FIFA lifts ban on Iran girls’ football team
Sunday, May 2, 2010
FIFA lifted its suspension of Iran’s girls’ soccer team and the players are now permitted to participate in the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games while observing Islamic dress code.
The team had been denied permission to play in the Youth Olympics because FIFA rules don’t allow players to wear hijab during a match.
“We sent FIFA a sample of our new Islamic dress and fortunately they accepted it. They announced that there was no objection if the players covered their hair with hats,” Abbas Torabian director of the International Relations Committee of Iran Football Federation said.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke had initially rejected the Iranian Olympic panel’s request regarding hijab. He had said the FIFA executive committee had “no choice but to take the decision.”
Now that the matter has been resolved Iran will participate in a six-nation tournament for girls in Singapore from August 12 to 25. About 3,600 athletes, ages 14 to 18, will compete in 26 sports.
Labels: Iran
posted @ 10:28 AM,
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Boston College's Iranian Writer on FIFA's Ban on Headscarves
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Before Shahryar Mandanipour left Iran in 2006 to become writer in residence first at Brown University, then Harvard, and now Boston College, before there were attempts to assassinate him in his native Iran, before his writing was banned, he was blackballed, and his literary magazine shut down by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Guidance - before all that, Mandanipour was the captain of the football team at the University of Tehran. The game was the center of his life.
One of the recollections he has shared with me from that time was of sneaking his girlfriend into a stadium to watch one of his games. For both, the repercussions for being caught would have been expulsion, imprisonment, or worse. She was so happy. She had never seen a real soccer game before because since the 1979 Revolution, women in Iran are not allowed to enter stadiums and watch the games.
The recent FIFA decision to uphold its ban on headscarves in the case of the Iranian girls’ team in the Youth Olympics this August resonates with Mandanipour. Iranian officials had asked FIFA to reconsider the ban, otherwise they would not permit the girls the play. FIFA decided against them, ruling that it was a violation of Section 8 of the international rulebook which regulates on-field attire, and invited Thailand to participate in Singapore in place of Iran. Iranian officials have now requested FIFA to reconsider their decision.
fifa ban on headscarves iran hajib youth olympics shahyrar mandanipour
Iranian women protesters
“Yes, FIFA made this decision,” Mandanipour told me on Wednesday. “Today I learnt that persons who charged in Football Federation have known it three months ago and they didn't announce it. I am not sure but might be a good decision, because participating with Islamic Hijab in such events, somehow is humiliating to Iranian women. Iranian women are fighting bravely for their rights and I am sure they will win someday.”
Mandanipour left Iran for the United States in 2006 and is the author of 12 books, most recently the acclaimed Censoring an Iranian Love Story. Wednesday, April 14, Mandanipour will speak at the Visiting Writers Series at Harvard University. The event is free and open to the public.
posted @ 9:02 AM,
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FIFA Dress Code is Baised
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Iran's girls football team has been kicked out of the Youth Olympic Games because FIFA rules prevent players wearing an Islamic head scarf.
Thailand was nominated on Monday to replace the barred Iranians, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said in a story on its Web site.
"FIFA decreed that the wearing of Islamic hijab was not in accordance with the laws of the game," the report said.
Iran's national Olympic committee had called on FIFA, football's world governing body, and the International Olympic Committee to review the head scarf ban. The hijab is worn by girls and women to observe Islamic dress code.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke rejected the Iranian Olympic panel's request in a letter to the national football federation.
"Taking into consideration the clear position stated by the (Olympic committee) of Iran, the FIFA Executive Committee had no choice but to take the decision that (Iran) will not be able to participate," Valcke said, according to the AFC.
FIFA maintains football's international rule book which contains a section on players' on-field equipment.
Law 4 states that "basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.
"The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organizer or by FIFA."
The hijab issue was first examined in 2007 after an 11-year-old girl in Canada was prevented from wearing one for safety reasons.
FIFA's rules-making arm, the International Football Association Board, declined to make an exception for religious clothing.
Iran was scheduled to compete in a six-nation tournament for girls at the inaugural Youth Olympics being held Aug. 12-25 in Singapore.
Thailand will now represent Asia against Turkey, Equatorial Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile and Papua New Guinea.
Around 3,600 athletes aged 14-18 will compete in 26 sports.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. {#}
Labels: Dress Code, FIFA, Iran
posted @ 9:32 AM,
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Women’s Football Team Banned to Wear Hijab
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Iranian Olympic Committee has called on Muslim states around the world to protest to FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the country’s women’s football team were banned were from wearing the hijab at this year’s inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games to be held Singapore, said a report on a website Sunday.
Bahram Afsharzadeh, the secretary general of Iran’s Olympic Committee, claimed the decision is a violation of Muslims rights. The team, who qualified to compete in the Games, which are due to be held between August 14 and 26, wearing head scarves, have been informed by FIFA that they will not be
allowed to compete unless they remove the hijab.
Ali Kafashian, the president of the Iran Football Association, has written to FIFA to ask them to reconsider their decision, claiming that due to religious beliefs the team will be able to participate in the competitions only if they are allowed to observe the Islamic dress code. FIFA had passed a ruling in March 2007 that the hijab is forbidden in matches. It came after a Canadian Muslim was expelled from a match for donning a hijab.
The decision, taken by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body which decides the laws of the game and is made up of the four FA’s from the United Kingdom and FIFA, cited law 4 which lists the basic equipment that players are allowed to wear and does not include headwear except for the goalkeeper. Brian Barwick, the then chief executive of the Football Association and a member of the IFAB that took the decision, claimed at the time “it’s absolutely right to be sensitive to people’s thoughts and philosophies, but equally there has to be a set of laws that are adhered to, and we favour law 4 being adhered to.”
Afsharzadeh said the decision taken by the FIFA proves that it does “not” care about such issues as nationality, religion and race. “It is also an indication of creating obstacles on their part in the way of the women’s progress,” he added. “Iran’s National Olympic Committee has forwarded copies of a protest letter to the IOC and a number of other leading officials around to consider the issue,” Afsharzadeh said. Several athletes competed at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 wearing a hijab, including Bahrain sprinter Ruqaya Al-Ghasara, the 2006 Asian Games 100 metres champion and carried her country’s flag in the Opening Ceremony. {#}
posted @ 11:04 AM,
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