There were cause for double celebrations in the Islamic republic of Iran last month. The Iranian Presidential election was won by the moderate Hassan Rouhani. Campaigning on limited government and equal rights for women it was a shock result. The wider world awaits in expectation that Rouhani delivers on another promise that he can settle longstanding questions about Iran’s nuclear program. Let’s hope there will be a new era of peace.
There was also much joy in Iran in a more cultural and global environment this summer. The national football team qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Reports of a nation wide street party were not exaggerated. Who says the Iranians don’t know how to have a good time? Mind you, even with all that samba spirit flowing Iran is not high on my places to visit list.
The Persians have reached the pinnacle of world soccer before. Iran qualified for France 98 by beating Australia on away goals. For the uninitiated the away goals rule is a mathematical Everest to describe, it involves doubling up scores in the event of a drawn result and all that jazz. An Iranian reporter came up with a good line when his country won through in 98. “The weight of the Earth must have been reduced for a second as 70 million Iranians jumped for joy.” Sixteen years later history repeated itself and the earth’s axis of evil moved a touch.
The coach of the Iran team is known to most followers of English football as he was the assistant at one of the country’s mediocre clubs, Manchester United. Carlos Queiroz led his home nation, Portugal, at 2010’s event and now has another major tournament to look forward too. When younger Carlos was in a street gang called the Away Goals and his mob would graffiti his hometown with their tag “Away Goals Rule”. That last story sounds apocryphal and a figment of a blogger’s imagination but in the internet there are shades of grey and stranger things have happened.
Carlos the Great is the modern day Cyrus the Great and it might just be me but sultry old Carlos bears a striking resemblance to the Roxy Music front man, Bryan Ferry. The Ferry man always appears to me to be mildly drunk looking all the time. This is no bad thing as being mildly drunk is a nice feeling.
Boadicea's Chariot 
When I think of Portugal and football – which is not often – I automatically think of Big Phil. But now he’s in charge of Brazil apparently. No language problems there at least. When we asked a taxi driver at Lisbon airport to give us a quick tour of Lisbon to fill in time before our flight to the Azores, the first place he proudly showed us was the Estadio da Luz.
The Iranian people are mostly modern and forward looking — their government and its merry band of thugs are the ones who are mediaeval. Rouhani was not that unexpected. After all, the former president was elected as a reaction to American policies in the region and only narrowly re-elected with massive voter fraud and a large turn-out among more hard-line Iranians. I wish Iran well, it is one of the three countries in the region, along with Turkey and Israel, worth respecting.
Sheona: Brazilians often have a difficult time understanding continental Portuguese. The spoken languages have diverged so much that some have called for the language to be classified as distinct.
Big Phil Scolari is not as aesthetically pleasing on the eye as Carlos Ferry or so women tell me, Sheona, I have no opinion on the matter. Phil is a Gene Hackman lookalike.
In our little Island of one language it is hard to understand the neighbouring tribes, Christopher. The mind boggles as to the amount of disparate accents there are in Brazil. Conversation between the parts must be punctuated by a never ending series of “O que?” Somehow the Brazilians blend perfectly on a football field but that’s a different ball game.
TR: Well I don’t trust anyone who feels that their religion obliges them to dress in other then the norm (Norm in my mind always dresses in unironed shorts, a T- shirt (usually with a beer slogan) and flip flops)
This includes without limitation, catholic priests, protestant archbishops, anyone wearing a towel or a turban on his head, Mormons (yes you can so tell them, who else wears a suit and tie when it is ninety degrees), Amish, Rastafarians, Buddists, Shintoists, Sephardic Jews, those Iranians who feel wearing a turban and a beard but not a tie somehow makes a statement (yes, it does to me “Don’t trust me”), anyone Chinese or Japanese (ask my uncle Jack about them). They either want your money or your life or both. I have no expectations that Iran will undergo any significant improvement until we plant a nuclear device on them, may it be soon.
I’m with LW!
And just for Janus I will air my prejudices further!
I never have understood why western women find the greasy wog look attractive.
I’d rather bomb them than play football, actually I’d rather bomb myself than play football.
Total waste of money building all these stupid sports facilities in arsehole locations of the world when the amount of money wasted would have covered the cost of a decent nuclear power station and cheaper power for all.
Look at all the falderal down the river in London, total white elephants and most of our local swimming pools are not open to cut costs for the councils! So may have shut round here it isn’t true and the ones that are open are too expensive for children to afford regularly.