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02-06-2015, 02:20 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Wasn't sure whether to post this in the religious forum, but after thinking about it - it is about soccer, not Islam, but Islamic practices got in the way. I wonder if the moslem team prayed to Allah to help them, they should have - they lost! To a team made up of girls!!! Haha!
To my moslem brothers, and sisters, I respect your religion, but keep religious affairs in your religious events, it is not right to apply it to other aspects of life.
Cheers!
http://www.mississauga.com/news-stor...female-player/ (http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/5655576-islamic-school-apologizes-after-its-all-male-soccer-team-refuses-to-play-opponent-with-female-player/)
Islamic school apologizes after its all-male soccer team refuses to play opponent with female players
Mississauga News
By Roger Belgrave
BRAMPTON— A Mississauga-based Islamic private school “regrets” girls on an opposing soccer team had to sit out of a game last week when religious beliefs and gender equality clashed on the playing field.
The high school soccer game became a lighting rod for controversy after an all-male team fielded by the Muslim private school refused to play a team with female players.
Soccer teams from ISNA Private Islamic High School and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s Robert F. Hall Secondary School met during play in Brampton May 26.
The first half of the game was played without incident. But at halftime, the coach of the ISNA team said he realized towards the end of the half that there were girls playing on the other team.
The ISNA coach said his team could not continue to play because of a “religious commitment to non-contact with members of the opposite gender who are not family members.”
ISNA, which was losing 3-1 at the time, offered to forfeit the game, but instead the girls on Robert F. Hall sat out the second half to allow play to continue.
Robert F. Hall, which ultimately won 6-1, needed to win by more than a two-goal differential to advance to the next round.
When the girls’ right to play was sidelined to accommodate religious sensibilities, it kicked off a firestorm of criticism aimed directly at the Islamic school.
Carla Briscoe, a female player with Robert F. Hall who chose to sit on the sidelines, said she was upset and shocked when ISNA raised concerns about playing members of the opposite sex and wanted to stop the game.
“I respect their culture and religion, and I don’t want to say anything bad about their religion just like I don’t want others to say anything bad about the Catholics. But I have my right to play as much as their right to religious freedom,” Briscoe told the Toronto Star.
Under rules and regulations of the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association (ROPSSAA), female students have the right to tryout for any boy’s team if their school doesn’t have a girl’s team.
In a statement released Friday, ISNA High School said it was not aware of this league clause.
“In hindsight, ISNA high school regrets that the female players felt they could not participate,” the school stated. “It was never the team’s intention to exclude female participation, which was reflected in the offer to forfeit.” “The team sincerely regrets if any team members or participants were hurt or felt discriminated based on their gender,” the school added.
School administrators said they would consult with ROPSSAA officials to determine if “reasonable accommodations” might be found in the future.
ROPSSAA chair Paul Freier has made if clear the athletic organization is committed to the gender equality rules in its regulations and constitution.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a civil liberties advocacy group, also weighed in on the issue Friday.
The organization noted, like other faiths, there is diverse interpretation of religious doctrine within the Muslim faith and less conservative believers might have no objection to competing against players of the opposite sex.
The soccer pitch is not unfamiliar ground to have controversy play out over religious and civil freedoms, noted NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee, who remembers Muslim girls wearing headscarves were banned from soccer fields in Quebec a few years ago.
ISNA should have been aware of the league rules and the girls on the Robert F. Hall should never have been put in that position, Gardee insisted.
But as in the past, with similar controversies, there should be an attempt made to balance the competing rights so everyone is free to participate, he said.
“Now that they have apologized I think we should look at how do they move forward,” remarked Gardee. “I think that’s the next challenge.”
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?207911-Relgion-should-be-kept-out-of-secular-activities&goto=newpost).
Wasn't sure whether to post this in the religious forum, but after thinking about it - it is about soccer, not Islam, but Islamic practices got in the way. I wonder if the moslem team prayed to Allah to help them, they should have - they lost! To a team made up of girls!!! Haha!
To my moslem brothers, and sisters, I respect your religion, but keep religious affairs in your religious events, it is not right to apply it to other aspects of life.
Cheers!
http://www.mississauga.com/news-stor...female-player/ (http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/5655576-islamic-school-apologizes-after-its-all-male-soccer-team-refuses-to-play-opponent-with-female-player/)
Islamic school apologizes after its all-male soccer team refuses to play opponent with female players
Mississauga News
By Roger Belgrave
BRAMPTON— A Mississauga-based Islamic private school “regrets” girls on an opposing soccer team had to sit out of a game last week when religious beliefs and gender equality clashed on the playing field.
The high school soccer game became a lighting rod for controversy after an all-male team fielded by the Muslim private school refused to play a team with female players.
Soccer teams from ISNA Private Islamic High School and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s Robert F. Hall Secondary School met during play in Brampton May 26.
The first half of the game was played without incident. But at halftime, the coach of the ISNA team said he realized towards the end of the half that there were girls playing on the other team.
The ISNA coach said his team could not continue to play because of a “religious commitment to non-contact with members of the opposite gender who are not family members.”
ISNA, which was losing 3-1 at the time, offered to forfeit the game, but instead the girls on Robert F. Hall sat out the second half to allow play to continue.
Robert F. Hall, which ultimately won 6-1, needed to win by more than a two-goal differential to advance to the next round.
When the girls’ right to play was sidelined to accommodate religious sensibilities, it kicked off a firestorm of criticism aimed directly at the Islamic school.
Carla Briscoe, a female player with Robert F. Hall who chose to sit on the sidelines, said she was upset and shocked when ISNA raised concerns about playing members of the opposite sex and wanted to stop the game.
“I respect their culture and religion, and I don’t want to say anything bad about their religion just like I don’t want others to say anything bad about the Catholics. But I have my right to play as much as their right to religious freedom,” Briscoe told the Toronto Star.
Under rules and regulations of the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association (ROPSSAA), female students have the right to tryout for any boy’s team if their school doesn’t have a girl’s team.
In a statement released Friday, ISNA High School said it was not aware of this league clause.
“In hindsight, ISNA high school regrets that the female players felt they could not participate,” the school stated. “It was never the team’s intention to exclude female participation, which was reflected in the offer to forfeit.” “The team sincerely regrets if any team members or participants were hurt or felt discriminated based on their gender,” the school added.
School administrators said they would consult with ROPSSAA officials to determine if “reasonable accommodations” might be found in the future.
ROPSSAA chair Paul Freier has made if clear the athletic organization is committed to the gender equality rules in its regulations and constitution.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a civil liberties advocacy group, also weighed in on the issue Friday.
The organization noted, like other faiths, there is diverse interpretation of religious doctrine within the Muslim faith and less conservative believers might have no objection to competing against players of the opposite sex.
The soccer pitch is not unfamiliar ground to have controversy play out over religious and civil freedoms, noted NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee, who remembers Muslim girls wearing headscarves were banned from soccer fields in Quebec a few years ago.
ISNA should have been aware of the league rules and the girls on the Robert F. Hall should never have been put in that position, Gardee insisted.
But as in the past, with similar controversies, there should be an attempt made to balance the competing rights so everyone is free to participate, he said.
“Now that they have apologized I think we should look at how do they move forward,” remarked Gardee. “I think that’s the next challenge.”
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?207911-Relgion-should-be-kept-out-of-secular-activities&goto=newpost).