Earlier this month, the girls’ soccer team from Overland High School (Aurora, Colo.) took a stand for a teammate who received a one-game ban for a highly unusual reason.
On Wednesday, March 12, the Overland girls’ team kicked off its season against Fairview High School (Boulder, Colo.) down one member. A referee banned Samah Aidah from playing because she was wearing a hijab, which is a traditional head covering worn by Muslim women.
Divine Davis, one of Samah’s teammates, told Aquila-Style.com that the referee said it would be “dangerous” for Samah to play with the hijab on. Ironically, FIFA lifted its ban on hijabs or other religious head covers at the beginning of this month, per AlJazeera.com.
Davis and her teammates weren’t deterred by the referee’s ruling, however. The next day, they all wore hijabs in a show of solidarity:
the refs wouldn’t let Samah play with her hijab so today we all wore one for the game #lovemyteam#letsamahplay ⚽⚽👌 pic.twitter.com/egHI3KCUzd-- Divine Davis (@DivineDavis) March 14, 2014Upon seeing Davis’ picture, one of the Fairview girls’ soccer players tweeted her appreciation:
@DivineDavis from fairview high school to you guys, much respect. You guys have a lot of class great character. Way to stand ^ 4 whats right-- Gaelyn Crowder (@GaelynCrowder) March 16, 2014“I think it is okay for girls to play sports in their hijabs and they should not be questioned or restricted from playing,” Davis told Aquila-Style. “No matter what sports.”
With the entire team donning hijabs, Samah did get to play that next day.
And though the team is 0-7 on the season, the girls have recorded at least one moral victory.