It’s been one year since the Afghanistan Women’s team fled Kabul. Their journey has inspired the world. KEEPUP revisits an interview with Melbourne Victory Afghan Women’s Team goalkeeper Montaha and head coach Jeff Hopkins about their story of renewed hope in Australia after fleeing the Taliban, originally published in June.
“If the Taliban knew one of us, it would be so bad for us. We would not survive. It was like life and death”.
That was the severity of the situation as Montaha and her Afghanistan team-mates sat in a Kabul airport last year. It was a frantic rush to leave their homeland after the Taliban had seized back control following 20 years.
It was the end of the world as Montaha and the Afghanistan women’s national team knew it.
For so long, they hid their identity in a desperate attempt to remain safe. But more than 11,000-kilometres away from Kabul and now playing under the banner of A-Leagues club Melbourne Victory, they have found their voice in Australia.
They are the voice for the voiceless, inspiring men and women across the globe.
“When I went to my brother’s school and I told them I’m a football player of the Afghanistan Women National Team, they were shocked,” Montaha told KEEPUP.
“‘Wow, you’re a celebrity, we are so happy to meet you in person’.
“In Afghanistan, we couldn’t tell them we were Afghan National Team because it’s dangerous for us. We couldn’t tell anybody who we are. But now here, everybody is looking for us and how they can support us.”
Back doing what they love
Former Socceroo and human rights activist Craig Foster played a leading role in evacuating the Afghan team from Kabul airport in collaboration with the Australian government in 2021.
Victory immediately came to their aid, supporting their return to competitive action.
In February, Victory announced they would play under the team’s banner in 2022, with reigning Liberty A-League Championship-winning head coach Jeff Hopkins leading their return to football.
Melbourne Victory Afghan Women’s Team have captivated not only Melbourne but the global footballing world.
Playing in Football Victoria’s State League 4, the images of the team on the field have melted hearts beyond Australia.
“It’s one of the happiest things we’ve had in Australia,” Montaha said. “We didn’t know if we would be able to play football, especially together.
“But when we start football as a team, it was unbelievable for all of us. When we came here, we thought maybe we lost everything. Also our families were left in Afghanistan and now we don’t have our family either.
“When we start playing football as a team and they gave us the name of Afghanistan Women Team, the feeling was so unbelievable. We were so happy.”
She adds: “When we came here, we thought maybe we would be separated or maybe can’t play as Afghan Women or maybe we lose our nationality. But lots of people, especially Victory and Craig Foster helped us so much not to lose our nationality.
We have our flag on the back of our jerseys. That is the thing we didn’t expect. We thought maybe we would lose our flag, maybe we can’t play under our flag, but no. They give us this that we didn’t expect. We are so happy.
An unbreakable bond
Montaha and her team-mates have endured experiences many can’t even comprehend.
These women and girls in Afghanistan were particularly vulnerable amid the fall of Kabul in 2021.
Future dreams evaporated before their eyes in a fight for freedom and equality in Afghanistan. The Taliban threatened their safety.
But in the desperate struggle, the Afghan Women’s National Team formed an “unbreakable” bond that remains intact in Melbourne.
“Our team is so powerful we have so much supporters, we can do whatever we want. We can stay together,” Montaha said
One reporter told us, you lost everything but you’ll achieve everything. We are playing in a league, so together we will be unbreakable. But if we don’t have each other, we won’t find this much support.
And they are benefiting from a professional environment, something they did not have in Afghanistan.
“When we were in Kabul, they would not provide professional coach for girls. They were all looking for professional coach for men,” she said.
“Now you can see Afghanistan Men National team have training in Dubai and other countries but they wouldn’t provide these facilities for women.
“But now we’re here, they provide more facilities for women than men. Jeff is really professional coach. we are so comfortable with him.
“We learn lots of things from him. We didn’t know this much things about football when were in Kabul because we didn’t have a professional coach or support. Melbourne Victory – they are very kind and trying to help us.”
Putting things in perspective
“I don’t think living in this country you can comprehend what they’ve been through, it just seems so unreal,” Victory head coach Hopkins said.
The Afghan women have not only inspired people far and wide, they’ve put things in perspective for Hopkins and Co.
“They can’t go out and just be young women and do what they want to do. They’re totally restricted in certain things. It’s great to see they are getting media coverage and able to tell their story,” he said.
Hopkins is the most decorated manager in history of the A-League Women after guiding Victory to a remarkable ALW Championship in 2021-22.
It capped a gruelling season for Hopkins and his Victory side in the Liberty A-League amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a hectic fixture list.
But Hopkins didn’t have to think twice about coaching the Afghan Women’s National Team.
For Hopkins, it’s been an eye-opening and refreshing experience, highlighting why he wanted to become a coach in the first place.
“I still can’t get my head around what they’ve been through and what they’ve come from but they just turn up to every session, always have a smile on their face,” he said.
They just enjoy what they’re doing. That’s kind of the bare essentials of any sport, you’re doing something you enjoy and turn up because you really love it. Sometimes in professional sport you lose that a little bit. It’s very refreshing as a coach to see that.
Hopkins, who’s extremely proud of Victory, added: “You can’t help being touched by this story and the players. For me, just getting back to the basics of why I’m involved in the game.
“I’m coaching because I love the game and I enjoy the game. I enjoy seeing people enjoy it. Being able to help facilitate that with this team it gives me a lot to take out the game. My basic needs are I need to enjoy what I’m doing and this gives me a real enjoyment when I just turn up and the smiling faces are there.
“Just the little things, the girls always fold the bibs up and put them in a nice pile, all tidily afterwards. All the cones are put back. I was carrying some mini goals and a couple of girls ran over and almost tugged them out of my hands to say, no you don’t do that we do this.
“It’s that enjoyment and respect, that basic instinct about why you do actually turn up and coach, and why they turn up and play because they want to and love it.”
