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I have fantasies now of Iraqi women attacking and putting Mullahs in ankle holds.Women’s wrestling gains popularity in conservative southern Iraq
In Iraq’s conservative and religious south, women are modest, tribal elders are respected and Friday means the mosque. That was until Hamid al-Hamdani came to town.
A former wrestling champion and five-times national wrestling coach of the year, Mr al-Hamdani decided a year ago to challenge the orthodoxy.
Inspired by the female fighters he had seen at international tournaments, he helped to set up Iraq’s first women’s freestyle wrestling club in the city of Diwaniyah. “I wanted it to be another of my achievements,” Mr al-Hamdani said of his group.
Up to 20 teenagers and students now meet on Fridays and Saturdays and shed their abayas — which cover the whole body — to practise holds, throws and grapples. Authorities were initially shocked and confused, but now the group has inspired copycat clubs across the country.
“Women’s wrestling brand new,” said club member Masar Hachi, 21. “It’s never been anywhere in Iraq before.” A third-year student in a sports college, she said that her academic curriculum was too theoretical, and that women’s lives were too restricted.
Newal al-Hasnawi, whose three daughters are all keen wrestlers, said: “The women get a chance to prove themselves in sports here.” A retired headteacher, she managed the club after it was launched at Mr alHamdani’s suggestion. As word spread, more young women joined — but news of the club reached community leaders, who were ruffled. “I faced difficulties with my teacher at college,” Ms Hachi said. “His objection was, ‘you are girls, how can you go to a thing like wrestling?’ ”
Faha al-Naileh, 18, another enthusiast, said suggestions that female wrestling was anti-Islamic were “stupid” but widespread. “Lots of people objected to this, but we resisted.”
Mrs al-Hasnawi said that she and her daughters “were getting comments in the street, even in university — they thought it was strange for our society”. Even Iraq’s Wrestling Union labelled the club haram — forbidden.
Mr al-Hamdani said that he and his wrestlers were good Muslims, and wrestled either in hijabs or clothing that covered most of their bodies. Gradually, helped by widespread media coverage bringing acclaim to the team, the community had become more accepting, said the women.
The coverage has also sparked imitators. Two teams started last year in Baghdad, as well as one in Kurdish northern Iraq, and one in the deeply religious Shia city of Karbala. The Diwaniyah club hosted them all for a wrestling tournament in the summer.
“It was a success,” said Mr al-Hamdani. “To begin with, officials from the provincial council boycotted it, but then they came — and the girls were covered. There were men there, media, lots of people.”
His goal now is to take his team to tournaments in Turkey and Syria, where he thinks they would finish “first or second”. The team members are unanimous in their ultimate goal: to win an Olympic medal for Iraq.
The acceptance of the female wrestlers is a rare example of women’s sport being encouraged, said Mohamad al-Said, of the Olympic Committee. He said that sport in the country, especially among women, had dwindled to almost nothing.
After the 2003 invasion and subsequent insurgency subsided, the society that emerged was in many areas more religious and conservative than under Saddam Hussein.
“Because of the security situation, and because of the religious parties, we have girls who are too frightened to go out in the evenings, so we have less participation in sports,” he said.
