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In tonight’s program we will look at the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic revolution and find out what the religious regime has done to the world of sports in Iran, as most of the country’s sports organizations and clubs are now run by the Mafia-type interest groupings.
Once a major player on the stages of Asian and international sports games and tournaments, the performance of Iranians on global scene has been less thansatisfactory since the country was taken over by the Islamic republic regime.
Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are sports commentator Iraj Adibzadeh and former player of Iran’s national football team Mehrdad Amin Shirazi.
Iraj Adibzadeh:
Modern sports like football were introduced to the Iranian society during the time of Reza Shah and continued vigorously during his son’s rule.
The governments were instructed to introduce one hour of daily sports activities at all schools but one of the first things that the Islamic regime did after coming to power in Iran 40 years ago was to remove this hour from all school programs.
Figures show that more than 80 percent of boy and girl students in Iran suffer from spinal problems as a result of lack of exercise. All student based sports organizations in Iran have been closed down by the regime and mixed gender sports are banned across the country.
Mehrdad Amin Shirazi:
The world of Iranian football is the true picture of the corruption in Iran’s sports.
Only yesterday Carlos Queiroz, the coach of Iran’s national football team, exposed some of this corruption by explaining how two sports ministers had plotted to remove him from his job simply because he had revealed how their departments had embezzled the budget put aside for the football federation of the country.
The members of the Revolutionary Guard and security organizations run most of Iran’s football clubs and money laundering is very rampant among them.
