Soccer Nostalgia: The Soccernostalgia Interview-Part 67- A video Interview and blog presentation with Iranian Author, Interpreter, Translator and Football Historian, Mr. Djamshid Foroughi, discussing the origins of Iran’s Perspolis-Taj rivalry

For this interview, I look back at the origins of Iran’s Perspolis-Taj rivalry

The Interview will be as a video link companion, while the Blog will be a presentation of the events.

The Interviewee is:

Iranian Author, Interpreter, Translator and Football Historian, Mr. Djamshid Foroughi

Mr. Djamshid Foroughi’s contact info:

e-mail: djforoughi@gmail.com

My contact information:

on twitter @sp1873 and on facebook under Soccernostalgia.

https://linktr.ee/sp1873

The Origins of Iran’s Perspolis-Taj (Esteghlal) Rivalry

For the last few decades, the Tehran Derby between Perspolis and Esteghlal (formerly Taj) has been one of the greatest rivalries in the World of Football.

To examine the root of this opposition we must look at the beginnings of Football in Iran.

We have to start off with a Tehran club named Shahin. Shahin was established by Dr. Ekrami in 1942. Mr. Ekrami chose the name Shahin (meaning Hawk in Persian) from a poem by 14^th Century poet Hafez.

From the late 1940s and into the 1960s, Shahin was one of the best teams in Tehran. They won several Tehran League titles as well as Cup titles. The team managed by Ekrami himself contained some of the best players of the day such as Homayoun Behzadi, Masoud Boroumand, Jaafar Kashani, Ebrahim Ashtiani, Hossein Kalani and Parviz Dehdari among others.

Photo From: Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal. 1362

(The Great Shahin side)

A few years after Shahin, a team called Docharkheh Savaran (Bicyclists) was established 1944 (1323 in Persian Calendar). One of the founders of the club was a Military Officer named Parviz Khosravani.

Initially it was only a club for cyclists but two years later in 1946 (1325 in Persian Calendar), Football was introduced to the club as well, and the club started to play in the League.

In 1948 (1949 in other sources), the club was re-named Taj (meaning Crown) and very soon became a force.

At this point the main Tehran rivalry in the League was between Shahin and Daraei, but soon enough it would be Taj that would become Shahin’s main rivals.

A young player, Ali Danaiefard would soon become its Player-Manager and later full-time Manager from the end of the 1940s into the 1960s.

Taj would be along with Shahin, the most successful team in Tehran in the 1950s and 1960s and won many Tehran League titles and Cup titles.

In the wonderful book, Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal (Published in 1983, 1362 in Persian Calendar) by Hossein Kashefi-Pour, the events of the 1956 and 1958 Hazfi Cups may have been a watershed moment in the rivalry between the teams.

In 1956 (1335 in Persian Calendar), after a few rounds in this competition, the remaining teams were Shahin, Taj and Nirooyeh Havayi.

Taj lost (1-2) to Nirooyeh Havayi but protested about one of their player’s eligibility and Taj were declared winners.

Now Taj and Shahin had to battle it out to determine the winner. The first two matches between the clubs ended in (1-1) and (3-3) ties.

Taj won (3-1) in the next match between the clubs, but since both teams had lost a match in the competition, a play-off was decided to determine the winner. On August 24, 1956, 2 Sharivar 1335), Taj won (2-0) and won the Hazfi Cup.

Two years later, in 1958 (1337 in Persian Calendar), in the same competition, the two sides once more faced one-another in the Final. While Taj was winning (3-2), the referee Asghar Tehrani stopped the match before the end.

Taj players took the trophy and left, while outside of the Amjadieh Stadium, there were scuffles between rival fans of the clubs. A replay was ordered by the Federation and Shahin defeated Taj to win the Cup title.

The two teams dominated the Iran Football scene into the next decade. According to some, Shahin’s popularity was disturbing to Football Authorities and some the Press.

On July 9, 1967 (1346 in Persian Calendar), Shahin was disbanded. After disturbances in a match vs. Tehranjavan, a committee was set up and the decision was made to break up the club.

It was thought that the Shahin players would be dispersed into many different clubs, and this is where Perspolis comes onto the scene.

The team was in the Lower Division in Tehran at this point. Former Shahin Player, Parviz Dehdari (retired in 1966), had become the new Manager of the club and with the help of another former Shahin star Masoud Boroumand decided to bring over the former Shahin players into the team.

Initially in 1968, Dehdari fielded four former Shahin players in a friendly vs. Jam Abadan. After this match, the rest of the Shahin players joined Perspolis.

These included stars such as Homayoun Behzadi, Jaafar Kashani, Ebrahim Ashtiani, Hossein Kalani, Hamid Jassemian, Ezat Allah-Vatankhah, Mehrab Shahrokhi, Kazem Rahimi, Reza Vatankhah and Nazem Ganjapour.

It must be remembered in the meantime, the Team Paykan had purchased Perspolis’ license. Therefore, for the first year, these former Shahin/now Persplis players were absorbed to Paykan.

After the following year and the promotion of Perspolis, all the players returned to Perspolis.

Photo From: Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal. 1362

(Taj in year 1968 (1347 in Persian Calendar))

Photo From: Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal. 1362

(Perspolis in the first year with former Shahin players, 1968)

The sides met in a friendly for the first time at Amjadieh Stadium on April 5, 1968 (16 Farvardin 1347 in Persian Calendar). Perspolis were captained by former Shahin star Homayoun Behzadi and included other former Shahin players such as Kashani, Ashtiani, Kalani, Jassemian, Allah-Vatankhah, Vatankhah and Ganjapour.

Taj fielded Ali Jabari, Ali Mohamad Kardan, Onik Karapetian and Kambiz Jamali amongst others. The match ended in a scoreless tie.

Less than a year later, the sides in their first official match as part of the Asian Champions Cup qualifiers. This match was held at Amjadieh Stadium on January 10, 1969 (20 Dey 1347 in Persian Calendar).

Perspolis once more fielded the majority of the former Shahin players.

Taj included Parviz Ghelchkhani, who would in time be one of the rare players who played for both clubs.

Taj also included the likes of Karo Haghverdian and Jalal Talebi.

In time, Perspolis would rise and become a force in Iranian Football starting the 1970s and take this rivalry with Taj to another dimension to the present day, but that is another story……

Photo From: Donyayeh Varzesh, No 224, Saturday 21 Dey 1353 (January 11, 1975)

(Perspolis players, among them, Jafar Kashani at the top left, bottom: Ebrahim Ashtiani and Reza Vatankhah)

Photo From: Magazine source unknown

(Parviz Ghelichkhani)

Note:

1-All dates are from the book Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal (Published in 1983, 1362 in Persian Calendar).

The dates of winners shown on RSSSF and Wikipedia may be different. If anyone has accurate dates/corrections, please do not hesitate to contact.

2- According to Wikipedia, the second match was another friendly, on August 19, 1968 (28 Mordad 1347), that ended as a one-one tie (Hamishejavan scored on a pk in the 84^th minute for Perspolis after Taj had opened the scoring through Jaberizadeh in the 67^th minute. This match was not listed in the book of these matchups, Tarikhchey-eh Didarhay-eh Perspolis- Esteghlal. 1362 (1983). If anyone has accurate dates/corrections, please do not hesitate to contact.