FA Apologizes to Muslim Female Football Player Banned by Male Referee for Refusing to Wear Shorts

The Football Association has apologized to a Muslim footballer after a referee prevented her from playing in a match for refusing to wear shorts due to her religious beliefs.

British-born Somali football player and coach Iqra Ismail was set to enter the game as a half-time substitute for United Dragons in a Greater London Women’s Football League (GLWFC) match against Tower Hamlets FC on Monday.

According to Iqra, the GLWFC barred her from playing because of her religious beliefs.

‘I was told that I was not allowed to play football because of my religious beliefs. Yes, you heard that correctly, in 2024’ she wrote on IG.

She continued: ‘The Greater London Women’s Football League have decided to stop me from playing because I refuse to wear shorts with my playing kit.’

‘I’ve been playing in this league for almost five years now wearing tracksuit bottoms and every year, they’ve made it more and more difficult for women like me to play.

‘Now this year, they’ve drawn the line and banned me from playing until I compromise my beliefs.

‘The Middlesex FA referee for yesterday’s game said that the league had told him strictly not to allow women like me to wear tracksuit bottoms regardless of the colour or if it matches our kits or not.

‘If we do not wear shorts, we cannot play. That is what I was told yesterday. So, of course, I stood by my principles, and that meant yesterday, I was not allowed to kick a ball.

‘At this level, the priority should be making football accessible, and the Greater London Women’s Football League have done the exact opposite.

‘They asked me why women’s football lacks diversity and why it’s difficult to find women who look like me in the competitive game. 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, so these things can’t happen, because they can’t happen’.

The FA has since apologized to Iqra and clarified that she will be allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms in her next match, according to Sky Sports.