Interview
Shirzanan’s Interview with Siamak Rahmany (Part-2)
Women’s sport among Sports writers
Shirzanan – Nasrin Afzali: You can find the first part of this interview on our previous issue under the title of “Why sports reporters are not interested in Women’s sports”.
What is the main difference between seated volleyball and volleyball that media can cover women’s seated volleyball but not their standing volleyball match?
I think because of its seated position women can wear looser dresses and outfits so their body is not shown much. The pressure was a lot during the last decade on women’s athletic outfit. So the newspapers preferred not to show any pictures on women’s sports. To me it is only natural for the women’s sports to be an interesting subject. For example a report on women’s team handball covering every details of the team and their games and strategies is very interesting.
To know hwy they are playing handball is also interesting. But this kind of thinking is for the time that we are not concerned with insignificant details regarding women’s images in media. When everyone gets in trouble with a single photo of a female athlete you cannot work on women’s sports. And you see it is not only the reporter or photographer or the newspaper that gets into trouble, the athlete also is in danger.
So no image means no readers and fans and that means we cannot expect women’s sports to be flourishing. One of the most important motivations for athletes is for them to be known publicly and for them to have fans. There are many limits and as long as these limits are there, Iran’s women’s sports are not expected to be internationally known.
What do you think of Iranian women who went to Olympics with the White Card?
That is very symbolic. In Sidney Olympics Iran’s banner holder was a woman. I believe her name was Lida Fariman. This is purly symbolic since she did not even get pass the qualifications. Iran used its Olympic white card two times. It is a show when inside the country they want women to exercise within their homes and not in an open field or park. So the officials choose a woman in Shooting to go to Olympics.
So you think it is because in shooting women can be fully dressed?
Exactly, someone who is completely in Islamic outfit. Aslo it is symbolic because it is nonetheless shooting, it is a sport that symbolizes the fight, a Muslim women’s ideology of sort. Of course that also helped the process that women’s sports has in Iran today: it is growing.
Is sports under the government sponsored and government controlled in other places in the world?
Yes, in Eastern block and some communist countries it is the same. Socialist countries like Cuba or North Korea have the same problem. They should used the government money since there is no private club to invest in sports. When the government own everything they have a say in policies.
Almost all International federations are pushing for more private investments in sports: for example FIFA wants football to be separated from government, because the governmental-run football is not dynamic enough. There is not enough competition and naturally the countries football stays in the same level.
I think when investment cannot happen freely, improvement is harder to achieve; In Iran the Physical Education Organization and the government had asked athletic federations to give some money to women’s branches of each field. But it is only an appearance: only 5 percent of the budget goes to women’s sports and government funds all athletic federations and clubs; don’t think the Azad University team is private. No the government is among the trustees of every club and organization.
