Muslim women’s footballer ‘banned from playing’ for wearing tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts receives FA apology

The Football Association has apologised to Muslim women’s footballer Iqra Ismail after she was denied the opportunity to play in a league game for refusing to compromise her religious beliefs and wear shorts.

Trailblazing footballer and coach Ismail was set to come on for United Dragons as a half-time substitute in a Greater London Women’s Football League match against Tower Hamlets FC.

In a video posted on social media, Ismail said: “The Greater London Women’s Football League have stopped me from playing because of my religious beliefs, because I refused to wear shorts with my playing kit.

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

“This year they have drawn the line and banned me from playing until I compromise my beliefs.

“The Middlesex FA referee for yesterday’s [Sunday’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 whether it was matching our kit or not.”

The FA has since apologised to Ismail, who has been told that she can wear tracksuit bottoms when she next takes to the field.

Sky Sports News has contacted the Greater London Women’s Football League for comment.

Ismail was appointed to the Football Black List in 2019 and was a speaker at the FA ‘Your Game Your Way’ event at Brentford Football Club earlier this year.

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

“They ask me why women’s football lacks diversity and why it is difficult to find women who look like me in the competitive game. Things like this are the reason.”

A spokesperson for The FA had earlier told Sky Sports News: “We are aware of this matter and we are in contact with Middlesex FA to ensure that it is quickly resolved.

“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.”

A spokesperson from Middlesex FA told Sky Sports News: “We are aware of this matter and we are in contact with The FA and the League concerned to ensure that it is quickly resolved.

“Guidance from the FA was issued 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 are working with all our stakeholders to ensure they can apply this guidance effectively and remain deeply committed to ensuring that English football is an inclusive and welcoming environment for everybody.”

Match officials were issued with guidance on offences involving religious head coverings at the beginning of the year after Sky Sports and former referee Jarnail Singh raised concerns about an incident involving a Sikh-Punjabi footballer, who had his patka pulled by an opponent in a Spartan South Midlands League match at the beginning of January.