LONDON - A Muslim amateur football player has said she was banned from playing in a match - because she wasn't wearing shorts due to her religious beliefs.
Iqra Ismail, 24, from north west London, was due to play for the United Dragons in the Greater London Women's League on Sunday and was set to make her debut for the team by coming on at halftime.
However, the referee in the game against Tower Hamlet would not allow her to take part in the game in London's Regent's Park, claiming her kit was against the league's rules. Ismail, who wore trousers matching the team's colours, said the same referee had allowed her to play with tracksuit bottoms in two other matches.
Ismail has played for the grassroots league for five years as part of Headstone Manor and Hilltop FC, and had not experienced any issues with playing in a tracksuit until now. When banned from playing by the match official on 27 October, Ismail said her teammates expressed anger at the referee - while Ismail herself was left feeling as if she was a burden who was causing a delay.
Having been banned from playing, Ismail had no choice but to leave the pitch, where she went back to the changing rooms, changed out of her kit and was left in tears. She spoke to the referee again after the game to try to find a resolution to the kit issue but was unsuccessful.
In an email shown to Yahoo News, the league had raised this to her as an issue in March 2024 while she played for Hilltop, but it appeared to have been dealt with as Ismail and her team were allowed to play wearing tracksuit bottoms.
The 24-year-old footballer from London and coach was named in Forbes magazine's '30 under 30' brightest young entrepreneurs list in 2019 and is the female refugee football project coordinator for QPR's community trust. She also received the Football Black List Award, which celebrates black excellence in football in 2019.
She said: "My angle was obviously like, as much as we try and follow the rules as best we can, they bend the rules in other places."
Ismail said her team and the FA have been supportive and are trying to sort this out. She said: "I've spoken with somebody at the FA who is fuming basically because they should've never done that, and they're trying to deal with it, but it seems to be a league problem."
In the minute-long video posted to her social media, Ismail said: "They asked me why women's football lacks diversity and why it's difficult to find women who look like me in a competitive game, and things like this are the reason.
"Yesterday I was so angry and frustrated, literally to the point of tears, and I've genuinely never felt that isolated, but my responsibility is to advocate for women like me."
Ismail said that she is grateful for the overwhelming support she has received.
She has been working on the inclusion of Muslim women in football by holding weekly matches and events. In July, after a sold-out screening to watch England play in the Euro final, shesaid she hoped that one day, more Muslim women in hijabs would play football at the highest level.
A spokesperson for the FA told Yahoo News that they are aware of the matter and are in touch with Middlesex FA. They said: "We proactively wrote to all County FAs and match officials across the women’s grassroots game earlier this year to confirm that women and girls should be allowed to wear clothing that ensures their faith or religious beliefs are not compromised."
"We remain deeply committed to ensuring that English football is an inclusive and welcoming environment for everybody."
