Afghanistan Women Write to ICC, Urging Permission to Form Refugee Team and Play on International Stage | Source: X.com
Afghanistan women cricketers, forced to flee their home country after the Taliban takeover in 2021, have written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) requesting support for the formation of a refugee team.
These former contracted players, now residing abroad, have continued their passion for cricket by participating in local clubs. While receiving aid from various organisations, they lack formal recognition as a representative team.
In a letter addressed to ICC Chair Greg Barclay on June 29th, 2024, the women expressed their pride in the achievements of the Afghanistan men’s team at the T20 World Cup 2024, and also congratulated Rashid Khan and his team for reaching the semi-finals.
However, they also mentioned their disappointment at being unable to represent their country on the international stage. Here’s what they wrote in the letter:
“We, the formerly contracted players of the Afghanistan Women’s team, are proud and excited by the achievements of Afghanistan at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and wish to congratulate Rashid Khan and his team on reaching the semi-finals.
A profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers. As former Afghan Cricketers now living abroad, we are unable to represent the Afghanistan women’s national team.
We are asking the ICC to assist us in setting up a refugee team in Australia. It could be administered by the East Asian Cricket office based at Cricket Australia. Through this team we aim to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to in Afghanistan.
Creating a team of Afghan refugees can give us a chance to play, coach and administer a cricket team without borders. The creation of this team will allow all Afghan women who want to represent their country to come together under one banner.
Our goals in having a refugee team are to develop and showcase our talent, give hope to the women remaining in Afghanistan, and to draw attention to the challenges women of Afghanistan face. Like the Afghanistan men’s team are afforded, we aim to compete at the highest levels.
We want to recruit and train girls and women who love cricket, to show the world the talent of Afghan women and to demonstrate the great victories they can achieve if given a chance through the leadership and financial support of the ICC.
On behalf of the members of the former Afghanistan women’s cricket team now based in Australia.”
This initiative aims to provide a platform for Afghan women, both in Afghanistan and abroad, who share the dream of playing cricket but face limitations under the current regime. Their goals include recruiting and training young Afghan women cricketers.
It will be interesting to see if ICC acknowledges the situation and response to Afghanistan Women.
