What is your athletic field?

because of my age these days I only play tennis.

Is your daughter an athlete too?

My wife and daughter, they both are.

When was women’s football in Iran started? Was it during your management in Football federation?

No It has started before my time. But it was only active in the women’s division of Iran’s Physical Education Organization (PEO).

Did it change under your supervision? Were you in charge of women’s football?

No, nothing changed during my years in office. I had a fundamental disagreement with the head of PEO. In an international level, the women and men’s federations are not separated. We don’t have women’s football federation. There is only one football federation. But they disagreed. As the result the women’s sports in Iran was isolated and disconnected from the world.

I wasn’t in charge. But I did what I could. I held football coaching and referee classes for women. But this relationship was not official. Now it is different. Now each federation is in charge of its women’s team and the women’s division has a more active relationship with federations.

You were a Member of Parliament simultaneously? What did you do there to help women’s football in Iran?

I couldn’t do much. An executive branch was the one who could introduce a bill and we could approve it then. But our executive branch was a defender of the athletic system.

What were the priorities in women’s sports? Was there any kind of academic studies that would become the base of decision-making?

No, there was no study on women’s sports in Iran that was used for regulations or decision-making. As far as I know there was a kind of self-censorship in the attitude of women who were engaged with sports. Women were happy to have a separate division and salon for exercise; for them sport was an entertainment and not a professional path.

Officials ignored women’s sports development. Women who were in charge of women’s sports were happy to keep their poison.

Why do you think they preferred to keep their position rather than developing women’s sports?

In any governmental system people like to be promoted. Women like men liked to keep their opportunities. They limited themselves to what was available to them and not what they could gain. In this regard it is still the same.

You believe in equal opportunity between men and women, but the budget that is given to women’s sports in 5% of the total budget that is dedicated to men’s sports. Did you do anything about this when you were in the Parliament?

Well that is a systematic affair. In a society that women’s rights are neglected in so many levels and in a culture that looks at sports as a secondary priority who can we expect to have no problems.

You just said that there was no serious study done about the priority of sports for women. Then how can you say that other issue were more important for women than sports? In the survey that the ministry if internal affairs had published it is said that the first priority of women is Job and the second is entertainment. As you said we can count sports as entertainment.

I don’t’ see sports as entertainment. I see it as a profession, as a job. Athletic activities make you ready for your job. Going to restaurant is more of an entertainment. What percentage of women in Iran do you think work or have a job?

About 20 to 25 years women’s sports in Iran was limited to national events and women did not participate in international competitions, because of the Islamic regulations and the athletic outfit. What do you think of that?

This is related to the isolation I told you earlier. There was no international relationship. But when you see other athletes (men) are having that international status, you wonder about other possibilities. In the Asian football federation there are 4 women in the administration board.

These women are looking after the rights of other women athletes. If Ms. Sepanjy hasn’t brought forth the problems of women in football I won’t have known about them. There should be collaboration and connection between men’s and women’s divisions in any sports.

Do you think the only reason behind this neglect is that they didn’t know better?

No, women’s issues were not on the top of the list. There is no one who is seriously after the women’s sports issues. An individual cannot change everything. There is no current or flow. Everything we see is a spark based on one person’s efforts, when she or he is gone no one continues the path.

What are the qualifications they are looking for when choosing a head of women’s affair in any federation?

The qualities and the merits are not as important as the plan and program. After revolution sports in Iran went through a deadly path; in 80’s sports was seen as a threatening activity. Then little by little when Iran attended Olympic games and Asian games the politicians thought sports can be a helpful tool for the country’s progress. But I can tell you there is no plan right now that supports sports progress in Iran.