SOCCER: Exiled cricketer says Iranian women players face emotional toll amid refuge in Australia

The Iranian women soccer players offered asylum in Australia are facing emotional upheaval as they come to terms with being separated from their families, a cricketer who fled Afghanistan’s Taliban regime told Reuters on Wednesday.

Australia granted humanitarian visas on Tuesday to five Iranian footballers after they sought asylum, fearing persecution if they returned home following their refusal to sing the national anthem at a Women’s Asian Cup match.

Another player and a support staff member accepted Australia’s offer of aid, while one decided to return home amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli air-war in Iran, the government said Wednesday.

The situation reminded Afghan cricketer Tooba Khan Sawari of the dislocation she experienced as a sporting refugee after fleeing Afghanistan when the Taliban took power in 2021.

Sawari was among several women athletes offered asylum in Australia after fearing for their safety in Afghanistan. For her, the most difficult part of resettling was not learning a new language or navigating an unfamiliar environment, but coping with the persistent ache of being separated from home.

“Being a refugee has a lot of pain,” said Sawari, 25, speaking from Canberra, where she lives, studies, and coaches cricket.

“Every day you miss your parents, your family. You miss the time spent with your compatriots. Even the food you ate in your country—you miss every single thing. It’s not easy to manage everything by yourself without any family support. It can lead to a lot of depression … I found it very difficult.”

Sports can play a key role in helping refugee athletes cope with the anxiety and confusion caused by displacement, said Catherine Ordway, a sports lawyer and academic who helped Afghan cricketers settle in Australia.

“For the cricketers, staying connected to their sport has been hugely important,” said Ordway, a visiting scholar at the UNSW Business School in Canberra. “It will be important for the Iranian players as well. They’ll be guided by their legal advisers and community contacts, and then they can explore what football opportunities exist for them here.”

Sawari added that she had sought counseling for years after arriving in Australia to cope with the psychological strain of exile. While praising the Australian government for supporting her and her former Afghan teammates, she cautioned the Iranian players that adjusting to a new country would take time.

“It’s not easy in a country when you don’t know the language or culture,” she said. “It’s very hard to accept that you’re living somewhere else.”

-Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Kate Mayberry/Reuters