On April 4, 2015 state-run website ‘Khane Varzesh’ quoted a deputy of the Minister of Sports and Youth that the proposed plan to allow the presence of women and families in sports stadiums was approved by the country’s Security Council.
“The plan will be implemented this year,” he said, adding, “Of course, in some fields neither the families are seeking to take part, nor are there any means to provide such a possibility as a number of these sports are exclusively for men.”
Simultaneously, another state-run media flatly rejected this development on the same day!
ISNA reported: Din Parast, a senior Ministry of Interior official stated, “The country’s Security Council has not reviewed any bill on the presence of women in sports stadiums.”
Following this embarrassment, another deputy of the regime’s Minister of Sports, Abdul-Hamid Ahmadi, rushed to the scene in effort to clean up the mess. In an interview with IRNA, he stated, “This plan was presented last year by the Ministry of Sports & Youth to the country’s Security Council and received a preliminary approval. There is hope that it will receive a final confirmation and be declared to the Ministry of Sports and other entities, which we would then inform the public.”
These hassled remarks come at a time that several international organizations including FIFA and FIBA, have protested the elimination of women from sports stadiums.