{"id":701294,"date":"2026-05-29T02:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T02:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701294\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T02:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T02:45:12","slug":"afghan-refugee-womens-xi-cricket-tour-of-darwin-spotlights-need-for-gender-equality-in-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701294\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan Refugee Women’s XI Cricket Tour of Darwin spotlights need for gender equality in sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was love at first sight when Firooza Afghan watched her first cricket match.<\/p>\n

Seeing the Afghan flag being raised before the game and the crack of the ball colliding with a cricket bat filled her with national pride.<\/p>\n

In her hometown of Herat, she was determined to set up a women’s league, starting with her own school cricket team.<\/p>\n

It was years later she got the call \u2014 a women’s Afghanistan cricket team had been established, and she had been selected to play.<\/p>\n

But before they could take to the pitch, the Taliban took over and Firooza’s hometown was the first major city to fall.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Firooza Afghan has always been passionate about cricket. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Suddenly her life wasn’t centred around cricket: her focus was on survival.<\/p>\n

With the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, women’s sport was effectively banned.<\/p>\n

Firooza destroyed most of her cricket gear to stay safe, but couldn’t bear to burn her Afghanistan cricket shirt, which meant so much to her.<\/p>\n

One of her teammates had an Australian mentor and, with their help, Firooza and her family planned to leave \u2014 though it took 15 attempts before they made a successful escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Firooza Afghan and her family are now refugees in Australia. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

“My journey was a bit different because my family didn’t have a passport,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We went to Pakistan illegally.<\/p>\n

“We left our country, not because we wanted to \u2014 we left to keep our dream up.”<\/p>\n

After nine months in Pakistan, her family was able to seek refuge in Australia.<\/p>\n

Now, most of her cricket squad is based here too.<\/p>\n

“Finding days in summer and playing cricket, it’s pretty much a happy ending for us,” Firooza said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Many women had to leave Afghanistan in order to pursue cricket. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

An ‘incredibly challenging’ journey<\/p>\n

Emma Staples, who co-founded initiatives Pitch Our Future and It’s Game On to champion gender equality in Australian sports, has been with the team since they fled Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

“The journey for all of them was incredibly challenging,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Their evacuation was by road, so we had to get everyone into Kabul.<\/p>\n

“I can’t imagine what that’s like, the terror of crossing your country in such a volatile time.”<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

Emma Staples has been a mentor for the Afghan cricketers, helping them adjust to life in Australia. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

After helping the athletes settle in Australia, she has formed strong bonds with the women and their families.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t be prouder of these women,” Emma said.<\/p>\n

“This group of women are still fighting and advocating so strongly for their recognition in international cricket.”\"High-angle<\/p>\n

The athletes are are still fighting for recognition. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, FIFA recognised displaced Afghan players as eligible for international competition<\/a>, clearing the way for women footballers to return to their passion.<\/p>\n

Firooza is calling on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to follow suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We are getting a chance to represent our team at international levels, hopefully my team can play in the world cup as well,” the cricketer said.<\/p>\n

“This team have talent [and] have the skills, and they have the same dreams as the Afghanistan men’s team.”<\/p>\n

In a letter penned to the ICC and made public in March, Human Rights Watch<\/a> suggested the “Taliban-run Afghanistan’s membership” should be immediately suspended “until women and girls can participate in the sport of cricket”.<\/p>\n

The ABC has contacted the ICC for comment.<\/p>\n

From the NT to the UK<\/p>\n

Years on from her escape from Afghanistan, Firooza has been touring Darwin as part of the Afghan Refugee Women’s XI team.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The cricket team will soon tour the UK. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

This month’s tournament included one 40-over and two T20 matches against the Strike<\/a> \u2014 the first women’s team to represent the Northern Territory in cricket since 2019.<\/p>\n

The tour comes in the lead-up to the Afghan Refugee Women’s XI tour next month, when they will travel to the United Kingdom to compete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was love at first sight when Firooza Afghan watched her first cricket match. Seeing the Afghan flag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[341504,20813,341503,64,63,740,341505,1098,341506,330738,51184,85,84050,7298,9737],"class_list":["post-701294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-afghan-cricket-team","tag-afghanistan","tag-afghanistan-womens-cricket-team","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-firooza-afghan","tag-nt","tag-refugee-sport","tag-refugee-team","tag-refugees","tag-sports","tag-taliban","tag-womens-cricket","tag-womens-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}