Fifa appears ready to fix football’s Hijab issue once & for all
3 November 2011
3 Comments
In June this year, the Iran women’s national team forfeited an Olympic qualifier after they were not allowed to wear head scarves, but will episodes like this soon become history?
By Niloufar Momeni
From the looks of it, Fifa is taking the upper hand in solving football’s Hijab issue once and for all. As football is more and more celebrated and cherished around the globe, there are still thousands of female athletes, particularly in Islamic countries of Asia, deprived of pursuing their passion for football at the highest stage because of their choice of clothing.
As per Fifa’s mandate, Islamic headscarves – which cover female athletes wearing full tracksuits, head coverings and neck-warmers – cause safety concerns for football officials. Up until now, their outfit was also outlawed by Fifa, whose statement on the issue read: “The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by Fifa.”
However, thanks to its Jordanian vice-president pushing for a change, Fifa is moving towards more inclusiveness to allow women to wear Islamic headscarves, even with neck warming apparel, during football games.
“The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by Fifa”
- Fifa laws
These questions and concerns are expected to be addressed and fully studied by Fifa officials before the final verdict. Given the history of Hijab-related crises resulting in sanctions of several – otherwise talented – Asian teams and squads in the past, there may be no other way of solving the dispute.
“Their own male-oriented football officials would not comply and would not care to change their national dress code for the sake of football games either, as they see no benefits in women pursuing the game professionally”
For years, women footballers of Islamic majority nations were isolated and had to showcase the beautiful game in their own fashion. Their own male-oriented football officials would not comply and would not care to change their national dress code for the sake of football games either, as they see no benefits in women pursuing the game professionally.
All the while, every time a crisis emerges, Fifa is used as scapegoat, while the victims of the disputes were actually professional women footballers whose dreams had no border. It seems,Fifa, even for the sake of healing their own damaged PR reputation in the aftermath of these cases, is attempting to make this dispute history.
However, no matter which angle one looks at it from, this new inclusiveness of covered women footballers will surely empower these passionate athletes to finally showcase their talent alongside the likes of Japan, Germany, USA and France. For all of them, the football pitch is a field of dreams. They want to be there to live their dreams.
Original post: Fifa appears ready to fix football’s Hijab issue once & for all
The hijab is not required by religion, it is a preference but many women are bullied into wearing it.It is best described as the muslim brotherhood logo.
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/02/05/how-the-veil-conquered-cairo-university/
3 November 2011 at 9:05 pm