Muslim girl ejected from tournament for wearing hijab

[Prometheus]

Last Updated: Sunday, February 25, 2007 | 10:12 PM ET

Article

Five young teams from across Canada walked out of a Quebec soccer tournament Sunday because a young Muslim girl was ejected for wearing a hijab.

Calling the rule banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women racist, four other teams followed Asmahan Mansour's team, the Nepean Selects from Ottawa, after she was thrown out for running afoul of a Quebec Soccer Association rule.

Asi and teamates on the Nepean Selects.
(CBC) "The referee was staring and pointing. 'She can't play,'" said Asmahan, Asi to her friends. "I was like why? Why can't I play?"

Because of a safety rule, league spokesman Lyes Arfa said. He pointed out that the referee is Muslim himself, and that the ban on hijabs is to protect children from being accidentally strangled.

"We have to protect the players on the field, and that's the main point. It's not against the Muslims."

And the league had told organizers about the rule ? "The wearing of the Islamic veil or any other religious item is not permitted" ? before the game.
Asi's team was aware of the rule, but didn't expect it would be enforced.

So when it was, many players and adults were outraged.

Girls backed up teammate

"I automatically went back to the referee: 'Are you sure this is what you wanna do?'" said Louis Maneiro, the Selects' head coach. When nothing changed, he said, "I just decided that there's no way that I would allow our team to continue, and the girls backed up Asi very strongly."

Asi's teammates supported the move. "I felt disgraced, I was crushed, I couldn't see Asi like that," said Lisa Furano.

"It's just a piece of material, it can't do any harm," added Alicia Stainton.
The Selects left the tournament in good spirits. But they say they won't came back until the rule changes.


ok...... so i guess that saftey is not important............. and that if the kid died/injured as a result someone would not have been sued?

this is why we say mainlanders are the stupid ones

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

she should have taken if off.
it can be dangerous.
same with jewelry and such.

[Sakib]

she should have taken if off.
it can be dangerous.
same with jewelry and such.

i disagreee. she has a right to follow religion through. I think problem with Muslim society is they dont encourage females to engage with each other as much. If there was a woman only football including a female referee she wouldnt hav needed the headscarf. Muslims are collapsing because they dont work 2gether.

[mrlee]

she should have taken if off.
it can be dangerous.
same with jewelry and such.

i disagreee. she has a right to follow religion through. I think problem with Muslim society is they dont encourage females to engage with each other as much. If there was a woman only football including a female referee she wouldnt hav needed the headscarf. Muslims are collapsing because they dont work 2gether.

So if she got strangled by it, theyd get sued by society for not carrying out procedure.

And muslims arnt collapsing, the very fact is they do stick together.

[freedom78]

Just make her sign a waiver, saying that if she's strangled, decapitated or in any way injured because of it, then it's her own problem.  Seems simple enough.

[Prometheus]

 


so you suggest suggerating the muslims from play with non muslims?

frankly if you want to play sports and there are safty concerns that involve relgious customs, then you should remove the itmes in question, or dont play...... there is no grey area for something that is for safty. if you work in a industry where you are required to wear protective equipment, ie. hard hats, and your relgion requires turbon, if you want to work the job you dith the turbon unill after you are off site.

This even has made #3 in national news today, and it seems that further details state that only when she is partaking in play on the field was she required to remove the hijab.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

she should have taken if off.
it can be dangerous.
same with jewelry and such.

i disagreee. she has a right to follow religion through. I think problem with Muslim society is they dont encourage females to engage with each other as much. If there was a woman only football including a female referee she wouldnt hav needed the headscarf. Muslims are collapsing because they dont work 2gether.

you're wrong here.
it's not about muslims.
it's about sports.
you just dont wear things on your head or around your neck
no jewelery
shirt must be tucked in the short

these are the soccer rules
on a soccer field Allah is meaningless. Jesus is void.


and, muslims HAVE to stop with that veil thing.
it's never clear why they wear it. always confused.

next will hear about a muslim stripper who wanted to keep it on! come on.
it's a soccer field, i think the audience will see more than her hair when she's running all sweaty.

i HAVE to hear his father " oh no my daughter cannot show her hair !! it's indecenccy !!! no hair ! .... yeah she can play with short shorts and sweat in her clothes in front of the whole shcool and take off her shirt when she scores !!! "



ps: waiting for hannahat to tell me i am anti semitic !!! ?_?

