Afganistan Women's Soccer: Already a Victory

The NY Times ran a great article yesterday about women’s soccer in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, being allowed to play soccer (football) is a victory in of itself.  During the Taliban era, regulations on women’s’ rights became more and more strict, especially rights for sports. But finally, the women’s team got together and conjured a playing space – NATO’s helipad.  Anywhere else in the country, they would be attacked and ridiculed for playing.  It’s difficult to find a place to practice on Afghan land, “where the most modest display of the body is treated as a social crime.”

The team is the face of the fight for women’s liberation in Afghanistan.  They are fighting not only to play soccer, but to work, study, and be a little closer to equal – something completely unheard of over there. 

The team is traveling to Bangladesh for their first international tournament, where they will have to overcome several handicaps.  Besides their practice space doubling as a helicopter landing pad and only being allowed to use it three times a week, their captain is only 16 years old, which is obviously very young for an internationally competing team.  Their uniforms aren’t really uniforms – just a bunch of assorted (sort of) soccer gear.  They do not wear shorts or short sleeves, but most of them don’t wear headscarves during play because it’s too dangerous. 

In their recent exhibition games, they have been victorious.  Let’s hope their winning spills over not only onto the tournament, but also the rest of the Afghan population.

-@StanaCardSara

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The more you know…

Afghanistan literally means “Land of Afghans.”  But this could mean more than the people living in the modern state of Afghanistan, which was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747.  There are other sorts of Afghans:

1.    The Afghan Hound, one of the oldest hound breeds. They acquired their unique features in the cold mountains of Afghanistan, where it was originally used to hunt hares and gazelles by coursing them

2.    An Afghan can also be referred to as a "throw". Afghans were first made in Afghanistan and commonly featured geometric designs with many holes in the pattern. They are hand-stitched or knitted. 

3.     Afghan rugs are meant for covering large areas of floor. Many patterns and colors are used, but the traditional and most typical is that of the octagonal elephant's foot (Bukhara) print, often with a red background.

      If you need to call to find an Afghan rug, want to know a pattern for knitting, or want an Afghan hound straight from the source, click here to find out how to do it for really cheap!