Reconstructing Culture and Society in Post-revolutionary Iran; A Glance at Iranian Football in the 1980s

The Iranian revolution of 1979 sought to reshape social and cultural relations in the country. The newly-established regime launched a comprehensive campaign to effect transformation in all social fields. The present study draws on a case study of football in the first decade after the 1979 revolution to revisit the reconstruction of culture and society in post-revolutionary Iran. Thanks to its vast popularity and mass appeal, football offers an excellent case to analyze this subject. A thorough analysis of the relevant texts and documents demonstrates that the concept of Islamic or revolutionary sports continues to suffer from ambiguity. Amid post-revolutionary tensions and the ongoing war, the widespread appeal of football and the some spectators' actions and chants that went against the established political norms made football brought football into conflict with the values promulgated by the state. The primary objective pursued by the authorities in sports and particularly football was creating a new subjectivity. However, this goal never materialized due to a lack of a clear policy line and a blueprint for triggering extensive social change. As a result, starting in the mid-1980s, with radicalism on the decline in Iranian society and politics, the key decision-makers endorsed Competitive sports and somehow the idea of professionalism in sport. In this way, Iranian football gradually entered the typical trajectory of sports worldwide. This study shows how the Iranian policymakers somehow retreated from the vague ideals of the early revolutionary period while establishing the state apparatus, setting the stage for the gradual social and cultural shifts that occurred in the 1990s Iran.