Iran's women's national team made headlines on Monday when they refused to sign the national anthem, during a match against South Korea in the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Three days later, however, they sang the anthem again, and not only that, all of them saluted with their hands while the anthem played.
What motivated this change? Many experts think that the team was ordered to abandon their protest and sing the anthem by the Iranian government. "The women's team from Iran are singing the national anthem 'under instruction' for game two", said journalist Tracey Holmes, specialised in the politics behind sports.
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"Whether they were saying their prayers, or mouthing the anthem, it was clear to anyone watching on that the players had received the message from home that they needed to demonstrate symbolic solidarity with their homeland, currently under siege", said Australian lawyer and sport integrity consultant Catherine Ordway to DW.
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Back in World Cup 2022, the men's team also refused to sing the Iranian anthem in their opening game, but sang it in their following match. It was suggested then that the players had been ordered to sing the anthem and send a message of unity with the country, in the context of anti-government protests after the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the morality police.
With the country's leader assassinated by Israel and the US less than a week ago, and the country in an active war, seeing the women's Iranian footballers refusing to sing the anthem sendt a powerful message: the lack of support to the regime, that "use sport to enforce moral codes and suppress dissent, even for female spectators", explains Ordway, and places special pressure on women athletes because "their bodies are politicized, controlled, and heavily policed."
However, the protest has seemingly been abandoned by the Iranian footballers, even if many suspect what happened behind the scenes: a direct order to show support for their country.
Iran lost 3-0 the first match against South Korea, and 4-0 Thursday's match against host country Australia.