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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Playing football in a headscarf |
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| struggling |
| 05/06/02 at 20:39:58 |
| [slm] Malika Chandoo may not yet be able to bend it like Beckham, but she has captained the UK football team at the Muslim Women's Games. She tells in our weekly Real Time series why it has strengthened her sense of Britishness. Although Islam encourages physical fitness, many Asian cultures still have the attitude that a woman's place is in the home. Malika plays five-a-side football, known as futsol I coach a girls football team and we'd once gone to a local park to play because of the lack of facilities at our mosque. We were set upon - physically attacked - by a group of boys who wanted to show us how football was really played. But there's a real enthusiasm to get involved; and to be seen to be playing sport makes a real difference to the image of Muslim women. Playing football for Britain made me feel more a part of the community In the West, women who wear the hijab [a scarf wrapped tightly around the head to conceal every wisp of hair] can be portrayed in a negative light. There's an assumption that we stay home, that we're chained to the kitchen sink. When I tell people that I work, that I teach and play football, they're often surprised. Unveiling myths What I've found growing up in Britain is that if you look different or dress different you tend to sometimes feel ostracised. Playing football for Britain made me feel more a part of the community. Some of the UK team at the games in Tehran We were the first non-Muslim country invited to join the games, which were held in Iran. The spectators and participants loved the fact that we were practising Muslims from Britain; they asked us if we wore the veil in England; they cheered for us when we played their teams. Because the games were on in the midst of the bombing on Afghanistan, the publicity here about our team showed that Muslims do have a face, that we are British. At the games Men and the media could only attend the opening ceremonies when the women were covered We played three games and lost all three - outclassed without a shadow of doubt. I have no worry about saying that because we'd had just six months to put together a team and organise practices. The girls from Leicester had come down to London twice a week for training; they got their parents to drive them down. But they couldn't make that sort of commitment once the games had finished, so I don't know when we've next got a match. The Sikh heroine of the film Bend it like Beckham It just goes to show that sport needs to be encouraged at a local level, especially for women from ethnic minorities. And because all-female facilities are rare, if we want to play without our veils, we have to black out the windows and close off the viewing galleries. As Muslim women going out to Iran from the West, I really thought we had all the opportunities. But when it comes to sport, we've got nothing compared to them. Bend it like... Even if you look at Asian men in football, how many players in the premiere league are there? "If we play without veils, we black out the windows" Our culture has always been to succeed in business or as a doctor or dentist - who wants to play sport? We need to get over that attitude. In Gurinder Chadha's film, there's a line that's something like, "why should I make aloo gobi when I can bend it like Beckham?' Can I bend it like Beckham? No. I'm an amateur - I learned to play kicking a football around with my brothers. My hope is that in four years' time when the UK goes to Iran again, I won't make the team. I'm hoping that we'll have new players better than me by then. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1933000/1933713.stm |
| Re: Playing football in a headscarf |
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| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| 05/07/02 at 02:46:48 |
| [slm] Cool! Do they have anything like that here in the states? I'd love to join some sort of team like gymnastics, volley ball or something. If we don't, we should start something up , Who's with me? [] :-) [] :-) [] :-) [] :-* - Kareema |
| Re: Playing football in a headscarf |
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| eleanor |
| 05/07/02 at 04:19:31 |
| [slm] Has anyone actually seen that film yet? ... Just wondering... [] wasalaam eleanor :-* |
| Re: Playing football in a headscarf |
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| Julie |
| 05/07/02 at 18:46:32 |
| Is the article talking about football (the North American kind) or soccer (football to the Europeans)? I'm horrible at both. :P Julie:) |
| Re: Playing football in a headscarf |
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| Saffiyah |
| 05/07/02 at 19:36:11 |
| The article is about the European kind ::) What's the North American kind? Table football? ;) Do u mean where they carry and throw the ball from one end to the other (I know...my description is lame..but thats what they do right?) ???Why do they call this football, when their not using their feet - other than for running - probably couldn't think of another name so they borrowed it from the brits ;D Neway Americano football would be the equivalent to what Europeans call Rugby - except they can't throw it down the field..it has to be passed to players behind them while they run down the field..confusing? ??? no...it's just the way i'm explaining it.. :D |
| Re: Playing football in a headscarf |
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| Julie |
| 05/07/02 at 21:52:58 |
| North American football is the game that's played with an oval-shaped brown ball. Why it's called [i]foot[/i]ball, I have no clue. We have rugby too, and I think it's slightly different from football. What's referred to as "football" in Europe is "soccer" to us. The game that's played on a table with the rows of plastic people on sticks, and that is supposed to be like soccer, is called foosball. I guess that name came from football. Julie:) |
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