Sikh youths deserve an apology for their soccer humiliation

September 7th, 2005 by admin

The Province
Source: www.canada.com
Wednesday, September 07, 2005

For the past several years, Indo-Canadian youths taking part in the annual Langley Labour Day soccer tournament have worn their traditional headgear without incident.

Why then, last weekend, did officials of the B.C. Soccer Association suddenly change their minds, refusing to allow the players on the field unless they removed their turbans?

The result was an unpleasant confrontation between players and officials, leading to the cancellation of some half-a-dozen games.

The association now says it was all a mistake; that the officials involved had wrongly interpreted the rules which, in fact, place no restrictions whatever on Sikh headgear.

The assurances came too late to head off a strongly worded protest from the Sikh Youth of B.C., pointing out that the turban is “an integral part of the Sikh identity” and that any ban on it is “unacceptable in our multicultural Canadian society.”

Sikh Youth later happily applauded the association’s back-pedalling, but by then the story had made headlines across Canada and the damage to the tournament’s image had been done.

Sikhs in Canada have fought long and hard — all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada — to establish their right to wear their religious symbols. It must be tiresome for them to have to fight their battles all over again. A little more sensitivity on the part of a few individuals would have spared them this fresh humiliation. The players deserve a full and unreserved apology.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

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