Litwin
Platinum Member
year 2018....
"
Spat at, stoned in the street, and having to avoid bombings on the way to training. All because you want to play football.
That is the reality for some of Afghanistan women's international team.
Their coach - retired former USA international Kelly Lindsey - has never set foot in the country because of security concerns.
Some of her players have not even played 11-a-side football before they join up with the national squad, which was formed in 2010.....
'It's life and death for those girls'
Lindsey's squad is a mixture of players from the worldwide Afghan diaspora and those who still live in Afghanistan.
Those in Australia, Europe and North America have female role models in the shape of their mothers, many of whom emigrated with their children when their husbands were killed in conflict.
The players who have remained face threats of violence and - just as bad in the eyes of the Afghan culture - risk damaging their family's dignity and reputation.
"It's not easy to get to training," Lindsey, 38, tells the BBC's World Football programme. "They get spat on, they get stoned, there are bombings that happen on the way.
"It's important for the girls outside to understand that this is real. It's not stories. These girls go through it every day."
A recent BBC study found Taliban fighters are openly active in 70% of Afghanistan, directly affecting the lives of 15 million people - half the population. That threatens the freedom women have enjoyed since the regime was overthrown in 2001.
"If a woman is playing football, her father, her brother, her coaches, her mother are being judged by the community around them," says Lindsey.
"Khalida Popal, our programme director... her brother was nearly stabbed to death for allowing his sister to play.
"Kelly Lindsey: Afghanistan women's coach says it is 'life or death' for players
"
Spat at, stoned in the street, and having to avoid bombings on the way to training. All because you want to play football.
That is the reality for some of Afghanistan women's international team.
Their coach - retired former USA international Kelly Lindsey - has never set foot in the country because of security concerns.
Some of her players have not even played 11-a-side football before they join up with the national squad, which was formed in 2010.....
'It's life and death for those girls'
Lindsey's squad is a mixture of players from the worldwide Afghan diaspora and those who still live in Afghanistan.
Those in Australia, Europe and North America have female role models in the shape of their mothers, many of whom emigrated with their children when their husbands were killed in conflict.
The players who have remained face threats of violence and - just as bad in the eyes of the Afghan culture - risk damaging their family's dignity and reputation.
"It's not easy to get to training," Lindsey, 38, tells the BBC's World Football programme. "They get spat on, they get stoned, there are bombings that happen on the way.
"It's important for the girls outside to understand that this is real. It's not stories. These girls go through it every day."
A recent BBC study found Taliban fighters are openly active in 70% of Afghanistan, directly affecting the lives of 15 million people - half the population. That threatens the freedom women have enjoyed since the regime was overthrown in 2001.
"If a woman is playing football, her father, her brother, her coaches, her mother are being judged by the community around them," says Lindsey.
"Khalida Popal, our programme director... her brother was nearly stabbed to death for allowing his sister to play.
"Kelly Lindsey: Afghanistan women's coach says it is 'life or death' for players