[Prometheus]

Just make her sign a waiver, saying that if she's strangled, decapitated or in any way injured because of it, then it's her own problem.? Seems simple enough.

notice how waivers are being signed for eerything? they dont do shit anymore to protect anyone, it is more or less now oh u signed a waiver, ok.... so the coach should not try and act in a responsible manner to protect his/her players?

[Neemo]

she wasnt ejected for wearing it....she wasnt allowed to have it on in the first place....

i agree it sucks for her, but like was already mentioned, its for safety reasons...thems the rules...ultimately it was her choice to play or not

[freedom78]

she should have taken if off.
it can be dangerous.
same with jewelry and such.

i disagreee. she has a right to follow religion through. I think problem with Muslim society is they dont encourage females to engage with each other as much. If there was a woman only football including a female referee she wouldnt hav needed the headscarf. Muslims are collapsing because they dont work 2gether.

you're wrong here.
it's not about muslims.
it's about sports.
you just dont wear things on your head or around your neck
no jewelery
shirt must be tucked in the short

these are the soccer rules
on a soccer field Allah is meaningless. Jesus is void.


and, muslims HAVE to stop with that veil thing.
it's never clear why they wear it. always confused.

next will hear about a muslim stripper who wanted to keep it on! come on.
it's a soccer field, i think the audience will see more than her hair when she's running all sweaty.

i HAVE to hear his father " oh no my daughter cannot show her hair !! it's indecenccy !!! no hair ! .... yeah she can play with short shorts and sweat in her clothes in front of the whole shcool and take off her shirt when she scores !!! "



ps: waiting for hannahat to tell me i am anti semitic !!! ?_?

I don't know if you're anti-semitic, but you're French, and the French and Americans have very different ideas about the separation of church and state. 

From what I've seen in recent years, with the banning headscarves and other religious symbols/clothing in French schools, your country's (general) approach is to prevent any religious imagery in areas of government/state.

In the US, on the other hand, the approach would be to allow everyone to wear their various religious garbs, in that banning them is seen as a greater violation of personal freedom.

It's just a fundamental difference in how two country's vary in their approach to religion.  I don't know the (general) Canadian approach, off hand.

[Neemo]

as far as i know we are pretty open in canada about allowing others to express beleifs...but this doesnt seem to be about religion its about safety of the kids...and it's not he referees job to decide the rules...it would be the soccer league...so i dunno if refs had avoided it up until this point or what but say the girl did fall and someones cleats got tangled in her scarf and she got choked or whatever then its the refs fault for allowing it...just saying can't fault someone for doing his/her job

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i must anti semitic, HannaHat says so and i disagree with Israel colonization policies ! oh god ! save me !

Yes religion have to be as far as possible as the state. (That is why Sarkozy must NOT be president)

We are here talking about social matters, not political. She has the right to believe. She has the right to wear a scard. But any time there is a Republican (meaning from the Republic) rule, may it be stupid, it overpass any religious freedom.

If tomorow there is a law saying that you cannot show People nailed on a cross to people under 18, every church will have to screen ID at the doors.
These are my opinions, the Republic laws overpass any religious belief. keep your god at home and in your head.

Personnal freedom is something tricky to use, because your freedom stops where my begins.
She agreed to play a sport, that have rules, her freedom stops there.

Same with school, when you enter French School you enter a world free of God, therefore Jesus and Allah and Yavh? stay outside.

