EFL - the head-baggy issue continues to cause chaos. Can we get Kofi to make a call on this one? Capt Hook is running amok in London and gets a 9 month VISA extension, while the Western World confronts the lady with the sock on her mellon. What gives?
A Women’s Premier League soccer game was called off on Sunday after a player was told she could not take the field unless she removed her Muslim headscarf. A referee refused to start the game between South Melbourne Women’s Soccer Club and Keilor Park WSC until South Melbourne player Afifa Saad took off her hijab.
"He said ’You can’t play with it on. Is there something wrong with your head?’ I said ’No, I’m Muslim’," Ms Saad told Channel Nine yesterday. Rewind and review that exchange several times.
The sports fanatic, in her fourth season with South Melbourne, always plays in a white Muslim scarf and long track pants under her team shorts. It was the first time she had been asked to remove her hijab. When she refused, teammates and the opposition team supported her. "She was crying when it happened. Her teammates rallied around her, which was great to see... they stood behind her and said we will not play now," South Melbourne coach Alex Alexopoulos said. The referee later said Ms Saad, 21, could take the field if she changed the colour of her scarf to match her uniform. Then, after consulting the Victorian Soccer Federation, he agreed Ms Saad could play, but by then the game had been delayed for more than 15 minutes, which meant it had to be postponed. "She is very distraught, very upset," Mr Alexopoulos said.
Embarrassed Victorian Soccer Federation officials moved quickly to rule out any suggestion that the referee - an experienced official of more than 12 years’ standing - had discriminated against the player, but agreed that she deserved an apology.
The organisation said it had begun an inquiry into the controversy and expected to produce a report within a week.
Mr Bambridge said the sport’s global controlling body, FIFA, regarded such headwear as acceptable as long as it was not deemed to be dangerous to other players by containing pins or other implements. He said South Melbourne would not forfeit the points and the match would be replayed. The referee could be subject to disciplinary action once the federation had determined what had taken place, he said.
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