January 9 – In a move that western human rights groups – and perhaps others closer to home – may view with some scepticism, Saudi Arabian women are being allowed to attend major domestic football matches for the first time.
In September, hundreds of women were allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh, used mostly for football matches, for the first time to mark Saudi Arabia’s national day.
But now female fans are being permitted to attend three Saudi Professional League games, the government’s information ministry said in a statement.
The first is the fixture between Al-Ahli and Al-Batin at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Stadium this Friday while women will also be able to attend Al-Hilal’s match against Al-Ittihad on Saturday and on Thursday January 18 watch Al-Ittifaq versus Al-Faisali.
Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women and has long barred them from watching live sport because of strict rules on segregation of the genders in public.
In September, women in the highly conservative kingdom were given permission to drive as social reforms gather pace and the lifting of women attending sports events is being viewed as the latest effort to change the country’s international image.
Abdul Rahman Al-Qadheeb of the Saudi General Sports Authority (GSA) told the Riyadh Daily that special arrangements have been made at the three stadiums to prepare for receiving female fans. The GSA will assess the first three matches and then start to implement the move in other stadiums.
“There are arrangements for all three stadiums to determine the final settings,” al-Qadheeb said. “There will be a number of ways in which women will be granted access to the matches, including the ticketing system which will be invested in, and the electronic gates which will be controlled and transferred between the three stadiums as well as other places on the field in case the stadium is crowded.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714978112labto1714978112ofdlr1714978112owedi1714978112sni@w1714978112ahsra1714978112w.wer1714978112dna1714978112
