Saturday, March 3, 2007

banned from playing in tournament due to hijab

now this makes me mad. and big kudu's to the coach. What the hell does wearing a headscarf have to do with playing soccer, how does it make it a safety issue? sheesh!

Soccer's ruling body has upheld the position of Quebec tournament officials who banned a competitor from playing in a tournament near Montreal because she wore a head scarf.
CTV.ca News Staff
Asmahan Mansour, 11, was ejected from the game for not removing her hijab on the field.
The International Football Association Board -- FIFA -- held its annual meeting Saturday in Manchester, England.
The board was asked to make a ruling on the plight of Asmahan Mansour, the 11-year-old who was told last weekend that she couldn't play in the under-12 tournament in Laval unless she removed her religious head-covering known as a hijab.
Brian Barwick, who spoke on behalf of the board, said it is important to be respectful to "people's thoughts and philosophies,'' but added that the rules of the game must be followed.
"We believe our football to be inclusive. It's part of what we believe our football to be," Barwick said during a news conference.
"But of course if you play football there are basic laws. And law four outlines what the basic laws are concerning gear. I think it's absolutely right to be sensitive to people's thoughts and philosophies but equally football has a set of rules it has to adhere to."
Law four lists the items a player is entitled to wear and head scarves are not mentioned.
Goalkeepers are allowed to wear caps and protective headgear.
The Quebec Soccer Association said the headscarf violated a no-headgear rule set down by FIFA for safety reasons.
The soccer referee who ordered Mansour to remove her headscarf was also a Muslim.
When she was ejected from the game for refusing to remove the covering, Mansour's coach withdrew the team from the tournament in protest.

1 comment:

Sou said...

Well people can be as shallow as that.. talking about othe people's pont of view and then forcing thiers on others just proves me point..