Muslim girl kicked off soccer team for not removing hijab

I can kind of understand the whole safety angle. Now, if the picture above is accurate, it looks like it's wrapped pretty tight. As long as it stays like that, it's not bothering anyone. Still, I imagine if it somehow came loose, with all the running around and such, she would have a hard time seeing. And if you can't see, you can't see where you're putting your cleats. That's just a guess though... it may just fall off harmlessly if it came undone.

The other side seems pretty silly though. I'm sure it has some religious significance (which I couldn't possibly care less about), but even so, it sounds like she was the only girl on her team wearing one of them. Seems to me like it's not vitally important if all the other girls left theirs in mom's minivan. It's a hat, for crying out loud--put it back on after the game.

I say they totally overreacted. If the ref had said 'hey, you look like a Muslim, get off my field', then I would agree with their decision to drop out of the tournament. I don't think people should be excluded from things like this based on their religion, but I don't think that anyone should get special privileges for that reason either. If you allow crap like that, you're going to start seeing Flying Spaghetti Monster sombreros and the like, and you'll have nobody to blame for it but yourself.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Bigblah

This is the actual problem -- total lack of respect and understanding.

What's worse, tenseiken (and a whole lot of other people) probably doesn't even realize it.

Wow, taken out of context like that, I look even more like a jerk, don't I? I was wondering how long it would take before my abrasive tone rubbed someone wrong. If respect and understanding is the real problem here, then what about the ref who, according to the quoted article, is a Muslim? I'm sure he understands and respects Islam more than I do.

I'm going to risk sounding abrasive again and say that I don't respect people for being members of a religion. I don't respect organized religions themselves, either. I simply don't find either to be worthy of respect. I don't respect people for saying their favorite color is red, either. I do, however, respect their right to affiliate themselves however they please, and I respect their right to make their child wear a scarf on her head.

But things like that have a time and a place. Strictly speaking, they were supposed to be in uniform. I'm sure there was something to that effect in the disclaimer or whatever the parents had to sign in order to get their kid enrolled in the league. Insisting on wearing it, despite the obvious uniform rule, makes it seem like they just wanted to stir the pot a little, particularly since she was (apparently) the only one wearing one.

Still, if I had been in the ref's shoes, I'd have ignored it and let her play, if only to avoid the ensuing shitstorm that always happens in cases like these. It's just a kids' soccer league, after all. The refs weren't particularly picky about uniforms when I was in a kid soccer league either, as long as one team was one color and the other team was another, and as long as you could see each player's number.

Oh, and I'm right there with you on finishing the game and filing a complaint later. The coach should've gotten the ref's name, and then let the rest of the kids play. Pulling the team(s) out of the tournament was a pretty obvious attention play.

There's nowhere I can't reach.