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BC-ATTACK-AFGHAN-FOOTBALL (PICTURE)
By David Fox
KABUL, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Afghan first division leaders Kabul Club had a
distinct advantage when they kicked off their crucial league football match
against local rivals Millan on Tuesday -- most of their players had boots
and they were all wearing the same coloured shirts.
Their 6-0 victory -- courtesy of some fancy footwork by their star
striker and also possibly because the opposing goalkeeper was wearing beige
suede loafers -- leaves them needing just a point from three games to clinch
the title for the third year in succession.
The manager was over the moon. The fans, all 76 of them, were delighted.
The state of Afghanistan's football league mirrors the ruin the country
faces after over two decades of conflict -- no money, no resources and no
facilities.
"We are hoping for a new era in Afghan football," Farid Ahmad Maulai,
vice-president of the Football Federation of Afghanistan, told Reuters at
the match.
"We hope that this new peace will help us to become a big football power
like we used to be."
The glory days for Afghan football came in the 1970s when the "Lions"
boasted victories over Iran, India and Pakistan and also downed a few
visiting club sides -- chiefly from the Soviet Union.
Goalkeeper Abdul Ghafoor Asar was so good he was picked for Asian
representative sides that played in Europe. Striker Aseef Nezam had a
goal-a-game appetite that ended only when he abandoned the sport to join the
Mujahideen struggle and was killed in an ambush.
Those glory days are gone. Today, the only stadium of note is the run
down Kabul Olympic, where the Taliban used to hold public executions before
the kickoff on a Friday afternoon.
"It was difficult for the boys to concentrate on football when they had
just seen somebody shot," said Ghulam Sakhi Niazy, the coach of Pamir team.
It took football lovers like Niazy months of persuasion before the
zealous Islamic Taliban would even allow matches to be played after they
seized control of most of the country in 1996.
"The players were ordered to wear long trousers, long sleeves and
turbans," Niazy said. "It was a bit tricky."
The League today boasts two divisions of 16 teams each. Matches are
double-headers, but the crowds usually sparse apart from on Friday, the
Muslim day of prayer.
"The players all do it for the love of the game," said Maulai. "They are
not paid. Before, some players were professional, but not now . in the
future perhaps.
The players may not have money to compete for, but they do have another
incentive at the moment -- the honour of representing their country.
The Afghan Football Federation is currently picking a national select
side to play against a team of British paratroopers from the United Nations
International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) next month.
"I would really like to play," said Kabul striker Daowd, who did his
prospects no harm by netting two by half time against the loafer-clad Millan
keeper. "I think we can win".
There was no team talk at the break, or quick massage from the physio.
Instead, two waiflike Afghan girls carried a dirty pitcher of water on to
the pitch for the players to drink using a tin can.
But there was the usual banter and teasing that unites football fans and
players around the world -- particularly when it comes to talking about the
stars and teams you support.
"The most popular team in Afghanistan is Bayern Munich," said Kabul
skipper Faowzi.
"They are rubbish," jeered a team mate. "Manchester United is what we
want.
The Federation vice-president said a national squad would go into camp
next week to prepare for their big match against the British. It will be
their first international fixture in 10 years.
"I think we can beat them, Inshallah (God willing)," he said.
If not, the Afghans can always challenge the Paras to a return match of
the unofficial Afghan sport, Buzkashi, a sort of free-for-all polo in which
the headless carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat acts as the ball.
REUTERS FOX
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