Afghan women players make football debut in Australia

Afghan women players make football debut in Australia

MELBOURNE (AFP) -  Players from Afghanistan’s nationwide women’s football staff competed in a neighborhood league match in Australia on Sunday for the primary time since fleeing the Taliban.

The end result was a scoreless draw after an Afghan aim was disallowed for being offside in a decrease league novice match in the jap state of Victoria.

But for the Afghan women it was a strong, symbolic victory as they returned to the pitch collectively after leaving their homeland to rebuild their lives in Australia.

The sport confirmed that the Taliban couldn’t cease the players, stated staff captain Nilab, who like her teammates didn’t give a household identify in order to guard kin dwelling in Afghanistan.

“We still continue our fight and our combat just to play for the Afghanistan people,” she advised AFP.

“We fled the country but we are still thinking of our country and we are still working for our victory for our country.”

Australia helped dozens of Afghan nationwide women’s staff players and their kin to flee when the Taliban swept again to energy eight months in the past.

The Taliban have since severely curtailed the freedoms of women, banning ladies’ schooling and stopping women from even boarding planes with out a male family member.

As players fled to totally different international locations, the women’s nationwide staff was fragmented.

– ‘Together and highly effective’ – But many settled in and round Melbourne, capital of the jap state of Victoria, the place skilled A-League Women’s facet Melbourne Victory helped them to return to the sphere.

Goalkeeper Fatima stated individuals who had seen social media photos of Afghanistan after the Taliban’s return might perceive one thing of the braveness required by players to go away their houses.

“They can understand how hard and how challenging that was for all of us to be in that situation,” she advised AFP.

“Today, we are playing as a team and together and powerful. It’s incredible.”

Team coach Jeff Hopkins praised their efficiency in opposition to novice Melbourne facet ETA Buffalo SC — a membership established in 1982 by buddies who had migrated from East Timor — in the Football Victoria State League 4 West competitors.

“These young women, all they want to do is to be given the chance to just be treated equally, to be able to play the game they love,” Hopkins advised AFP.

“That obviously wasn’t happening for them in Afghanistan — they were being persecuted for it,” he stated.

A couple of days forward of Sunday’s match, Melbourne Victory offered the Afghan Women’s Team with their new predominantly pink equipment, full with shirts exhibiting off the Afghan nationwide flag.

The shirts are marked with numbers however no names for the protection of players’ households in Afghanistan.