Quebec’s ban on turbans in soccer echoes past equality battle

Quebec and Canada seems to be at odds over whether to allow soccer players wearing turbans onto the pitch and, oh brother, can we just cut to the end where all parties concede the point and let the headgear into the game?

The Montreal Gazette reports that tempers are flaring over whether international soccer guidelines allow players to wear turbans during a game. While the Canadian Soccer Association has indicated that turbans should be allowed, Quebec’s soccer federation is not prepared to permit them.

The hullaballoo comes in the wake of a very similar debate involving Muslim women wearing hijabs during the game. FIFA, the international body that governs the game of soccer, decided last year to allow Muslim women to wear headscarves, and the ruling trickled down to just about everywhere.

[ Related: Turbans banned on Quebec soccer fields ]

So far, the world hasn’t ended. In a memo to provincial organizers last week, The Canadian Soccer Association reportedly urged that the ruling be extended to turbans as well. According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO), Quebec has been the only province to buck at that request.

The WSO says that they are disappointed by Quebec’s stance and, with registration deadlines for junior soccer leagues pending, have urged QSF to chance it position quickly.

“[W]e fail to see what is so complicated about allowing Sikh children to play with their peers,” WSO President Prem Singh Vinning said in a statement. “What purpose does the QSF restriction on the turban serve? There is no conceivable justification for this. If there are genuine concerns, we are open to dialogue but if this situation is not quickly resolved, the real victims will be the children.”

[ More Brew: Multicultural soccer game ends after referee assaulted ]

The kicker is that Sikh soccer players in Quebec have been wearing turbans for years, but it became an issue after a young referee was barred from officiating a game because of his turban.

Quebec was also the outlier during last year’s Islamic headscarf debate, barring a nine-year-old girl from playing in her headscarf as they waited for FIFA’s International Football Association Board to clarify what type of hijabs were allowed on the field. The argument being that FIFA’s official equipment list still does not allow such headwear.

What are the chances we can just skip to the point where Quebec Sikhs who wear turbans are allowed to play the game they love? The decision is additionally confusing considering the province wants new immigrants to ingrain themselves in current societal norms.

Making them choose between participating in French culture, like playing in a soccer league, and their faith does seem to be a disturbing line to take. Just concede the point and get back to making sure everyone who is playing soccer is doing so in French.

(Photo courtesy of the World Sikh Organization of Canada)

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