The crazy world of Iranian football

Reading about the latest brouhaha involving England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and the fake Sheik makes me feel somewhat, but not much, better about the insanity in Iranian football.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Eriksson. Okay, I agree that he brought all of this upon himself by stupidly shoving his foot in his mouth, but can you imagine the extent that the paper went to set him up? Common’! Even FBI has not pulled one like this since they tried to setup car maker John Delorean!

The Iranian tabloids take the easy route when it comes to sensationalism. They first try to setup a legitimate interview in which they will do their best to ask all sorts of controversial questions. If the interviewee is too smart to put his foot in his mouth, they will blatantly twist his words to make up a juicy head line. That’s normal tabloid modus operandi you say? Well check this out; if they fail to secure an interview, they’ll just write one up! I am serious!

There are no laws in Iran protecting victims of fraudulent reporting, so these reporters go right ahead and make up what story they please.

The situation is so bad that most Iranian footballers refuse to grant interviews unless they personally know the reporter, and are sure of his good reputation.

Another unfortunate trend in Iran is blackmailing of footballers by corrupt reporters. These crooks call footballers and demand ransom in return for not muddying their names with lies! And for some extra fee, they say, they’ll be happy to write a wonderful article about the person!

The funny thing is that in most cases the Iranian fans are not fooled, and rarely take any such articles seriously. They just follow them for a laugh.

Yep! If Sven is too displeased, he should call Iran coach Branko Ivankovic and hear a few of his stories. That will help him put things in perspective!