[freedom78]

Just make her sign a waiver, saying that if she's strangled, decapitated or in any way injured because of it, then it's her own problem.  Seems simple enough.

notice how waivers are being signed for eerything? they dont do shit anymore to protect anyone, it is more or less now oh u signed a waiver, ok.... so the coach should not try and act in a responsible manner to protect his/her players?

No, I'm saying that the rules are in place to protect them and, since violating this rule doesn't actually affect the competition (i.e. it isn't "cheating"), then she should be allowed to waive her right to hold someone accountable, should she be injured because of it. 

Though, at some point, if a religion demands things of you, you have to make a choice between completely obeying the religions rules, and doing as you wish.  I'm not sure this is such a case.  Maybe some Muslim children chose not to participate; perhaps others didn't wear the banned clothing.  I don't know.  But we're so concerned with safety these days, that kids can't learn through pain, like the thousands of generations before them have.  Perhaps there's been a rash of Muslim children strangulations during soccer matches that I'm unaware of?  If so, then I suppose they have a reason for this rule.  I think the risk of injury to the number of NFL players who stupidly wear earrings during competition is exponentially higher than the risk, here. 

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

as far as i know we are pretty open in canada about allowing others to express beleifs...but this doesnt seem to be about religion its about safety of the kids...and it's not he referees job to decide the rules...it would be the soccer league...so i dunno if refs had avoided it up until this point or what but say the girl did fall and someones cleats got tangled in her scarf and she got choked or whatever then its the refs fault for allowing it...just saying can't fault someone for doing his/her job

soccer rules forbid wearing of any thing but the regular soccer clothing.
Goal keeper was once allwoed to wear a cap, i dont think it's one anymore.
scarf is def. out. and it's jst stupid to begin with, who does sport with a scarf on the head ?


what is the point? please, i need a muslim to enlighten me.

[Neemo]

alot of schools have dress code too....so if one is allowed to wear somethign on their head then everyone should be....if its democracy....again them's the breaks

NFL players are grown adults...these are kids....whos safety lies in others

[freedom78]

as far as i know we are pretty open in canada about allowing others to express beleifs...but this doesnt seem to be about religion its about safety of the kids...and it's not he referees job to decide the rules...it would be the soccer league...so i dunno if refs had avoided it up until this point or what but say the girl did fall and someones cleats got tangled in her scarf and she got choked or whatever then its the refs fault for allowing it...just saying can't fault someone for doing his/her job

soccer rules forbid wearing of any thing but the regular soccer clothing.
Goal keeper was once allwoed to wear a cap, i dont think it's one anymore.
scarf is def. out. and it's jst stupid to begin with, who does sport with a scarf on the head ?


what is the point? please, i need a muslim to enlighten me.

Well, I'm not a Muslim, but I would imagine that if my faith demanded something of me, and I took that demand seriously, that I would do as dictated. 

Soccer cleats are certainly more dangerous than a headscarf. 

[Neemo]

i'm not saying that it was right or wrong but the official had to make a decision and the one was the choice with the least amount of liability to them.....

i'm all for expression of ones beliefs but sometimes you need to abide by the rules if you dont like the rules you dont play...its a pretty simple concept. again its he players choice to play or not....one could always petition for the rule to be changed

[freedom78]

NFL players are grown adults...

barely...

Anyway, what it really comes down to, for me, is whether this is a public or private league.  If it's privately organized and run, then they can make any demand they want (whether they SHOULD or not, is another argument).  If it's organized by the government in some way, then I would imagine it's subject to laws regarding such things.

[Neemo]

Quebec Soccer Association....so its a Provinical League...so public sports

[freedom78]

Quebec Soccer Association....so its a Provinical League...so public sports

Well, then I suppose it's subject to whatever laws are pertinent...of course, most of my take is based on the American Constitution, so it's not entirely valid.  How your laws dictate issues like this be handled could be very different, just due to minor differences.