Israel Matzav

Iran soccer team official forced out over Israel greeting

On Thursday, I reported that the Iranian soccer team had mistakenly sent New Year's greetings to the Israeli national soccer team. Now, the head of the Iranian national soccer team's foreign relations department has been forced out in response to his good manners.

According to the report, Mohammed Ardebili, who heads the Iranian Football Association's foreign relations department, sent a group e-mail greeting which reached his counterparts in Israel even though the "name of the Zionist organization" had been removed from the soccer association's e-mail list.

...

Israel Football Association spokesman Gil Lebanony told the [Army] radio station that although the IFA was surprised to receive the e mail, they did not hesitate in sending a response.

"Attorney Amir Navon, head of our legal department, actually received the mail," he said. "He came into my office and asked me if it was a mistake. I said, 'I don't know, but let's send a response'."

"So, we responded, 'We thank you for your Happy New Year greeting and wish all of the good people in Iran a happy new year,' and added a wink in the mail," Lebanony said. "We also expressed our hopes that they will have a good year of soccer."

They may have a good year of soccer, but Ardebili won't be part of it.

If there are any Iranian readers out there (I assume there are although many of you are likely silent), I wonder if you could help out here. Is the name Ardebili a common Iranian name? I've had two other stories about people named Ardebili in recent months: One was an arms dealer who was extradited to the United States, and the other was a nuclear scientist (although now that I compare the two stories they may have been the same person - the Iranians claimed that the 'nuclear scientist' was arrested in the Republic of Georgia, while the arms dealer was arrested in 'eastern Europe.' Hmmm).

Is this Ardebili related to the previous one or two?

If anyone knows, please comment or drop me an email. Thanks.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:24 AM