Saudi’s Bending Like Beckam For the Olympics
Feb 2nd, 2008 by ashwin
“Allah” said women couldn’t play soccer. And for centuries, his people listened.
But this Allah (or whoever does the talking for him) doesn’t sit on the International Olympic Committee. And the IOC mandated that any country wishing to participate in its games must be compliant with certain standards by 2010. One of the standards: all member states must set up women’s sports clubs.
Saudis like their soccer. Their men are pretty good at it, actually. So they’re going through the motions. They’ve set up women’s clubs over the past year, and they’re growing. Just last week, the country held its first women’s soccer game at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University campus in front of a large number of female fans. No men were allowed. The referee staff was entirely female. The game ended in a tie, 2-2.
And that’s how Saudi appeased the IOC. But, makes you wonder, this IOC… did they just twist the arm of Allah or what? It’s not the first time they’ve done such a thing, either. Just last year, they got Mao to do political jumping jacks. After China announced it would host the Beijing Summer Olympics, threats of a boycott coaxed the world’s fastest growing economy to scale back their oil interests with stiff-armed Sudanese power-mongers.
IOC, IOC, you’re the man, if the U.N. can’t do it, surely you can!
