By Kyla Pearson
A local Muslim leader has panned an international soccer body’s decision to maintain a ban on wearing the hijab during games.
“I was very surprised,” says Bader Siddiqi, president of the Ottawa Muslim Association.
“To tell her she can’t wear a hijab is pathetic.”
This comes after a Quebec referee ejected an 11-year-old Ottawa Muslim girl from a game last month when she refused to take off her religious head covering.
The referee expelled Asmahan Mansour from the game for refusing to remove her religious headscarf.
The girls under-12 Nepean Hotspurs Selects left the tournament, along withfive other Ottawa-area teams, in protest of a rule that considers hijabs to be a safety hazard.
Soccer’s international governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football
Association, requires that players “must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player.”
Mansour says she tucks her hijab into her shirt, limiting the perceived risk of strangulation.
Siddiqi says he is proud of the teams’ decision to stand by Mansour and that the move
represents the diversity and religious acceptance that is characteristic of Ottawa.
“There is no problem like this in Ottawa,” says Siddiqi.
“The Muslim community is an old community and it is very well integrated.”
The Islamic faith requires females who have reached the age of puberty to cover their hair as a form of modesty.
The hijab controversy has since gone to FIFA. International rules deal with
appropriate on-field attire and do not stipulate the accommodation of religious headwear.
The International Football
Association Board, the branch of FIFA responsible for the rules of the game, addressed the Quebec incident in early March.
It decided not to change the regulations to include items such as hijabs as official uniform.
But it’s up to provincial soccer associations in Canada to apply the rules.
Unlike its counterpart in Quebec, the Ontario Soccer Association amended its rules in June 2006 to allow religious headgear.
The prohibition of hijabs has never been an issue in Ontario, says Steve Troy, president of the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association.
The organization directly governs the Ottawa Carleton Soccer League and represents more than 50,000 registered players in Eastern Ontario.
“We fully support the move to pull the team and walk away,” says Troy.
“Encouraging girls from a Muslim background to feel fully accepted by the sport is an important message.”
Fatima Osman plays recreational women’s soccer in Ottawa.
She wears a hijab in all of her games, and says she has never had any problems.
“It was just surprising what the little girl had to go through,” says Osman.
“She is only 11 and so passionate about the game. If you stop her, I don’t think it encourages other young Muslims to play.”
From the initial incident in Quebec to the response from FIFA, Louis Maneiro, head coach of the Selects, says reaction from the Ottawa community has been positive. But there are still many questions that need answers.
“This isn’t over,” says Maneiro.
“The number of Muslim girls getting into the sport is increasing . . . we need clarification on the rules, even from our own district.”
Although FIFA has opted not to change the game’s rules for the Ottawa girl, this controversy has highlighted the need for an
evolution in the sport to accommodate more women from different backgrounds, says Mike Hoefler, a soccer referee in
Ottawa.
“The world doesn’t change overnight,” says Hoefler.
“Clearly, this is an opportunity for FIFA to modernize the women’s game and update it to include new parts of the world that re coming into soccer.”
Meanwhile, Osman says she fully supports Mansour’s refusal to compromise her religious beliefs.
“There is no way I would ever remove my hijab to play soccer,” says Osman. “My hijab is my identity. It represents who I am.”