From fear to fight: Firooza Amiri stands tall for Afghan women’s cricket

India Today

In an exclusive interview, Firooza Amiri opened up on the challenges faced by the Afghanistan women's cricketers after the Taliban takeover in 2021 and how they fled their motherland and took exile in Australia.

Transcript

00:00yeah I mean I grew up in Herat which is western part of Afghanistan and it's it's a city mostly

00:12very rich in culture and art architecture it's not very famous in terms of cricket especially

00:20for women's but I was introduced to cricket by my sister my older sister who's like currently

00:27playing as well so for the beginning I started her way out of curiosity but by the time it it became

00:35my passion since I hold the bat it became my passion and for me I don't know since I stopped

00:43playing cricket it wasn't just about playing because I know that we don't have an Afghan

00:48Afghanistan women's cricket team it was something that I really wanted to be one of the first girls

00:55who will represent Afghanistan and yeah I know I knew that I will be one of the girls who will

01:04change the narrative yeah it's very heartbreaking and and since Taliban took over I knew that what

01:16is going to happen and what's the situation going to be for me as a woman or as an athlete

01:20um I need a situation it's it's going to be very worse for us and it was very painful to walk away

01:27from everything that I walked out um for many years for but um I also felt anger and determination that

01:36um to do not give up even the situation that Taliban were there and I even though if it's gonna be um

01:43about to start and over in a new country I did that I mean the philosophy of Taliban goes against

01:56everything that I believe in um while as you say the world is uh moving forward and empowering

02:03and women's to lead and success um they want to keep they want to control um women's in Afghanistan and I

02:11strongly believe that every society um needs women's in leadership roles and Afghan women's are

02:18incredibly strong and and I have no doubt that they can lead if they have the opportunity not just on

02:26a sport in every field and we have already like seen that if the chance give in they can rise

02:33I mean there was in the beginning when Taliban took over there was some revolt but if the people are

02:45like I I'm not actually in touch with many but I know some of the girls are still playing and they're

02:51still practicing in private um quietly holding their passion but it's something very risky and under the

03:00Taliban regime it's something that very risky and dangerous

03:09um if I could describe Mel Mel is such an amazing personality she has and I would say she is a true

03:18woman's right advocate in a sport and she was one of the few amazing women who helped us um when we needed

03:25the most um Mel has used her platform her voice and her connection to bring the attention to other

03:32situation that we had in Afghanistan and she dedicated so much times and effort um to supporting us from

03:40helping us to escape from Afghanistan to settling in Australia um my journey and all the girls journey were

03:50was filled with fear and uncertainty but knowing someone like Mills and Mel and other amazing women who

03:57have been in Australia and helping us make gave us the strength and hope um to start completely in a new

04:03country like Australia yeah the match um the match that we did on 30 of January was more than just a game

04:16was more than just cricket for us it was our first official game in Australia and our for many of us it was

04:25first match that we could play freely after years um if I talk about the crowd they were so supportive

04:34and it felt like home since I came to Australia I know that Australia has gave me everything um to make

04:41sure that I am feeling as my second home but when we step onto the ground on the January it was completely

04:49like I felt home um and like for many of us cricket ground and we always say that cricket ground is is

04:56home um and the moment we step onto the pitch we were reminded that we were still cricketers after three

05:03years playing and um I would say we were not only victim or refugee in Australia we were players and we

05:12were still able to represent Afghanistan even from far away in a country like Australia and that was

05:20everything like we were so happy and um we were so happy that we are representing millions of women into that ground

05:27so cricket Australia has played a huge um leadership uh role for us um from the moment that we are

05:41we left Afghanistan and we start our new life in Australia they gave us every opportunity that we

05:46needed um to keep playing and rebuilding our new life and here in Australia and we never forget that

05:53Cricket Australia was the first board that we speak out for us and um Cricket Australia has been the um

06:02first board that they cancelled their match against Afghanistan um and show the world what it means

06:09to stand for equality and speak for the um women's in a sport

06:14all right unfortunately I'm not in touch with any of the players um no I'm not in touch directly with

06:25the players but from what I've heard that is um they cannot speak direct um sorry sorry publicly um

06:33mainly for their own and their family safety uh but I believe many of them know what is happening for

06:39the Afghan women's strong yeah absolutely I think they have the platform and the audience um even one

06:50strong statement from them can make a global impact and I've realized that um I've realized that influence

07:00and decided to use it um not just for us but for many Afghan for the future of Afghan um sport

07:09yeah I mean it was very emotional to see him saying um his retirement from this format um it's it feels

07:21like the end of an era um but mostly um I'm so grateful that I've been in a generation that had the

07:29opportunity to watch him and learn so many things from him

07:39yeah um for me like there are there are many strong moments and there are women who change the history

07:47of cricket um in every country in every cricket like in every country we have a woman who changed the

07:54history um but for me I think Alice Perry has played like Alice Perry has always inspired me um her like her

08:03discipline and calm and the pressure it's something I really admire and she's not just a great um

08:10just great player she's a great she has a great personality and great um role model um on and off the field

08:18yeah I mean we have only just heard about the ICC funding and waiting for more details so we can

08:29can't comment fully on that um but we are very grateful that ICC has acknowledged our journey and

08:36format a task force and we hope it includes the voice from our groups um our goal is to keep improving

08:45and play for Afghanistan and um play in the highest level as we can and and with the continued support

08:53from the ICC, Peach Our Future and Australian cricket community and we believe it that's possible and

09:00representing Afghan women through cricket is something we value

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