Public theaters football matches closed to women

Iranian authorities have forbidden women from viewing football matches in public screening rooms. Khabar on line reports that Iranian public theatres are to refuse women patrons from attending public screenings of football matches from now on.

The decision was taken after football enthusiasts watched Iranian national team triumph over UAE in yesterday’s Asian Cup games in three theatres of Mellat Cinema.

Women who are already forbidden from watching the games in stadiums, will now also be excluded from public theatres where the games are aired.

The airing of the games in public theatres began in 2010 which hasgained great public demand with the start of the Asian Cup games in Qatar.

In view of the new decisions, on Saturday when the Iranian national team faces South Korea in the quarter finals, women will not be allowed in the public theatres.

Iranian women activists have spoken out against the ban on women entering stadiums and they have even organized a campaign called the “Defence of women’s right to enter stadiums.”

Some ardent female fans are said to have entered stadiums in male clothing which was the subject of the award winning film “Offside” by Jafar Panahi.

Reportedly four years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed setting up conditions to allow women in stadiums but due to resistance from conservative members of the clergy, the proposal was abandoned.