Hijab Covering More Than Girl's Head?

Soccer rulers waffle on hijab issue TheStar.com - News - Soccer rulers waffle on hijab issue
March 05, 2007
Rosie DiManno

While the authorities who determine the rules of international soccer were meeting in England over the weekend, Asmahan Mansour was scoring a couple of hummers on a pitch in Ottawa.

A wonderful picture of the 11-year-old in full goal-kicking throttle, was on the front page of yesterday's Ottawa Citizen.

She is wearing a hijab colour-co-ordinated with her team's red uniform. Only the most churlish, or pedantic, would claim there is anything remotely provocative – or athletically unsafe – about the girl's head covering.

A hijab tucked into the collar – suppliers actually produce a sports version of the cowl, though Asmahan appears to have cleverly fashioned her own – is surely no more of a concern than turbans or yarmulkes, worn for religious purposes, or headbands, worn for sweat and tidiness, or do-rags, worn for style.

This fact kicks out the underpinnings of uniform regulations, as cited by the International Football Association Board, which Saturday upheld the premise that saw Asmahan ejected from a under-12 tournament in Quebec, ostensibly for violating equipment rules.

Despite assertions to that effect, the IFAB didn't make any ruling on the hijab itself. In upholding the referee's call – and this guy happened to be Muslim – the soccer satraps were merely being conformist to the letter, and typically pedagogical. They didn't explore the implications of a rule that, when applied stiffly, fails the common sense test. Essentially, they upheld the right of officials to interpret a rule that outlines basic equipment for the sport.

This referee decided Asmahan's hijab broke the rules. The referees at Asmahan's two earlier matches – before her coach and teammates withdrew in protest (there's team spirit) along with 40 players from five other clubs – presumably had no problem with the traditional headgear. Nor did those who officiated at Saturday's game, won by Asmahan's Nepean Hotspurs.

One might reasonably ask for clarity on this matter from soccer's governing body. But the bwanas ducked it.

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