Abu Dhabi: Every woman should wake up believing that every day is Women’s Day, was the strong message from UAE’s poster girl of football — Houriya Taheri.
The 30-year-old former goalkeeper and assistant coach of the women’s national team is among those ladies who have not waited for change but believed in being the change-agent herself.
She has not only followed her heart but has tirelessly worked hard to fulfil her dreams in a society where women normally play traditional roles.
“In each stage, I had problems. Football was looked upon as a male sport and hence the reluctance is understandable but I just loved playing football. It gave me tremendous joy and it taught me a lot. I became independent at a very young age,” recalled Taheri adding that her saving grace was the support she got from her family especially her mother.
“In the beginning, I had to face a lot of hardships because I was from Dubai and still studying at school. I had to switch base to the capital to join Abu Dhabi Country Club. I had to find a job, study in the university and needed salary to stay afloat. For all this, my family backed me and I can’t thank them enough,” Taheri, whose most part of the career went playing at the club level as the sport had not taken deep roots to represent at the world stage, told Gulf News.
“When women’s football started in 2004, we had only one team and we had just seven local players. Today, we have around eight teams at the top level. In Under-19 we have eight teams, Under-15 we have eight teams and Under-13 we have eight. We have a proper league now and over 2,000 women playing football,” revealed Taheri, who feels there are a lot of programmes now to attract more women footballers.
“We have 10 festivals running throughout the year. Over 100 players participate from different parts of the country and we select the best players. These players are taken to the 12 different centres and there we have quality coaches working with all age groups. So now we have a strong system from where girls are coming through to the national team,” said Taheri, who started coaching in 2009 and now has ‘A’ license. Having done the instructors’ course, Taheri can also issue license to other coaches and is keen to do the Fifa Masters next.
Taheri feels that the mindset is changing. “Sport is taken a lot seriously now and you see like for Women’s Day there were events where many girls participated. These events are exclusively for women and also close doors so they have the freedom to be their self and can express themselves,” felt Taheri, who also thanked the Fifa for their role in promoting the sport in the region keeping the culture in consideration.
“I think the Fifa allowing the women to wear hijab and play football was a huge turning point. It was a great move on their part to do that and now girls are ready to participate in international games. The change was immediately evident and now the fathers are getting involved and want their daughters to play the sport,” said Taheri, adding that a lot of fathers come to drop their daughters and are taking a keen interest in their progress which was not the case in the past.
“I get a lot of calls from parents asking where and how their daughters can participate. The effort from the federation is also tremendous and they are helping the community understand the importance for girl child to take up the sport which is great,” says Taheri, whose major coaching assignment came in 2013 when she coached Al Wahda first women’s team.
“The Al Wahda assignment was a huge boost for my career as a coach. Some of the players whom I was coaching had played with me before. We did a great job and in 2013 when the Al Wahda Club established the team we finished second in the league. We had a proper national team by then and we went for the AFC qualification for the first time as well in the same year,” notified Taheri, who is thrilled to see that ladies like Chan Yuen-ting, head coach of Hong Kong’s Eastern Sports Club, are leading the way showing that women can coach even men’s team. Yuen-ting became the first woman ever to guide a men’s team in a continental competition — Asian Champions League earlier this year.
“Chan had led Eastern to the Hong Kong Premier League title. If a man can coach a women’s team then a women can coach a men’s team as well. If you know what to teach and know how to analyse the game, read your opponent and make the best use of the players, then you can coach. Both men and women get the same coaching training,” said Taheri, who, however, has no intentions to take Yuen-ting’s path anytime soon as she feels women’s football in the UAE needs her more and her job has just started.
“I don’t want to do what Chan did because the men’s football is already developed here in the UAE. There are a lot of quality coaches for men but women need support. If I go then I’m leaving a lot of things incomplete. The women’s football needs me as the sport is still in infant stage in the UAE and there is still a long way to go,” says Taheri, whose next goal is to see UAE women’s team develop to a top class team from the region.
“I want to see UAE emerge as a force from Middle East. That will be a true victory for women power. And will supersede all my achievements and will pave the way for a better future for the sport and women with a love for football.”
With passionate role models like Taheri around, women in the UAE need not look beyond the Emirates for inspiration. All they need to do is play ball.
