IN 1998 I was lucky enough to go to the World Cup in France. Nick Hancock and I made a comedy documentary called The Outsiders (available on You Tube).
It was an amazing summer bromance, not with Nick, who I’d known for years, but with a bunch of lads from Iran. We trained with them, played pool with them and laughed a lot with them.
There was: Azizi, whose nickname was Suzuki, because he was so loud, Abedzadeh, the goalkeeper, and leader of the team, Mohammadkhani, the laconic hard man, Ali Daei, the playboy centre-forward, and defensive midfielder, Khakpour, who I helped buy a suit in Le Puy. It was amazing to be a part of their World Cup dreams.
They had lost their opening game against Yugoslavia, 1-0. Their next game was against the USA. This obviously had massive political overtones. The press built up the pressure in the daily interviews.
But I wasn’t going to be in France to watch it. I was going to Tehran with producer and cameraman Adam Bullmore. When we arrived there was a lot of excitement.
Iran is football mad and all 60-odd million Iranians were rooting for the team. The Imams were worried. They banned gatherings of over 12 people.
Bu hikaye The Non-League Football Paper dergisinin August 16, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Non-League Football Paper dergisinin August 16, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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