Williams Lake ‘Players’ targeted at Langley soccer tournament

Tribune Staff Writer
Sep 08 2005

The Williams Lake U16 rep soccer team, The Players, learned what playing as a team really meant as they struggled over the rule of religious apparel on the field at the annual Langley Labour Day soccer tournament this past weekend.

With 300 teams overall, the U16 boys were “pumped” about their first trip to the tournament, which they had planned for all year, only to have their hopes dashed with the call of a single referee.

The ref of their second game announced that if Williams Lake player 15 year-old Gurmukh Aujla, a baptized Sikh, didn’t remove his turban, he would not be able to play.

“He said the player with the turban would have to remove it,” says Players coach Jim Tanis of the call. “We thought he was joking.”

The ref then went on to say that if the player didn’t remove his cloth turban he would not be allowed to play as it states in the B.C Soccer Association rules that players are not allowed to wear articles of clothing that are not soccer related.

The Williams Lake team was absolutely astonished and Tanis, along with co-coach Thor Carlson, tried to reason with the referee to reconsider his decision.

“He (Gurmukh) has played since he was seven years old and it’s never been an issue,” says Tanis. “We’ve gone to tournament and provincials and it’s never been an issue in the B.C Soccer Association. This is certainly not a safety issue.

The ref would not be swayed and Tanis says he was told that his player would have to choose between his religion and his sport. That he would have to choose which was more important.

Tanis realized that the ref would not listen to reason and the game went on without Gurmukh.

Now angry at what his player was being put through, Tanis searched out the tournament official to get clarification.

He was told that there was nothing that the officials could do, that it was out of their hands, it was a B.C. Soccer Association rule and it was up to the discretion of the referee whether it be enforced or not.

At halftime, the Williams Lake team formally requested the referee to reconsider his decision, which he refused.

Gurmukh even tried to talk to the ref himself, to explain that the turban was an important part of his religion, but the ref refused to hear him out and repeated that if he wanted to play, he would have to remove his turban.

At that, Tanis talked to the team and the boys made the decision that if Gurmukh doesn’t play, nobody plays.

They pulled the team out of the game and while the coaches were still talking to the officials, the Kensington coach said that the same issue had come up with one of their teams as well as a team from Calgary.

The Kensington team decided to support the Williams Lake team and pulled their team out of the game as well.

While the decisions were being made the boys talked and the Kensington team asked Williams Lake if they would like to play a friendly exhibition game.

“It was a good game,” says Tanis. “I thought it was a significant thing that the boys did. It was a truly friendly match and they all felt good about what they had done.

They won the friendly game 3-1 and informed the tournament officials that they were going to continue with the tournament, with Gurmukh
Tanis says to the credit of the tournament officials, they canvassed the referees to find a ref who would officiate the game without insisting on the regulation.

With their team spirit fully intact, Williams Lake went on to win their next game 6-0 and by that point there was a throng of newspaper reporters on site with “quite a commotion going on.

The Province newspaper interviewed the team as well as Gurmukh.

“I was impressed with Gurmukh all the way through,” says Tanis of the young boy’s experience. “He expressed himself with maturity. He was quite upset and he was definitely angered by it, but he stayed very calm.

The Players played their final game on Monday and the game was refereed with no problems by an official who was totally against the ruling
The Langley tournament officials decided to let the friendly game between Kensington and Williams lake stand, and the U16 Players found out what happens when they stand for what they believe in. They won their last game and earned the silver medal for all their efforts
“The boys were ecstatic,” says Tanis. “They were proud of their stand and proud of the result.

The Williams Lake team has now decided to write an official letter of protest to the B.C. Soccer Association after hearing that they have every intention to keep the rule and that they expect their refs to uphold this ruling. Tanis adds that he is aware that there are many other teams who will be writing letters of protest on this matter

Of the whole ordeal Tanis says, “It was just so bizarre. We were literally flabergasted, it caught everyone by surprise. It was the talk of the tournament.

After an emotional weekend for the team, Tanis says he’s proud of his boys.

“I’m proud of all the players. Gurmukh recognizes his turban which is one of the five points of the Sikh religion. I support him in that.”

© Copyright 2005 Williams Lake Tribune