Viime kaudella kaikki ottelut pelattiin ilmeisesti Ghazin kansallisstadionin viereisellä Afganistanin pölliksen stadionilla. Sekin on ihan hyvä aspekti Afganistanin liigassa, vierasreissuihin kulkeminen Afganistanin maanteillä ei kovin turvallista ole ihan jo pelkästään liikenneturvallisuuden näkökulmasta.
Afgaanipölliksen nurmella ei tarvitse kahlata veressä, mutta Ghazin stadionia on tosiaan teloituksiin, amputointeihin, ruoskintaan ja muihin rangaistustoimenpiteisiin käytetty. Edellisellä Talibanin kaudella 1996-2001 Kabulissa teloitettiin julkisesti ainakin 33 ihmistä (muualla rapiat sata päälle), nykyisellä kaudella on teloitettu julkisesti kuusi ihmistä stadioneilla ympäri maan, ensimmäinen kaksi vuotta sitten ja viimeisin marraskuun alussa, Kabulissa ei tähän mennessä vielä yhtään.
https://www.rferl.org/a/afghans-recall-sports-under-the-taliban/24642278.htmlKABUL -- For years, Kabul's Ghazi Stadium was notorious not for hosting sporting events, but for the executions, stonings, and mutilations carried out there by the Taliban.
Its playing field was so blood-soaked, it was whispered, that even grass would not grow there. Such horror stories went a long way in feeding the world's general perception that sports were banned by the Islamist regime during its rule from 1996 to 2001.
But veteran sports journalists and former Afghan athletes -- while recalling brutality in sometimes graphic detail -- also tell a different story, saying that some sports not only existed, but flourished under the Taliban.
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Although Isaq, who retired three years later in 1999, has fond memories of the time, there are memories of the Taliban's heinous public punishments that still haunt him. One particular memory, the day he arrived for his first training session, continues to turn his stomach.
"We did some warm-ups and went to do some shooting practice. When I lifted a barrel that was in the middle of the pitch, I found six amputated hands," Isaq says. "When I saw them it really affected me. I left the training session and the stadium and went home. I felt sick for one or two weeks."
https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/feature-afghan-soccer-field-haunted-by-taliban-executions-idUSSP125642/But try as they might, few Afghans can put behind them the brutality of the Taliban years when men, and sometimes cowering women in their pale blue, all-enveloping burqas, were brought into the stadium to be either stoned or shot dead at close range.
Others had limbs amputated for crimes ranging from robbery to adultery and murder.
The stands would be full of people, including children, either coming of their own volition or brought in to witness how the Taliban enforced its version of justice.
"Now nobody comes here in the evening, even we don't go inside," says Nabeel Qari, a young guard at the entrance to the stadium. "Everyone believes the place is haunted, that the souls of the dead people are not at rest even now."
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So much blood has been spilled on the football field and seeped into the soil below that Nasim says a previous attempt to grow grass there failed.
Then the Afghan government asked the company that he worked for to redevelop the stadium in a project costing about $50,000. The soil was dug up to a depth of half a metre and replaced.
"We put a new layer of soil so that players would not be stepping on to the blood of so many people," Nasim said.
No joo, ei nyt kaivella ilkeästi ikivanhoja juttuja, Taliban on paremmalla mielellä liikkeellä tällä kertaa ja selvästi mietitään, että kansainvälisen imagon takia ei kannata Kabulissa alkaa sekoilemaan ihan teräväpiirtona. Urheilu onkin erinomainen keino saada kansainvälistä arvostusta ja rahaa, tämän Taliban tajusi jo ykköskaudella kun kriketti päätyi monista syistä ykköslajiksi, mm. uskonnollis-vaatetuksellisista. No entäs sitten naisten osallistuminen, no, ei me nyt... oikeen tässä tilanteessa... pitää ottaa huomioon, et musta... tässä
WaPon jutussa on puhuttu positiivisesti meidän krikettijengistä, et mun mielestä ei voi sanoo... kato, krikettimaali!
https://globalvoices.org/2024/05/10/taliban-bids-on-sports-in-afghanistan-to-gain-legitimacy-at-home-and-abroad/The Taliban’s strict ideology has hindered the growth and freedom of sports; nevertheless, the group has also utilized sports as a means to gain recognition. The calculated strategy of the Taliban of promoting specific sports is aimed at projecting a sense of normalcy and asserting their authority.
Supporting and appearing in photos and videos next to cricket players, who are often viewed as national heroes in Afghanistan, helps the Taliban gain legitimacy at home. Sending national teams to international competitions gives them indirect recognition by global sports governing bodies. However the harsh reality is that athletes, especially women, face significant restrictions at home.
Mosalla tosiaan ilmeisesti oli jotain virittelyitä Afganistanin maajoukkueen suuntaan, mutta mikäköhän tuossa on sitten ollut esteenä? Saudi-Arabiassa toimivan Afganistanin maajoukkueen mm. arjen kuvioista ihan mielenkiintoinen juttu edellisen valmentajan lädialasarjajyrä Ashley Westwoodin näkökulmasta, Westwood lähti tänä syksynä maksattomien palkkojen ja rahanpuutteen takia:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5540622/2024/06/06/ashley-westwood-afghanistan/
