Pancho
4th January 2002, 03:16
Velappen hopeful soccer can help unite country
[Associated Press]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- With stadiums reclaimed from executioners of the ousted Taliban regime, Asian soccer officials want to restore links with Afghanistan and bring it back into the sport.
"We are delighted to note the huge following football enjoys among the masses in Afghanistan despite the war and the ban imposed on it earlier," said Peter Velappen, secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation. "The AFC would like to take advantage of this fact and play a role in using football to unite the country."
Sports were largely outlawed by the Taliban, Afghanistan's former hardline Islamic rulers who declared games to be frivolous and non-Islamic. Women were banned from taking part in sports and strict dress codes and other rules were imposed.
In Kandahar, the Taliban turned a United Nations-funded soccer stadium into a public execution ground, shooting people convicted of violating their strict Islamic laws and sometimes hanging them from the goalposts.
Since the Taliban was ousted by opposition forces aided by the U.S.-led international military campaign, soccer, volleyball and other games have returned to the streets and stadiums of Afghanistan.
In a statement issued from the AFC's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Velappen said it was trying to make contact with the last known officials of the Football Federation of Afghanistan as a first step to returning the country to international competition.
The Afghan organization was founded in 1933, affiliated to the sport's ruling body, FIFA, in 1948 and was a founding member of the AFC in 1954.
Afghanistan stopped participating in AFC competitions and meetings after Soviet forces invaded the country in 1980.
Velappen said the AFC had the names of the last registered officials of the Afghan soccer federation, but war had made reaching them difficult.
"We will try to re-establish contact with known officials of the sport in Afghanistan and then work with the government to try and reorganize the FFA," he said.
Velappen hopes that officials could be found in time to organize an official delegation from Afghanistan to attend the AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur on May 10, and the FIFA Congress in Seoul on May 28-29.
[Associated Press]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- With stadiums reclaimed from executioners of the ousted Taliban regime, Asian soccer officials want to restore links with Afghanistan and bring it back into the sport.
"We are delighted to note the huge following football enjoys among the masses in Afghanistan despite the war and the ban imposed on it earlier," said Peter Velappen, secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation. "The AFC would like to take advantage of this fact and play a role in using football to unite the country."
Sports were largely outlawed by the Taliban, Afghanistan's former hardline Islamic rulers who declared games to be frivolous and non-Islamic. Women were banned from taking part in sports and strict dress codes and other rules were imposed.
In Kandahar, the Taliban turned a United Nations-funded soccer stadium into a public execution ground, shooting people convicted of violating their strict Islamic laws and sometimes hanging them from the goalposts.
Since the Taliban was ousted by opposition forces aided by the U.S.-led international military campaign, soccer, volleyball and other games have returned to the streets and stadiums of Afghanistan.
In a statement issued from the AFC's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Velappen said it was trying to make contact with the last known officials of the Football Federation of Afghanistan as a first step to returning the country to international competition.
The Afghan organization was founded in 1933, affiliated to the sport's ruling body, FIFA, in 1948 and was a founding member of the AFC in 1954.
Afghanistan stopped participating in AFC competitions and meetings after Soviet forces invaded the country in 1980.
Velappen said the AFC had the names of the last registered officials of the Afghan soccer federation, but war had made reaching them difficult.
"We will try to re-establish contact with known officials of the sport in Afghanistan and then work with the government to try and reorganize the FFA," he said.
Velappen hopes that officials could be found in time to organize an official delegation from Afghanistan to attend the AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur on May 10, and the FIFA Congress in Seoul on May 28-29.