https://arab.news/cnx5h
- ‘We pay for club membership, we give 100% in training, and on match days we are told we cannot play’
- French Football Federation out of step with FIFA, which has allowed hijabs since 2014
LONDON: A group of hijab-wearing footballers is challenging a French ruling that prevents professionals from wearing the Muslim headdress during matches.
The group of players, who call themselves Les Hijabeuses, have asked the State Council — the highest court in the country for issues involving public administration — to quash a ruling by the French Football Federation that headscarves cannot be worn during games.
The case comes as France continues to grapple with the role and presence of Islam and Muslims — estimated at 5 percent of the country’s 67 million people — in public life.
Founé Diawara, 22, the joint chairwoman of Les Hijabeuses, denounced the footballing hijab ban as a “great injustice,” adding: “We feel that we are being excluded.”
She said as she refused to take off her hijab, she was not allowed to take part in matches, even in amateur leagues.
“We pay for club membership, we give 100 percent in training and at the end of the day, on match days, we are told we cannot play,” she added.
The FFF refuses hijabs on the grounds that all “speeches or signs of a political, ideological, religious or unionist character” are prohibited on its pitches.
Les Hijabeuses argue in their lawsuit that the FFF has exceeded its powers by banning headscarves during matches, and describe the measure as a “serious and manifestly illegal attack on several fundamental freedoms.”
They point out that FIFA, the international football federation, lifted its ban on head coverings in 2014.
Many state institutions in France ban the hijab for their employees, arguing that the secularity enshrined in French law extends to the clothes that state employees wear, and that hijabs are an outward expression of religion.
Those opposing hijab bans argue that the state should not control what women can wear, and that they should be allowed to cover their hair if they so wish.
There has been concern among French legislators that the State Council will side with Les Hijabeuses in their plea, so senators voted this month in favor of legislation that would outlaw hijabs in all sports.
President Emmanuel Macron opposes the legislation, leaving it with little immediate chance of success.
But Les Hijabeuses have expressed concern that if a far-right candidate succeeds him in the upcoming presidential election, it may have more chance of being implemented.