Women in Iran have to wear fake beards in order to watch soccer matches
Iranian women have had to find ingenious ways to watch live soccer matches since the landmark 1979 ruling that banned women from attending live sports games.
A landmark ruling in 1979 changed the lives of sports-loving women in Iran forever. Following the revolution in the country in that same year, Iran's Islamic government banned women from attending sporting events.
Women are not allowed to watch men play sports, but they are allowed to watch women's teams competing.
In the three decades that have followed, Iran has seen increased incidences of women disguising themselves as men in order to gain access to stadiums.
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A recent video on social media shows six young women wearing the flags of Persepolis FC and cheering the team on. If any of the men notice the imposters, they do not seem to care.
The law barring women from attending men's sports events is applied inconsistently, as in some areas women disguised as men are turned away and in others, the women are arrested.
Generally, the ban is seen as an arbitrary rule by a government whose strict morality is vastly misaligned with the secular sentiment of the citizens.