Electrifying
loss
After watching Iran's 3-0
loss to QPR, I have decided that perhaps I have a future in
football
Payam Ghamsari
July 25, 2005
iranian.com
On Friday I decided to get back to my roots and
had an Iranian themed
weekend. I started on Friday evening with a Mehmoni/surprise party
for
a family-friend's graduation. This involved half the guests and
relatives arriving an hour after the guest of honour.
Once the
guest
of honour had been surprised by those who had been almost on
time, we
then spent about half an hour taking photographs of the veritable
banquet that our hosts had prepared. We then proceeded to devour
the
copious amounts of food laid before us, followed by chai, fruit
and
shirini. Then followed an impromptu musical recital and dancing
mostly
by my brother who has more rhythm than I do. Then finally more
photographs where the cake took precedence over the guest of
honour in
each shot...
On Saturday I went to watch Iran (their second
string team) QPR
(Queen Parks Rangers) in a "friendly". I had only ever
watched one
football game before Saturday and that was Iran vs America during
the
1998 World Cup and that was on TV. So Iran vs QPR was my first
live
football match. I have always thought football was a silly
game,
but as I knew a lot of people were going I decided to go along
out of
curiosity and a misplaced sense of national pride.
Now I can't
compare
it to a normal football game as I have not been to one. But
the first thing I noticed was the refreshment stand: they served
beer, coke, dough and -- believe it or not -- PG tips (tea bags).
Then and there I decided
that any
game which served PG tips at matches couldn't be all bad.
I then spent about half an hour saying hello to
lots of familiar faces,
exchanging pleasantries and enquiring after their extended family
members before taking my seat. The atmosphere in the stands
was
electric. The Iranian side of the stadium was filled completely.
The fans
were chanting and singing over and over "Iran, Iran, Iran... "
The air was filled with excitement during the first
half of the match. Iran had several chances to score, but each
one was thwarted by QPR. By the end of the first half the score
was QPR one,
Iran nil.
During half time I had to climb over large numbers
of people to say hello to every one I had neglected
to say hello to before the game, so as not offend them. Personally
I believe that the task of greeting so many Iranians
in such a short space of time, was far more difficult
than playing the match.
When the second half started I
thought Iran were about to score, until
my friend explained that they change sides halfway
through the
game, which meant Iran weren't quite as close to scoring
as I had
thought. I did notice that the players on both sides fell
over quite a
lot, so I have decided that perhaps I have a future in football
as
anyone who has seen me run will attest that I am very good
at falling
over.
In the end QPR won three nil and they were the better
team, but the
atmosphere was positive throughout the game and as soon
as it was over,
instead of tears and violence, we all started planning where
we were
going to go to eat chelo kebab.
After watching the game, I have decided that
I am going to go to
Germany next year to watch Iran play in the World Cup.
|