IRanian soccer players support Mousavi with green wristbands?

The Telegraph (home to the famous Con Coughlin) has an article (that matches his writing style: dramatic title, a single poorly-sourced paragraph to back it up, followed by a lot of irrelevant & unrelated information) which claims that the Iranian soccer players who were competing against S Korea were wearing green wristbands as evidence of their support for Mousavi.

As many as eight players wore green wristbands and the captain, Ali Karimi, wore a green armband, symbolising support for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition challenger, at the high-profile game, which was broadcast live on Iranian state television.

Leaving aside the incredible foresight that the soccer players would have had to bring green wristbands along with themselves to the games in order to make this alleged political statement, I have to wonder: could they be wearing green wristbands simply because it matches the green in the rest of their uniforms as clearly seen in the photo accompanying the article?

you know the Iranian flag has a green bar on it -- does that mean that the Iranian flag supports Mousavi? My old Honda was green...probably a Mousavi supporter too...

Comments

[Joe]

This post in particular belies a certain penchant for fitting facts into your own predetermined narrative about what has occurred. There is no evidence given here to suggest that what you claim--that some Iranian footballers decided to wear green armbands for some reason other than political solidarity with massive protests--is more plausible than what has reasonably been assumed due to context and apparent response to the armbands.

Are you suggesting that the armbands were an official part of their uniforms? Doesn't look that way, they appear makeshift, uncomfortable, and without practical value. Do Iranian football players typically wear green armbands when they play? You made no effort here to back up your skepticism with anything but weak rhetoric.

(Cy Responds: The burden of proof is on those making claims. I pointed out that green is part of the uniform -- green shirt collars for example. Nor was this the first time that the players wore wristbands. To conclude that green wristbands automatically mean support for Mousavi without any actual evidence violates Occam's Razor.)

[Matt]

"Leaving aside the incredible foresight that the soccer players would have had to bring green wristbands along with themselves to the games in order to make this alleged political statement" - Yes, I'm sure it's very difficult to get a green wristband in Korea.

[Cy responds: Not very difficult at all -- and entirely unnecessary when green wristbands are already part of your uniform, along with green shirt collars. But was it intended as a political statement? ]

[Alireza]

Of course.

[Cyrus]

Cy responds: And for your information:

"The head of Iran’s football federation has denied punishing players for wearing green wristbands in a show of support of the opposition during a World Cup qualifier, according to local media.

“The comments in foreign media are nothing but lies and a mischievous act,” Ali Kafashin was quoted as saying. “The federation has not banned any player from the national team.”

http://www.soccernews.com/iran-denies-punishing-%C2%B4green%C2%B4-players/20477/

[Alireza]

For your information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/23/iran-football-protest-ban
Keep twisting it.

[[Cy responds: And for your information:

"The head of Iran’s football federation has denied punishing players for wearing green wristbands in a show of support of the opposition during a World Cup qualifier, according to local media.

“The comments in foreign media are nothing but lies and a mischievous act,” Ali Kafashin was quoted as saying. “The federation has not banned any player from the national team.”
http://www.soccernews.com/iran-denies-punishing-%C2%B4green%C2%B4-players/20477/]

[hans]

I think bringing politics into the beautiful game is very silly. After the dust has settled the players in question must be severly punished, perhaps banned for life from playing for the IRI federation.

[Chris]

The reporting on the election crisis in Iran by the mainstream media have been very shameful, to say the least. They have run themselves into frenzy in an attempt to demonize the Iranian regime.
Suddenly, all basic tenets of journalism such as fairness and objectivity have been thrown to the dogs.
How can one conclusively say the election was rigged just because those who have been declared losers say so and there has been no due process to make a determination?
Just as it will be unfair to Mr. Mousavi if actually won and has been robbed, so also will it be unfair to Mr. Ahmadinejad if he won and his victory is being voided.
This calls for journalist to be fair and examine each grievance on its merit.
The argument that the president won in opposition hometowns has been repeated over and over again. What is so strange about this? Hasn’t this occurred even in United States before?
Secondly, people seem to be completely ignorant of the rural-urban dichotomy in developing countries which plays a very important role in their politics. There is a rural majority who tend to be traditional and to whom government’s policies mostly benefit and as such, they support the government. Then, we have the urban elite who mostly disagree with the government and form the bulk of the opposition. This group is very vocal and gets to travel or immigrate to Western countries and get to tell their side of the political divide to the western press.
However, as it happens over and over again, they get the shock of their lives when election results are released and they lose. Then, they claim fraud and try to turn the country into chaos. Elections are about numbers and if they are serious about winning then they need to go to the villages and towns and talk to local folks.
During elections, they need to collect and document acts of impropriety. When they feel they have been robbed of victory, they need to file petitions with the appropriate bodies and ensure that a review is made. They have to let due process work. Moving the battle to the streets makes violence by demonstrators and security officers inevitable.
Unlike many developing countries, Iran did organize elections. There were no serious shortages of ballot paper or boxes. There were no major incidents of intimidation. Time was even extended to accommodate everyone. What we have is the opposition turning their anger over the election results to street protests, with violence occurring on both sides. While the media focuses all its time on the negatives, it needs to shed some light on the positives too.
And to the opposition, they need get down to the real business and do their homework and come next time, as eventually happens, victory will be theirs.

[alex]

Yeah, so the goalkeeper must be a Ahmadinejad supporter, since he's not wearing anything green.