“We want to play free”. On Wednesday, January 26, the “Hijabeuses” were invited to the Luxembourg garden, at the foot of the Senate, to play a football match. Objective: Ask the senators to withdraw an amendment proposing to ban all sports competitions for women wearing the veil.
The collective of “Hijabeuses”, founded in March 2020, went to the Senate to exchange a few bullets, before being evacuated by the police. These players who played in clubs in the Paris region came with a specific purpose: to defend the right to wear the veil during a match, Le Parisien reports.
On January 19, senators voted in favor of an amendment proposing a ban “wearing conspicuous religious symbols” at sporting events and competitions organized by federations and affiliated associations. “All this feels like a great injustice. There’s a sense of being left out and it’s something you feel deeply.”, explained AFP Founé Diawara, one of the members of this collective. The “Hijabeuses” demand the deletion of this amendment.
Watch (a signed video the Parisian):
A request against the rules of the FFF
The “Hijabeuses”, gathered around the Alliance Citoyenne association, lead a campaign so that all women, especially Muslim women, “free soccer”. In particular, they were in talks for several months with the French Football Association, which forbids the wearing of the veil during its competitions. Maize “At some point the dialogue was closed”, regrets Foune Diawara.
They then decided to address the Council of State in November 2021 to take legal action against the FFF regulations. The collective focuses on Article 1, which prohibits “any wearing of a placard or outfit purporting to show political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation”. Among their arguments, the “Hijabeuses” recall that since 2014 FIFA has authorized the wearing of the veil in competitions.
The Council of State recently rejected their request for an interim injunction, but the investigation into the fund “continues”, assures Me Marion Ogier, who is defending the collective. The draft law on sports, which includes the amendment requested by the players, is to be re-examined in a joint committee on January 31.
The collective hopes that a compromise will be found so that football remains open “to all women”.