News

The Newspaper

Archives

Press Releases

Subscribe

Advertise

Mailing list

Links

About us

What's on and where

Messages for
The Muslim News

Contact The Muslim News

The Muslim News on your PDA

Back to index

Issue 215, Friday 30 March 2007 - 11 Rabi' al-Awwal 1428

Football association’s ambiguity on hijab condemned

By Elham Asaad Buaras and Aasiya I Versi

The International Football Association Board, (IFAB) has been slated by Muslim organisations for “remaining ambiguous on the question of the hijab.”
IFAB, also known as the International FA, which has the authority over the laws of the game, has upheld the ambiguous The Players’ Equipment Law Four, in its Annual General Meeting in Manchester on March 3. In its current format the permission of wearing the hijab is left to the discretion of referees.
Muslim groups had hoped the meeting would result in a clear and decisive amendment of the regulation that would officially permit the sporting of religious wear such as the hijab.
The International FA Board is composed of four representatives of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and one each from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - an abiding acknowledgement of the historic significance of the British associations in world football.
The English FA played down its role in the meeting last month. Speaking to The Muslim News, English FA spokesman said that although the IFAB was officially the governing body for rules and regulation, it was “effectively FIFA who rubber stamp what ever comes out of that meeting. Because they are the governors of the game world wide it’s for them to effectively decide one way or another whether all the things are implemented into policy or not.”
Falling short of confirming whether or not the FA had pushed for change in the meeting, he added, “We were broadly supportive of giving women the permission of wearing that (hijab) for religious reason because it’s something we looking at continually, girls and women football is fastest growing team sport.”
A spokesman for FIFA told The Muslim News, the meeting had simply preserved the sovereignty of regional and national associations in interpreting Law 4, which says a player must not “use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself/herself or another player”.
Speaking to The Muslim News, Chairwoman for the UK’s Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation, (MWSF) Rimla Akhtar, said the meeting has resolved nothing.
Singling out the English Football Association Chief Executive, Brian Barwick, for criticism, she said, “They (IFAB) gave no guidance to referees. It’s something the football associations have to resolve if they wish greater participation of Muslim women in the game.”
She added that the hijab had not presented safety problems in FIFA member countries in the Middle East such as Jordan and Iran. Speaking in the post-meeting press conference, Barwick conceded it was “absolutely right to be sensitive to people’s thoughts and philosophies” only to add, “But equally, football has a set of laws it has to adhere to…What it means in truth is that we favour Law Four, Law Four being adhered to.”
The law, as displayed on FIFA’s Web site, also says “modern protective equipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight, padded material are not considered to be dangerous and are therefore permitted.”
The meeting came days after controversy erupted in Canada where an 11 year-old-girl was prevented from playing a regional under-12 competition.
Asmahan Mansour, 11, a member of Ottawa’s Nepean Hotspurs, stepped onto the field wearing the hijab. The referee, a Muslim, ruled she could not play wearing the hijab. Tournament organisers said the prohibition had nothing to do with religion but rather was a matter of safety. Unable to change the referee’s mind, Nepean Hotspurs coach, Louis Maneiro, pulled his team from the tournament in Laval, Quebec.
Describing her ordeal to her local paper Mansour said, “It was my shift on the field, and, as soon as I stepped in,(the referee) said, ‘Get off the field,’ (he) just kept on screaming, ‘Get off the field,’ yelling at me, ‘Get off the field.’…I was (thinking), ‘What did I do wrong? Why can’t I play?’…I didn’t get off the field. I just stayed on until the coach came, until Louis was talking to him…They were starting to speak French, and Louis said, ‘That’s enough,’ and we just walked.”
The Canadian Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR-CAN) said FIFA was sending a mixed message on its rules, given that its own Web site includes pictures of players wearing the hijab. CAIR-CAN called on the FIFA to clarify its position on the right of women players to wear the hijab.
CAIR-CAN Executive Director, Karl Nickner, told The Muslim News, “By avoiding a clear ruling on this important issue, FIFA is creating a situation in which Muslim parents in Canada and worldwide may feel reluctant to have their daughters play soccer.”
CAIR-CAN spokeswoman, Sarah Elgazzar, added, “For decades women have struggled to have equal opportunity and treatment on the playing field. In remaining ambiguous on the question of hijab and backing the Quebec referee’s decision, FIFA has effectively blocked millions of women from playing the sport. On the one hand, FIFA promotes soccer amongst women by featuring hijab-clad players on their website; on the other, they have given free rein to individual referees to allow or prohibit the hijab. This situation is untenable.”
The England FA spokesman also said that the FA is working under its “own development program under the banner of Football for All which is about making sure everyone has a chance to be involved in football, regardless of ability, race, religion or background.” In fact on its Website the FA said the Football for All was about “encouraging and increasing the involvement of groups at all levels of football by recognizing that inequalities exist and taking steps to address them.”
A spokeswoman for the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab told The Muslim News FIFA’s current stance was in danger of “jeopardising” its equal opportunities policy. “FIFA’s fair play aphorism and endorsement of women football would be critically jeopardised if exceptions for religious wear are excluded from its rule book. Nobody should be asked to comprise their faith to participate in sport.
“Likewise the application of the rules must be unambiguous and consistent. In this particular incident the individual interpretation of referees meant the girl was permitted to wear the hijab in a previous match only to be barred in another.”
In December 2001, The Muslim News investigated the case of Heba al-Naseri, a second year medical student at the Queen Mary and Westfield College in East London, who on December 5, 2001, was forced to watch the game from the side lines after a referee asked her to remover her hijab. At the time FIFA told The Muslim News that it was up to the referee to decide and said FIFA does not make “specific rulings on religious attire.” However, al-Naseri’s university and Union of London University supported her. (see The Muslim News Issue No 152)