2 min read
It’s a chilly Wednesday night in Peckham Rye, south London, and a 22-year-old woman wearing a black hijab, lemon sherbet-coloured Nike astros and a bright red bib is in a tight spot on Athenlay FC’s floodlit pitch. Two others are bearing down on her with alarming speed. Instinctively, coolly, she backheels the ball to her teammate, who shepherds it away from trouble and scores.
For those who know her backstory, it’s hard to overstate how meaningful this self-confident little move is. Because until 18 months ago, Farishta Karimi had never even run in public, let alone kicked a football. Growing up in ultra-conservative Afghanistan, all she and her friends could do was watch with envy as their male counterparts played. When she fled the country with her mother amid the US withdrawal, she ended up in the UK, and somehow found the courage to do what she’d been forbidden from doing her entire life.
After the session inside the small, pitch-side clubhouse, five of us drag plastic chairs into a circle. “At the beginning, I thought the club might not accept me,” Farishta says softly. “I thought because I’d never kicked a ball they’d laugh at me. But after two or three sessions I found it really encouraging; so supportive and welcoming. Now, Wednesday is my favourite day of the week – football makes me feel really free.”
