Team Melli players and fans are in  real dilemma for Tuesday’s game against South Korea in the 4th round of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Tuesday is Tasooa and the following day Ashoora is commemorated by Shi’a Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hossein ibn Ali , the grandson of Prophet Mohammad at the Battle of Karbala. These days are marked by mourning and no major activities or celebrations are conducted in Iran.

As the FIFA plan for the match against South Korea coincided with Tasooa , Iran’s FA requested a change of date as a sign of respect for the mourning periods in the Shia Islamic calendar. FIFA , AFC and South Korea all refused the Iranian request due to the busy world football calendar , a decision which put a lot of pressure on the football administrators and the IRIFF headed by Mehdi Taj who was in an unenviable position.

After it was clear that the game must go ahead as schedule, the president of IRIFF declared that his federation is under the command of the government and will obey any directive. Iran refusal to play the match, technically considered a withdrawal, would have been excessively costly and virtually would have signaled the end of the competition for Team Melli as the ruling body FIFA could disqualify Iran from the World Cup for withdrawing from a match. It also would have wiped all the 3 matches result.

The situation created an immense pressure on the government of the pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani. His opponents, the religious hardliners, found it an opportunity to discredit him and accuse his administration of showing disrespect to the Imam and bowing to foreign external (…) pressure!

The hapless IRIFF executives, the players, who could only observe in silence and the media, were all nervously awaiting the verdict on the match and whether the hardliners, a very small group in numbers but powerful and actively backed by Ayatollah Khamanei, would have their way by ushering the crowds to Hosseinia (mourning places) instead of Azadi stadium.

Sanity prevailed at the end, and the match was allowed to go on as per schedule. The hardliners and the religious hierarchy realized that they would be committing a grave mistake if they stood against playing the match. If Iran pulled out of the match and subsequently disqualified from the world most prestigious football competition, the history would have never forgotten that neither would have the passionate football loving fans. The popularity of the religious factions in Iran, already on shaky ground and beaten in many battles especially after the Nuclear Treaty with the west, would have dipped even further if Team Melli was victimized. Simply said, there was far too much at stake on one single football match.

Not entirely content with defeat however, the religious hierarchy is warning against any chants that express joy or enjoyment during the game on Tuesday and instead they are urging the crowds in Azadi to turn it into black and conduct the traditional azadari (mourning) instead of singing and chanting for Team Melli!

The Imam Juma of Tehran who leads the Friday sermon declared that he will be watching the crowd action very closely for any inappropriate behavior in Azadi that would be disrespectful to the memory of Imam Hossein. For all intents and purposes, that means any signs of joy normally associated with scoring a goals is deemed an insult and disrespectful.

It is one very complicated situation the like of it has never occurred in Tehran Azadi stadium. The illustrious and passionate Iranian fans have always adapted and normally carry a few tricks up their sleeves. Leaders of the fans, no doubt will be closely watched by the secret police and religious minders, would be urged and pressured to exercise azadari (mourning) rituals and the fans to follow them.

 What about the players?

Although none of them would like to be targeted by the religious hard-liners, however, even if they do celebrate scoring a goal or two, they would hardly be considered traitors to the cause while playing for the country. The religious hard-liners in Iran are mostly a pressure group in the parliament and unlike the Saudi extremist wahabis , the Shia equivalents are non-violent and much more savvy and wary of the public sentiments.