If anyone knows the emotional turmoil the Iranian football players have experienced in the past 48 hours, as they leave their homeland behind for a new life in Australian, it’s Tooba Sarwari.
The Afghanistan-born cricket player left everything behind when she fled to Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2021 amid the fall of Kabul.
The Iranian footballers’ individual experiences are as unique as they are unenviable, says Sarwari, who arrived on a humanitarian visa amid the fall of Kabul.
“I don’t want this happening for none of the girls in the world,” she says, from her new home in Canberra.
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She recalls her own first night in Australia in 2021, when she lay down on her bed and covered her head with her blanket.
“When I reached Australia, I realised that, ‘oh, my family is not with me’, I left everything.”
The Iranian women have chosen a life on the other side of the world from their home, from their loved ones. They have been granted temporary visas that provide a pathway to permanent residency. After four years, they may be able to apply for Australian citizenship.
More immediately they will be given the chance to choose where to live, and be given access to settlement services which provide free English classes, as well as programs designed to help them gain employment and access education and training.
Sarwari, now an international relations and politics student, believes the Iranians’ new life in Australia will offer challenge and reward.
“When I compare my life from four years ago and now, it’s lots of change,” she says.
“I was someone who didn’t know how to speak English properly, now I am in second-year university. Everyone will find their ways, everyone can learn English, they can find a job, Australia is a country full of supportive people.”
But whatever the Iranian women do in their new lives in Australia, Sawrari warns it will not be straightforward.
“Sometimes you feel very sad, very alarmed, and many times I lost my way,” she says.
“It will be challenging to learn English, or to know about the new culture, but everything takes time. One day everything will be perfect. You feel like you know everything and you feel confident, which is what I have now.”
Zaki Haidari, a refugee from Afghanistan who works for Amnesty International in Australia, says the content of the settlement programs is vital, but the sensitivities of those who provide them – ensuring each interaction is “trauma-informed” – is even more critical.
Support is also available outside official channels.
Iranian-Australian advocate Ara Rasuli, who helped the athletes’ bid for freedom in Australia, said the diaspora community would support the remaining players “in any way they need us.”
“We will be there every step of the way. If there is any support needed, we will be there,” she says.
“We are just waiting for them to be settled a bit and then we can all work together to ensure the girls are receiving everything they need.”
The playing field has been a place of refuge for those that have come before them. Sarwari says cricket gave her a safe place and took her mind away from other thoughts.
“When something is coming about cricket, my mind and whole of my body are motivated and get energy,” she says.
“When I hold the bat or ball, in that moment I don’t think about nothing else. I think, like, ‘this is all I want’. I don’t think about my fitness, about how life is full of stress, pressure. Cricket makes me happy.”
Sarwari and her cricket teammates received support from Cricket ACT when they arrived, which gave them a start at different clubs in Canberra and genuine community connections.
At around the same time, members of the Afghan women’s football team also arrived in Australia. There were enough footballers to form their own team in the Victorian state leagues. A new club was formed, overseen by Melbourne Victory and its women’s head coach, Jeff Hopkins, and the A-League club’s director of football John Didulica.
“It’s very easy often to slip into this mentality of saying, ‘hey, you know what, just take what you’re given and be happy’ when you’re talking about migrants and refugees, and we didn’t want to do that,” Didulica says, adding the appointment of Hopkins was “symbolically important” to reflect their status as international footballers.
“It said to the players that we’re serious about giving you a wonderful footballing experience here at Victory and it’s up to you now to rise to that, to meet that challenge. And the girls did, they thrived.”
Though the situation for the Iranian players is different, and no plans have been made yet about whether the Iranian women will play at all let alone together, Haidari believes it is crucial the players are provided opportunities to pursue their football ambitions.
“It’s important because they’re not ordinary individuals, they’re extraordinary and they’ve done a lot in their country and the football world,” he said. The players have already been invited to train with A-League Women club Brisbane Roar. Rasuli says they came here as athletes, and “I personally am so excited to see them continue their athletic journey in Australia”.
