Iranian League Title Drama- Final week

by DeletedUser#1 Wed May 20, 2015 3:45 am

So I did a bit of research, and the league table heading to the final day looked like:
Teams PTS GD
TractorSazi 57 +24
Naft 57 +17
Sepahan 56 +17

Final day fixtures saw the top 2 teams play each other in Tabriz (home of Tractor, also a city with a lot previous stadium controversy and loads of separatist fan base) while Stephan hosted a mid-table side at home.

Naft win- they win the league
Tractor win- they win the league
Naft and Tractor Draw- Tractor win the league unless Sepahan win their game and sneak above both (Sepahan had been 5th 6 weeks ago)

Tractor leads 3-1 halfway into the second half before having their captain sent off. Naft manages to equalize and them game is 3-3 with 10 minutes to go. The internet/wifi/mobile connection in the stadium of Tractor goes all tits up. A rumour circulates SOMEHOW in the stadium that the Sepahan game has ended 2-2. Tractor Sazi's manager son delivers the news to the coach. Knowing a draw is enough for them to seal the title, Tractor park the bus in the last 10 minutes and the stadium explodes at the final whistle assuming they've won their FIRST EVER title. Pitch invasion, walk of fame, celebrations until the news breaks out that 2-2 rumour was fake and Stephan had won the game 2-0 and are champions Very Happy

Here is a clip of what went down in the dying minutes and celebrations in Tabriz from Iran's version of MOTD (called Navad 90) that has been running for 18 years.

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A bit more history on Tractor. They have the 2nd largest stadium in Iran that nearly sells out every game with close to 80K fans. A couple of years ago, There was a survey on Navad 90 , asking people to text message which team their support. (MOTD do it via twitter). In the official survey, Tractor came 3rd after the powerhouses of Tehran. In the next home match that followed, there was a massive campaign and anger and hatred against the Navad 90 host, angry Tractor fans claiming their SMS wasn't delivering. One guy said: "It says send 3 for Tractor. Me and my 4 kids tries but it didn't go through. My wife sent 2 for Persepolis and it went through instantly". Some other gem quotes of angry Tractor fans at the time were:
"We have the most fans in Asia. Our aim is to have the most fans in the world"
" It's absolute bs that only 13% of Iran are Tractor fans. The only club that has more fans than us is Manchester United"
"I swear to god our vote should be 110%. This Navad 90 hates Azerbaijan and is biased towards Tehrani teams"
"First Tractor, Second Barcelona"

and go on. So that's the history of Tractor and their fans against Iranian FA as they believe they are purposefully being subject of a conspiracy because of their geographical and political tension.

They've now filed a complaint to the president Rouhani asking for an investigation of why internet/mobile connection was non-existent during the match in Tabriz and have even asked for a replay