Members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have expressed growing concerns about the safety of the Islamic republic’s women’s football players, who were labelled as “traitors” for not singing their national anthem before the opening match.
Activists and supporters gathered outside the stadium on the Gold Coast after Iran’s final match, surrounding the team bus and chanting slogans of support. They were trying to make contact with the players before they left Australia. They have also urged the authorities to allow the players to remain in Australia if they choose to.
Iran’s football team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war. Some activists and community figures say the players could face repercussions after Iranian state television reportedly labelled them “traitors” for not singing the national anthem – a gesture widely interpreted as a silent protest.
Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. But the players sang the national anthem and saluted during it, ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and their 2-0 loss to the Philippines on Sunday.
The team later sang and saluted the anthem before their subsequent games. “The world should stand with Iranians now. I have been threatened with death in this country, in this city, because I am a human rights advocate, because I am a voice of the voiceless. Australia, wake up now,” Hadi Karimi, a Brisbane-based human rights activist who part of the demonstrations, said.
The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the US and Israel’s 28 February strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually depart within days.
The Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs minister, Tony Burke, urging the government to protect the squad members while they were in Australia.
It launched an online petition, which had more than 50,000 electronic signatures before kick-off on Sunday, urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain” and also to provide independent legal advice, support and interpreters.
“The girls are very worried; the girls are very stressed,” Masoud Zoohori, who runs a Persian-language broadcasting service from Melbourne called Radio Neshat, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“They’re scared. They didn’t sing the national anthem the first match [and could face arrest upon returning home].
“They told me, ‘It’s like we’re in prison … we’re constantly under control. We don’t have any word from family back home. They won’t let us leave the hotel alone. We’re under a lot of pressure’.”
Iran team management and players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home during more than a week preparing for and playing games on the Gold Coast, although Iranian forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference last Wednesday as she shared the teams’ concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the conflict.
The online petition asked local authorities to ensure any player seeking protection “can do so safely, privately, and without interference” and to “make clear that Australia will uphold its … humanitarian protection obligations in relation to any player at risk of persecution or serious harm”.
It added: “Where credible evidence exists that visiting athletes may face persecution, imprisonment, coercion, or worse upon return, silence is not a neutral position. The current wartime environment has intensified repression, fear, and the risks faced by anyone publicly perceived by the Islamic Republic as disloyal.”
Iran’s coach, Marziyeh Jafari, said after the game: “We want to come back to Iran as soon as we can, and I want to be with my country and with all Iranians inside Iran. We are eager to come back as soon as we can.”
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran and a US ally, wrote on X: “The members of the Iranian Women’s National Football Team are under significant pressure and ongoing threat from the Islamic Republic. As a result of their brave act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the current regime’s national anthem, they face dire consequences should they return to Iran. I call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support.”
Foreign minister Penny Wong declined to comment on whether the Australian government had made contact with individuals but told domestic media that Australia stood in solidarity with the Iranian women’s team.
“It has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia, and (Australia’s women’s team) swapping jerseys with them was a very evocative moment,” Ms Wong told the ABC on Sunday. “We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women.”
Iranian-Australian activist, Tina Kordrostami, who is a local government member in Sydney’s Ryde Council, told The Australian newspaper the Iranian players “need an opportunity, a safe space, a chance to actually speak up about what their needs are and what their requirements are”.
“We can’t give them that space without the government helping us,” she said.
Beau Busch, president of FIFPRO Asia/Oceania, the global organisation representing professional footballers, said: “We’re here to support in any way we can and to make sure that we’re continuing to put the players’ interests first and making sure that their safety is everybody’s absolute priority right now.
“And we are satisfied that is the case at the moment, but we need to continue to work towards the best possible outcome.”
Mr Busch said FIFPRO was liaising with the Australian government. “We’ve been asking them to work on the players having agency.
“There may be players that want to return. There may be some players within the group that would like to seek asylum, would like to stay in Australia for longer.”
The Iranian women’s team needed to beat the Philippines on Sunday to maintain any chance of advancing to the Asian Cup quarterfinals, which would have extended its stay in Australia for another week, but it conceded goals to Sara Eggesvik in the 29th minute and Chandler McDaniel in the 82nd minute in a tough loss in wet conditions at Gold Coast Stadium.
