KARMA TIME: Iranian club Persepolis fans rue old social media post; apologise to FC Goa fans

FC GOA'S SOCIAL MEDIA posts are suddenly full of replies from Iranian fans.

Some of them are apologetic, some of them frustrated, some of them passive-aggressive. But they all have one demand: withdraw the complaint against Persepolis FC.

What is this about? Well, years ago when FC Goa were playing in the AFC Champions League, the matches were being held at Fatorda as a centralised venue due to COVID-19. Back then, posts from Iran's Persepolis FC had invoked Nader Shah; a Persian king famous for attacking Delhi in 1379.

While in Iranian culture Shah is viewed as a great king, from the Indian perspective he is remembered as an invader whose soldiers massacred 30,000 men and enslaved 10,000 women and children. So, the post was seen to be in poor taste and a complaint was made. Seeing trouble coming, Persepolis apologised for it.

The AFC imposed certain punishments on the club for it, which included one home game behind closed doors.

This was not too much of an issue until now. But today, Persepolis fans found out that their next ACL home game - the first since the punishment was imposed - will be against Saudi club Al-Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays.

So... Ronaldo will likely visit Iran but none of the fans will be able to attend the match and see the global superstar play live.

This is why Persepolis (and some other Iranian clubs' fans) are mass-replying to FC Goa's posts. Because they think that it's still within the Gaurs' powers to somehow retroactively dismiss the punishment that has already been announced by AFC.

They can't. But not that Indian football fans are complaining about the belated apologies coming their way for all the wrong reasons.

Sometimes, karma is rather poetic.

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