Does the hijab belong on football pitches? The Council of State examined on Monday the question of wearing the hijab during football competitions, by examining the appeal of the collective of “Hijabeuses” against the National Football Federation (FFF) which prohibits them from playing veiled. According to Karl Olive, Renaissance deputy for the 12th district of Yvelines, guest of Europe 1 Morning on Tuesday, it is “another opportunity to go and divide instead of unite.”
“Tomorrow, you will have to accept a friend who wears a yarmulke”
“Tomorrow, among the boys, you will have to accept a friend who wears the yarmulke. Quite honestly, I think that it is absolutely necessary to remain in total religious neutrality in a sports arena”, he declared at the microphone of Europe 1, assuring that if necessary, he would propose “a law so that the principle of absolute neutrality prevails in this country as Gérald Darmanin had done at the time”.
“I was an official referee of the French Football Federation a few years ago and there was a principle which was the principle of neutrality”, added the deputy, qualifying the hijab as a “religious ostentatious manifestation” and specifying that he refuse to referee if players refuse to remove their veils on the field.
“Let’s not add stones to the shoe”
The collective of “Hijabeuses” is challenging before the highest administrative court in the country article 1 of the FFF regulations which prohibits “any wearing of a sign or outfit ostensibly manifesting a political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation”. If the Council of State will make its decision within three weeks, the public rapporteur of the Council of State, Clément Malverti has already said he is in favor on Monday of wearing the hijab in football for players dismissed by the FFF.
To defend his opinion, the public rapporteur cites the religious signs already present on the pitch, such as the Maltese cross worn on the jerseys of AJ Auxerre players. A “bit light” example, according to Karl Olive. “I think, again, our society right now needs to be brought together. And there are so many things that bring us together alongside what can divide us, let’s not add stones in the shoe where there is no need to be”, he decided before concluding. “In this country, we have a republican pact, we have a charter and laws on secularism, they must be applied, not interpreted.”