A Flag at the Gate

At Iran’s World Cup opener against New Zealand in Los Angeles, which ended 2-2, FIFA banned the banner with the Lion and Sun, the symbol of resistance against the regime, and a court upheld the ban that very morning. Outside, hundreds protested, inside, some booed the anthem!

With a 2-2 draw against New Zealand, Iran opened its World Cup campaign on Monday night in Los Angeles, and outside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood it became clear how closely sport and protest had become tied to war. The match took place hours after the American president announced that a preliminary agreement with Iran had been digitally signed, with details to follow in the coming weeks. The team had flown in Sunday from its camp in Tijuana, just as peace was being declared. For the first time Iran played on American soil, against the backdrop of the war between the two countries, and for the first time in tournament history a host nation stood in open war with a participating country.

The setting was no coincidence. More than 230,000 Iranians live in the area, according to the Pew Research Center, the largest number outside Iran, many of them having fled after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and settled in Westwood and Beverly Hills, as well as across western Los Angeles, giving the area the nickname Tehrangeles. The war began in February with American-Israeli strikes following nationwide protests in January, during which thousands were killed in a bloody crackdown. The current regime is deeply hated at home and abroad for economic mismanagement, human rights abuses, and suppression of free speech. For years protesters have demanded equal rights for women and for religious and ethnic minorities, yet Amnesty International reports that the government responded to dissent with brutal repression and unlawful killings, including torture.

Two hours before kickoff, the evening ignited over a flag. FIFA had banned the old tricolor with the golden Lion and Sun, Iran’s official flag until the Islamic regime took power in 1979 and replaced it with a new emblem. Many Iranians in America now see it as a symbol of resistance. A man and his teenage daughter, with the flag draped over his shoulder, made it to the gate before a security guard stopped them. What exactly were they expected to do, the man asked, support a regime they did not believe in? When asked for his name, he stopped his daughter from answering, saying it was not safe to give their names and speak against the government.

He was far from alone. In the hour before the match, security gave nearly a dozen spectators the choice of stepping out of line with their flag or surrendering it. One older man born in Iran was turned away and said it was the flag he had grown up with. One woman considered hiding hers beneath her shirt, but in the end it landed in the hand of a deputy from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Instructions to inspect every flag were so strict that when a man carrying the Stars and Stripes was asked to unfold it, he replied in disbelief that it was an American flag.

The ban had been upheld that very morning after an expedited hearing. FIFA prohibits flags and clothing of a political, offensive, or discriminatory nature, and while the Lion and Sun uses the colors of today’s flag, it is the older symbol associated with the Shah era. A judge let the ban stand. Free speech is sacred and a foundation of society, he said, but not without limits, and a private actor may impose reasonable rules on private property. He rejected the request.

The protesters found their ways nonetheless. Between three hundred and five hundred gathered outside the stadium with signs and flags against the government and said they would not attend the match because doing so would signal support for Tehran. They handed out T-shirts bearing the Lion and Sun or the names and images of people said to have been killed during crackdowns in Iran. Two wore the flag across their shoulders and the symbol across their chests. One man, who would not give his name, said he was there for soccer and equally to get rid of this regime, and they would do their best to bring the flags inside.

Dozens succeeded. They waved the Lion and Sun as today’s flag was unfurled on the field and as the anthem played, even when New Zealand took leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Those without flags made themselves heard in other ways, some booed during the anthem, others turned their backs. One man carried his flag inside and held it high, but said the cameras never showed it. Another had to hide his shirt with the symbol beneath a sweater, while his wife and son turned theirs inside out. Inside, he said, the regime had held his country hostage for forty seven years with a false flag.

For many, Team Melli, the national team, could not be separated from the state. One woman who fled in 2001 as a single mother with her son, first to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles, helped lead the protest. She said they wanted to show the world what they wanted, freedom for Iran, and that the Islamic Republic should not remain. She bought tickets at short notice in hopes she would be allowed to wear her shirt inside. One man came from Toronto, where he has lived for twenty five years, with his sister and niece from San Diego. He wanted to support Team Melli but brought nothing, no jersey, not the colors, fearing they would not get through. Crossing the border meant only a few extra questions for him, but some of his friends in the military were turned away. His parents and siblings live in Iran, where the cost of living has risen sharply. He hopes for victory and still worries about the people there.

Not everyone came for one side. Many described themselves as neutral, saying they were there for the match and the atmosphere but could not block out politics because it was now being forced upon them. The World Cup, they said, should be a place where people from every qualified country may express themselves, regardless of which side they support.

On the field it ended in a tense 2-2 draw. Some Iranian fans left relieved that the team had not lost, while others, who see it as an instrument of the state, were disappointed New Zealand had not won. Disappointed but with a good effort, judged one fan in an Iran jersey whose wife had worried about safety inside, though in the end the evening remained peaceful.

The background was harsh. In the weeks before, the team had moved its camp from Arizona to Mexico, the federation complained that not all staff had received visas and that ticket allocations for their own supporters had been withdrawn. A government representative said they would not allow the team to abuse the system to smuggle terrorists under false pretenses. Security measures were heavy, barriers far more extensive than usual, and yet the evening remained calm. Officers held back and behaved professionally.

So in the end a flag became the real contest of the evening. FIFA, which presents itself as neutral, banned the symbol of hope for a people and left standing the emblem of the power they had fled. A court called it a reasonable limit on private property. The federation that bans politics turned the gate into a checkpoint where a daughter learned not to say her name. Yet the banned flag entered beneath shirts and still rose, because a forbidden symbol is a confirmed one, and the boos during the anthem said what no flag was allowed to say. Between the flag people grew up with and the one they were given stood a fence and the fist of an officer, and the people still found the narrow path through. Whoever cannot say their name still raised their flag.