THERE is something distinctly perverse about the obsession some people in this province have with what people wear on their heads. The latest example in this respect is the Fédération de soccer du Québec’s arbitrary refusal to allow young Sikh soccer players to wear turbans on the province’s soccer pitches. … It’s true that the long-standing regulations of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, specify that players can only wear a jersey, shorts, shin guards, stockings and cleats while playing. On the other hand, the regulations do not specifically forbid turbans, and what’s more, FIFA came around last year to approving sport-specific hijabs, after its medical committee had determined that they do not pose a safety threat.
…Last week, the Canadian Soccer Association sent a memo formally asking provincial associations to permit turbans on their fields, stressing that the point is to make soccer as accessible as possible to everyone. So far, only the Quebec association has balked at the request. Worse, it has done so without offering any good reason for its refusal. Its spokesperson, Michel Dugas, quibbled that the request to allow turbans will have to be submitted to its referees’ committee, which in turn will make a recommendation to the federation’s executive committee — a bureaucratic process expected to drag on for many months.
In Quebec, authorities make much of the importance of integrating newcomers of diverse backgrounds into Quebec society. But the turban ban works against integration more than for it, by preventing male Sikhs of religious conscience from joining in on one of the fastest growing sports in this province.
Dugas was unable to explain why turbans on soccer fields have suddenly become a policy problem for the Quebec federation, after years of Sikh players having been able to wear them in games without incident. One can only conclude that the Quebec federation’s refusal to embrace the Canadian federation’s recommendation is either due to petulance on its part, or is yet another manifestation of intolerance in Quebec towards people who dress and speak differently. —(April 17)
