Soccer & Politics

Yet another women's soccer team has been sidelined due to "controversy" surrounding players wearing the hijab while on the field. I simply do not understand the issue. referee's and associations have with young girls and women playing soccer, while wearing a hijab. Particularly in the case of youth soccer. I played soccer from age ten to about eighteen, and I cannot understand how this garment could have EVER made the playing field less safe. I worry more about the young women who forget to bring a hair-clip, and are playing with hair in their faces. Men in the QYSA, where I learned to play are allowed to wear a turban, so what is the safety difference for young women? Perhaps peripheral vision could be obstructed, and that is why the FIFA upheld this ruling. But, when looking at the picture from that article, I do not see what sort of "safety" implications a hijab could have.

It seems to me this is the case of a few over-zealous referee's and associations taking the "laws of the game" a little too seriously. There was no need for the original case in Quebec to go all the way to FIFA, nor is there any reason for these "safety" measures to continue.