Female footballers who fled Afghanistan in 2021 criticise BBC’s ‘false footballers’ posting | BBC

Feminine football players who fled Afghanistan soon after Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021 are criticising a current BBC article which has labelled some of people evacuated as “false footballers”.

The investigation by BBC Newsnight mentioned some of the descriptions of United kingdom visa candidates as countrywide gamers or members of a regional crew “appear to be false”. The report mentioned there is resentment among the “genuine players” now residing below Taliban rule.

The Guardian spoke with 4 players from Herat who explained they were being upset by the BBC on line post they say places them at greater chance, and dread for households who remain in Afghanistan.

Other gamers who ended up evacuated in 2021 took goal at the BBC tale on Twitter on Friday for questioning their integrity, naming people today with out their consent, and leaving gamers apprehensive for their protection amid raising anti-migrant protests. After the Guardian approached the BBC, several of the players’ names had been eradicated.

In August 2021, the Afghan nationwide women’s team was evacuated from Kabul to Australia, while the youth soccer staff was granted asylum in Portugal. Months afterwards, 130 woman footballers and their family members from the youth improvement crew fled for Pakistan on short-term visas before securing a safe and sound spot in the United kingdom.

Khalida Popal, the previous captain of the countrywide women’s football crew who assisted evacuate gamers, reported she was really upset and fearful by the BBC write-up which labelled 13 evacuees as “false footballers”.

“The explanation I am apprehensive is for equally gals in Afghanistan but also ladies outside the house Afghanistan,” claimed Popal. “The way it claims the ‘real players’ [were] left, they are nonetheless in Afghanistan, it is truly striving to drive the Taliban to glance [for] them, which we have been trying to guard them for a lot of decades.”

Popal, who fled Afghanistan in 2011, was approached by distressed teammates and players on social media soon after the drop of Kabul. To support the gamers, she asked for their pictures and participant identification playing cards. The first staff that came ahead was the Herat workforce stated Popal, adopted by gamers from other provinces which designed up the team of gamers travelling from Pakistan.

The captain of the Herat Youth Crew, Sabriah Nawrozi, was interviewed by the BBC and also explained she was upset by the article.

“I want the BBC to show the accurate interview,” mentioned Nawrozi. On arriving in England, she split the group into two groups, team A and B, who experienced independently owing to their distinctive capacity degrees, not “because one workforce couldn’t participate in football” as the BBC article explained, she said

“Whoever came ahead we supported. It is not that I have intentionally decided on and picked people today, that was not the scenario,” said Popal. “We have tried our very best considering the fact that the slide of Kabul. As persons [we] came with each other with the tiny power that we had to use our network to preserve as several gals as probable when the authorities unsuccessful the gals of Afghanistan.”

When the crew to start with arrived in the Uk, anti-refugee protesters assembled outside the house the lodge, recalled Popal. Two brothers of the players have been physically attacked, and a father was crushed. Now, she said the gamers no for a longer period come to feel risk-free. “Articles like this set them in additional danger,” she mentioned.

Najma Arefi, 19, is worried the resort incident will repeat alone. When she was lucky, she reported, to flee with her family members, she thinks of her teammates who are anxious for their family members in Afghanistan. “This style of post makes matters hard for every single of us and our families as nicely,” she stated.

Arefi grew up actively playing football in Herat from the age of 13. When the Taliban took about, she was just one of the several gamers capable to evacuate with the enable of Popal.

“We feel so sorry for ourselves, for the other ladies that are however in Afghanistan, we had a good deal of footballers in different golf equipment,” claimed Arefi. “We want the BBC to apologise and take down their write-up.”

It is not the very first time the team has experienced their identities questioned, remembers 20-12 months-old Narges Mayeli. Months right after arriving in England, law enforcement visited their lodge requesting evidence and proof to show they are real footballers following a Daily Mail write-up she reported.

“They proved it, every person,” claimed Mayeli. “This is the second time that the media has attacked our crew like this and this is truly, definitely really, disappointing.” She stated their escape was harmful, with the menace of armed assaults and explosions. “We are only some teenage women, we experienced heaps of trauma, and it was truly hard for us,” explained Mayeli tearfully. “We are trying to forget about those people days.”

The BBC post refers to a listing of evacuees submitted to the British authorities to achieve entry to the United kingdom. Popal mentioned she has by no means been in call with any govt.

Mozhdah Howaida, 21, was contacted by the BBC for the report but noticed the information late, she claimed. Owning had to go away her relatives guiding in Afghanistan to escape with her everyday living, she said she now worries for them, fearing the write-up could lead to them getting punished by the Taliban.

“I’m so upset that my group is attacked like this. The article claims that our lives are not really worth being saved,” mentioned Howaida. “Since this article [was] revealed, I truly feel like I lost my family, and I missing my state again.”

Popal, continues to be happy that she did not switch her again on the woman of her country, she claimed. “I am satisfied as an individual, with the tiny electrical power that I had, to conserve as quite a few life as achievable regardless of their titles and amounts of football.”

In reaction to queries from the Guardian, a BBC spokesperson claimed they have taken treatment not to identify any individual who has not beforehand been identified as a “genuine footballer” in other media. They reported the investigation arrived following Newsnight was contacted by former feminine footballers nevertheless in Afghanistan.

The spokesperson mentioned: “We have regarded as the fears of men and women pointed out in the tale and taken out them, even if their names are continue to used in other media, this kind of as the Guardian.”