June 01, 2018
Tehran’s Chief of Police, Brigadier-General Hossein Rahimi, has said that coffee shops and tea houses will not be allowed to show the TV broadcast of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia football matches scheduled to take place between June 14 and July 15.
“All public venues must obtain a special permit from the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (NAJA) for showing these games,” commander Rahimi said.
NAJA had previously allowed cinemas to show the live broadcast of the games. But some cinema owners are unhappy about this because football matches interfere with the scheduled screening of films.
Mostafa Kiani, the director of “Istanbul Junction,” is against the idea. He said: “If they’re going to allow the live TV broadcast of football matches in cinemas, then they should let us show our films at the Azadi sports stadium!”
Meanwhile, some Twitter users have posted photographs of a coffee shop which reportedly belongs to the son of Mostafa Ajerlou, the former managing director of Tabriz’s Teraktor-Sazi football team, which shows patrons watching the TV broadcast of a football match.
@ayb1365 wrote: “According to the [capital’s] police, coffee shops are not allowed to show televised broadcast of football matches. Why then a coffee shop owned by an influential political and football figure is allowed to show the games? Why have the police shut down other coffee shops but not this one? This coffee shop has even opened a new branch!”
According to some Internet users, only those business with connections to high places can obtain permits to show the games. Many of the coffee shops in Tehran were previously allowed to show football matches. Some of them had even installed big screen TVs in preparation for the 2018 World Cup.
@Mamoodii wrote: “Why should coffee shops need a police permit for showing football matches? How about listening to the games on the radio? Hopefully, someone who’d been at a game can tell us all about it!”
@AghaBahman wrote: “The next step is for the police to place officers in people’s home to ensure that husbands and wives don’t watch the game together. Women should remain in the kitchen and listen to the voice of the sports commentator.”
Football fans still hope that NAJA will issue permits to public venues to show the matches. People prefer coffee shops to cinemas.
