{"id":2066,"date":"2007-03-03T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-04T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=2066"},"modified":"2007-03-03T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-04T04:00:00","slug":"butting_heads_over_headscarves_in_quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/03\/butting_heads_over_headscarves_in_quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Hijab &amp; soccer: Butting heads over headscarves in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/azy_mansour.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\">Red card for Azzy<\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>In Gurinder Chadha\u2019s 2002 film <i><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBend_It_Like_Beckham\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bend it Like Beckham<\/a><\/i>, the young, female, British Indian protagonist fought against the prejudice of her well-intentioned family to pursue her love of soccer, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FJonathan_Rhys-Meyers\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Irish coaches<\/a>, and happy endings. Five years later, an 11 year-old soccer player was asked by an official (a Muslim, incidentally) in the town of Laval, Quebec to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com%2Fid%2F17357202%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">remove<\/a> her <i>hijab<\/i> before playing in a tournament. Asmahan (Azzy) Mansour refused and her team (and several others) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fmontrealgazette%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D41c7621e-a725-4854-8d70-0d4735ef4e8f%26k%3D31868\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">walked out<\/a> in solidarity with her. <\/p>\n<p>The result has been a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com%2Fperm.php%3Fid%3D1737_0_26_0_C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Zidane<\/a>-sized storm of protest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fmontrealgazette%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D41c7621e-a725-4854-8d70-0d4735ef4e8f%26amp%3Bk%3D31868\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">across Canada<\/a>, with the international body FIFA starting an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com%2Fid%2F17384029%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">investigation<\/a>. Quebec, the perpetually twitchy \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FI_Am_Not_Canadian\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">distinct society<\/a>\u201d of Canada, was also in the news recently when one of its rural towns, Herouxville, established a \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fvancouversun%2Fnews%2Feditorial%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D2d10e22f-1e87-4faf-a6dc-15ffebaa8ab7\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">code of living<\/a>\u201d that prohibited stoning and female circumcision, ostensibly aimed at Muslim immigrants (a delegation of Muslim women visited <a href=\"http:\/\/cnews.canoe.ca%2FCNEWS%2FCanada%2F2007%2F02%2F12%2F3596854.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">last month<\/a> before the town revoked some of the offending passages). <\/p>\n<p>The soccer ejection was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fnationalpost%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D5726c1f4-f240-46a4-94eb-3e0920c81799\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">backed<\/a> by Quebec Premier Jean Charest who, along with the Quebec Soccer Federation, was <a href=\"http:\/\/thesuburban.com%2Fcontent.jsp%3Fsid%3D12187190305095761816085047266%26ctid%3D1000002%26cnid%3D1010662\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">almost alone<\/a> among Canadian organisations and politicians to support the ban. \u201cIt\u2019s up to them to apply the rules, and they applied them in the way they saw fit,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20070228.QUEBEC28%2FTPStory%2FNational\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> Charest. \u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with that.\u201d There are a number of precedents worldwide in <i>hijab<\/i> wearing athletes of other sports, from gold-medal winner <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Ftopics%2Fsports%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3Da39bedd6-e0da-47c7-9ef4-7e24a24d0bcc%26k%3D72455\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ruqaya Al Ghasara<\/a> at last year\u2019s Asian Games to the <a href=\"http:\/\/taqwatv.blip.tv%2Ffile%2F18075\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lady Caliphs<\/a> basketball team to the <a href=\"http:\/\/news.independent.co.uk%2Fworld%2Faustralasia%2Farticle2237665.ece\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Burqinis<\/a> on the beaches of Sydney and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com%2Fbusiness%2Ftechnology%2Farticles%2F2007%2F02%2F19%2Fhigh_tech_fabrics_keep_muslim_women_in_the_swim%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Los Angeles<\/a> (though the non-<i>hijabis<\/i> like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com%2Fperm.php%3Fid%3D1554_0_26_0_C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sania Mirza<\/a> could use the same sympathy). <\/p>\n<p>Mansour\u2019s herself felt responsible for her team\u2019s forfeiting the match. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry my team couldn\u2019t play,\u201d said Mansour. \u201cIt was my fault.\u201d But despite the sympathy and precedents, FIFA\u2019s rule-governing body, the International Football Association Board,  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fglobaltv%2Fnational%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3Da4c9ed33-9783-41a8-83cb-22ebbafc82ba\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">leaned toward<\/a> the referee in the case at a meeting in Manchester, England. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely right to be sensitive to people\u2019s thoughts and philosophies,\u201d said a representative. \u201cBut equally there has to be a set of laws that are adhered to, and we favor law 4 being adhered to.\u201d (Law 4 governs what may be worn on the head during a game). The Canadian Soccer Association, to whom Quebec authorities said they would yield to, is <a href=\"http:\/\/football.guardian.co.uk%2Fbreakingnews%2Ffeedstory%2F0%2C%2C-6454839%2C00.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">unlikely<\/a> to go against the IFAB, though the ruling was also not seen as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Ftopics%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D310889da-9f8b-4445-8ebb-24afb5291ed7%26k%3D4682\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">clearly defined<\/a>. \u201cI truly think they should have (overridden) what Quebec\u2019s rule is,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iht.com%2Farticles%2Fap%2F2007%2F03%2F04%2Fsports%2FNA-SPT-SOC-IFAB-Head-Scarf.php\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> Asmahan\u2019s mother Maria. \u201c(She) is still hoping that Quebec will remove that rule someday so she will be able to play (in Quebec).\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Azzy is determined to show that she\u2019s not going to give up easily. She scored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com%2Fvictoriatimescolonist%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3D8113dc8f-4d00-45a5-9d70-b5be0115ad87%26k%3D22061\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">two goals<\/a> during a game in Ottawa just as the FIFA ruling was announced.<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eleven year old Asmahan Mansour was ejected from a soccer game in Quebec for wearing a <i>hijab<\/i>, despite being allowed everywhere else she played. FIFA&#8217;s failure to back her raises more questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings","category-zahed-amanullah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hijab &amp; soccer: Butting heads over headscarves in Quebec<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eleven year old Asmahan Mansour was ejected from a soccer game in Quebec for wearing a hijab, despite being allowed everywhere else she played. 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