A Level Playing Field
by Genevieve S. Kineke

Sports have the capacity to allow many to focus on sheer talent and finesse, but often fans refuse to set aside politics, sociology or historical grudges for the sake of the game.

Interestingly, this was recently the case in the Middle East, as women athletes found themselves juxtaposed against Islamic ideologues, who worried that the athletic resolve of its stars would carry more on its shoulders than mere bragging rights.

A woman’s soccer team from Berlin was just invited to play the Iranian national team in Teheran, with fascinating consequences. Strict guidelines were laid down for the visiting team—from dress code to approved speech, which proved daunting. The girls were instructed to cover themselves completely, excluding only faces, and contrary to the freedoms that they enjoyed in the West, the women found every move closely scrutinized from meals to the lavatory.

They soon found that their sacrifices were well-worth the effort. Upon entering the stadium, the resounding warmth of the Iranian fans stunned them. Here were those who loved the game, loved their team, and loved this group of Germans who embarked on this adventure well-outside the normal circuit.

The question that concerns us here is why the Iranian regime would take such trouble to harass a group of simple athletes. This was not an Olympic match, there were few cameras or outside observers. This was nothing like the US-Russian hockey rivalries which brought the Cold War itself to the ice. This involved a city stadium, two benches filled with talented women, and an outing for local enthusiasts whose diversions paled in comparison to Western entertainment. It was, literally, a day at the park.

And yet, it was so much more, by the very admission of the Iranian authorities. Evidently, girls in cleats are a subversive force that carries tremendous potential beyond the pitch. As one official noted in an interview, “Any gesture, request or activity by women is seen by the Iranian authorities as suspect, something as simple as women wanting to have a football match could be an international plot," he said. "To sum it up, the Islamic regime greatly fears the women, because they are considered a symbol of change.”

How fascinating. The Iranian government controls the military, may have weapons of mass destruction on order, and has compiled a host of laws that undermine the rights of women, their fundamental equality, and the very nature of marriage—and yet they fear women. What is it exactly that they fear?

Proper relations between the sexes is a fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church. When the teaching on marriage is well-founded, when women are given room to reach their potential, and when the feminine-genius is allowed to flourish, raw power and unjust discrimination take flight. Even this brutal dictatorship, in its perverse way, underscored the truth of this teaching by its grave concern.

The match was a complete success. Despite their initial forebodings, the German women were buoyed and captivated by the sheer affection of the Iranian fans. The day at the park was all in accord with Islamic custom—and yet the harsh proprieties didn’t squash the spirit of the encounter.

Perhaps sport cannot shed the layers of meaning that fans insist on attaching to it, and if that is so, let’s pray that the affection for the game, in this instance, carries with it the concern for legitimate freedom for women everywhere. If Catholic culture ccould corrode Soviet power peacefully from within, then those who abuse power would do well to fear women with a firm grasp on their own self-worth—with or without cleats.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of The Authentic Catholic Woman (Servant Books).