This is getting very tiresome.
After the long agonizing debate on wearing hijabs in soccer, one would have thought the Quebec Soccer Federation had learned its lessons and moved on. But no, the QSF is at it again, with its decision Sunday to maintain a ban on Sikh turbans, citing player safety and the fact that FIFA, the game’s governing body, doesn’t allow them. The reason for the ban is preposterous to say the least, and once again, it casts Quebec as the odd one out in Canada. The Quebec federation seems to enjoy the notoriety, but the rest of the country doesn’t see the funny side.
The soccer season is now in full flow across Canada, with thousands of kids of every hue flocking to pitches and fields everywhere from Alberta to Ontario, to play the game they love. Except Quebec. About 200,000 kids play minor-league soccer in Quebec, but some of them will not play this year. Muslim girls wearing the hijab will play this year, but not boys sporting the turban. It is not right and it has to stop. Let all the children play.
Consider for example that if you are a teenager in Gatineau and wear a turban, you are out of luck. But if you have a friend or family member across the river in Ottawa, you can watch him play in all his turbaned glory. What does that say about Quebec?
It is really difficult to understand why Quebec soccer administrators have such a hard time with headgear, and the latest ban once again raises the spectre of intolerance in the province. The Quebec federation says the ban on turbans, as was the case with hijabs, has nothing to do with intolerance or discrimination; we are charitable enough to take them at their word. The problem is, their reasons for the ban just don’t stand up to scrutiny.
For about a decade until last year, turbaned Sikhs played soccer in Quebec without any fuss. As far as anyone can tell, there are no records of any injuries suffered by soccer players wearing turbans, or anyone playing against them. The Quebec federation has produced no evidence to show that children or young adults wearing turbans in games have been a danger to themselves or other players. And yet, suddenly last year, the federation told children in house and minor leagues in the province that they can no longer play if they wear turbans or a smaller version called keskis. And it did so against the express advice of the Canadian Soccer Association, which asked its member federations to permit the head coverings. The question is, why? If these turbans are indeed a safety hazard, why did the federation allow them all these years?
According to the Montreal Gazette, QSF spokesman Michel Dugas was unable to explain why turbans have suddenly become a problem, when they weren’t in the past. And without any credible explanation, it leaves people wondering about the federation’s motives.
And trying to pin the whole thing on FIFA regulations doesn’t wash either.
The key rule governing what players wear on the field is FIFA’s Law 4, the guide to players’ equipment. It lays out the “basic equipment,” which comprises a jersey with sleeves, shorts, stockings, shinguards and “footwear.” Where hijabs and turbans come into the debate is under the heading of safety.
“A player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewelry),” the FIFA regulation says.
Despite a lack of evidence that hijabs pose a safety risk, FIFA did outlaw them for a number of years, famously banning the Iranian women’s soccer team from qualifying games for the Olympics after the players refused to remove the head covers. The ban was lifted last year following a medical report that the hijabs pose no risk of strangulation.
Unlike hijabs, FIFA has not imposed a specific ban on turbans. However, a section of Law 4 says a player’s basic equipment must not have “any political, religious or personal statements or slogans,” thus roping in turbans and hijabs.
The thing is, FIFA no longer considers the wearing of hijabs as making a religious statement, and one cannot imagine the organization making such a claim of turbans. In an email to the Citizen FIFA doen’t comment on the turban controversy, saying only that its board will review the decision on headgear next year. In any case, Quebec soccer administrators have rejected any suggestion that the ban on hijabs, or now turbans, has anything to do with religion. They maintain it is purely a matter of safety, which most people will now agree, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
When the whole issue of hijabs began several years ago, Quebec political leaders, including then premier Jean Charest, dodged the issue and let it fester. Somebody once said that: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing,” and the time has come for the good men and women of Quebec to stand up and be counted on this.
What does federal Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair think? And what about federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau? Someone should speak up.