but I’m pretty neutral to the event because I’m not from USA or Iran (I believe there might be another game to!).
USA vs Iran has historically been turned into a political battle between two nations who are head-to-head.
In 1979, the united states diplomates were held hostage in Tiran sparking a massive international incident and leading to a deterioration in the relationship between the two countries which has never really been repaired.
Fast forward to 1998, 19 years later when the two teams met in the world cup in France.
This was billed a huge combative event both by the politicians and by the media and the poor frightened footballers left in the crossfire, being asked in interviews about the battle ahead and generally answering that they just wanted to play football and be judged on their football and nothing else.
Things got so bad in 1998 that it was hard to see what would happen until the two teams took to the field and the Iranian footballers each carried a bouquet of flowers.
The Americans had a pennant and so they exchanged gifts with each other, each American receiving flower and each Iranian receiving a pennant from their opposite number.
Instead of a team photo of individual teams they decided to have a joint photo where the Iranians and the Americans were interspersed.
Just a simple act of humanity and kindness between two sporting teams to show that things were more important than football.
Iran won 2-0 but I think nobody really remembers that so much and at least not as much as they remember the gestures of the players at the time.
The lead up to this game has been much the same with the USA football association deciding it was sensible to doctor the Iranian flag to remove an Islamic symbol because they didn’t think it was right and they wanted to show support for things that were happening in the country.
Perhaps best to go for kindness in your protest rather than agitation.
Interested to see the result (of both games).
Blog Post Number - 3279
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