HIJAB ISSUE IN MARYLAND PLAYOFF GAME

[chymechowder]

Not to derail, but I saw this today and thought it was related--at least along the garbage lines of suggesting racial bias on the part of the officials:

HIJAB ISSUE IN MARYLAND PLAYOFF GAME

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.e5f287fdece4

"But we've done this all year and it's never been a problem" / "That hasn't been called a foul all season" is one of my favorite refrains from coaches.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

Not to derail, but I saw this today and thought it was related--at least along the garbage lines of suggesting racial bias on the part of the officials:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.e5f287fdece4

"But we've done this all year and it's never been a problem" / "That hasn't been called a foul all season" is one of my favorite refrains from coaches.

I saw this story while traveling yesterday.

The governing body threw this crew under the bus and drove it over them a few times.

[CJP]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

Not to derail, but I saw this today and thought it was related--at least along the garbage lines of suggesting racial bias on the part of the officials:

HIJAB ISSUE IN MARYLAND PLAYOFF GAME

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.e5f287fdece4

"But we've done this all year and it's never been a problem" / "That hasn't been called a foul all season" is one of my favorite refrains from coaches.

I would have let her play and not thought twice about asking for "documentation".

[jTheUmp]

RE: the hijab issue... how am I, as the official assigned to that game, supposed to know if the proper documentation has been submitted to the state or not?

To me, it's similar to a player-eligiblity question... if anyone brings it up as a concern, I'll tell them to file a report with the state after the game.

I've had several games the last few years with players wearing hijabs... it's a non-issue.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

RE: the hijab issue... how am I, as the official assigned to that game, supposed to know if the proper documentation has been submitted to the state or not?

To me, it's similar to a player-eligiblity question... if anyone brings it up as a concern, I'll tell them to file a report with the state after the game.

I've had several games the last few years with players wearing hijabs... it's a non-issue.

The problem with that assumption is that, by default, the headwear is illegal. It takes an exception to make it legal. You know if they have the waiver by asking for it. If the team has a waiver for it, they should have a copy of it ready to present....or it should be communicated to your organization as a whole. We has such a case here. The state notified the association that it was approved and the association told all officials that player X at school Y had a waiver from the state. Her coach took care of business and that was the end of that.

Players, on the other hand, don't require special permission to play, generally. Being ineligible is the exception.

By not asking and letting players play with illegal clothing, you are making yourself part of the problem. Such inaction leads to articles like the above.

[CJP]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

The problem with that assumption is that, by default, the headwear is illegal. It takes an exception to make it legal. You know if they have the waiver by asking for it. If the team has a waiver for it, they should have a copy of it ready to present....or it should be communicated to your organization as a whole. We has such a case here. The state notified the association that it was approved and the association told all officials that player X at school Y had a waiver from the state. Her coach took care of business and that was the end of that.

Players, on the other hand, don't require special permission to play, generally. Being ineligible is the exception.

By not asking and letting players play with illegal clothing, you are making yourself part of the problem. Such inaction leads to articles like the above.

I still would have let her play without asking for documentation. I know and understand it is for religious reasons. I don't think this is being part of any "problem". I think it is using common sense. On the other hand, I see "illegal headbands" in a state championship game shown in another thread. I would have made them remove those. I think those types of things getting let go are being "part of the problem".

[deecee]

Originally Posted by CJP

I still would have let her play without asking for documentation. I know and understand it is for religious reasons. I don't think this is being part of any "problem". I think it is using common sense. On the other hand, I see "illegal headbands" in a state championship game shown in another thread. I would have made them remove those. I think those types of things getting let go are being "part of the problem".

The best way to guarantee participants get to participate. Follow the rules. What an official chooses to ignore is no normal and if an official follows the rules, for their association to throw them under like that... I would have send an email to the whole associations telling the governing body to go F themselves. If I mess up I'll own it, if my association wants to they can own it. I don't make enough officiating to get run over by players/fans/coaches/ and my own association.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by CJP

I still would have let her play without asking for documentation. I know and understand it is for religious reasons. I don't think this is being part of any "problem". I think it is using common sense. On the other hand, I see "illegal headbands" in a state championship game shown in another thread. I would have made them remove those. I think those types of things getting let go are being "part of the problem".

By "part of the problem", he simply means all of the officials who didn't stop it before set up the one crew that was put into the position of enforcing the rules. Me? I'd let it go in December and tell the coach he needs to request approval from the state, and that if I see them again I'm going to have to disallow it without that exception.

If I saw them the first time in January, I'm disallowing it and letting the coach know all he has to do is contact the state for the exception and this all goes away. In the day of emails, it would likely be done within a single business day.

By the time you get late in the season, officials are being scrutinized more closely. Once you're in the playoffs, there's no way they can let this go without repercussions.

Of course, having the state supervisor throw you under the bus doesn't help.

[crosscountry55]

Hijab: Yes, the governing body responded horribly. Take a neutral stance with an eye toward future adjustments, at least. Sheesh.

Diversity training? Give me a break! Waste of time and a politically correct overreaction. The rule is outdated and needs some tweaking for common items such as hijabs and yarmulkas, which I doubt would become abused and unsafe fashion trends on their own. Unfortunately sometimes it takes an unfortunate circumstance like this one to get the committee's attention. I'll bet it did, and I'll bet we see a change in April. That would be a worthy victory for common sense.


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[Raymond]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

Not to derail, but I saw this today and thought it was related--at least along the garbage lines of suggesting racial bias on the part of the officials:

HIJAB ISSUE IN MARYLAND PLAYOFF GAME

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.e5f287fdece4

"But we've done this all year and it's never been a problem" / "That hasn't been called a foul all season" is one of my favorite refrains from coaches.

Actually in this case, it appears that it hadn't been addressed all season. The play-off crew properly addressed it and the state governing body threw them under the bus, as Rich stated.

This falls on the servicing association (MultipleSports??) and the school's AD. Both or either should have addressed this with the state governing body way back in December.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Actually in this case, it appears that it hadn't been addressed all season.

We don't really know that...or at least not for every game. From the the first paragraph of the article, we know that she rarely played. So, the number of officials to have not addressed it may have been very small depending on how many blowouts the the team was involved in.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

We don't really know that...or at least not for every game. From the the first paragraph of the article, we know that she rarely played. So, the number of officials to have not addressed it may have been very small depending on how many blowouts the the team was involved in.

It only takes one or two games. Somebody would have mentioned it to other officials and it would have got back to the association board members.

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[justacoach]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

We don't really know that...or at least not for every game. From the the first paragraph of the article, we know that she rarely played. So, the number of officials to have not addressed it may have been very small depending on how many blowouts the the team was involved in.

Are we twiddling our thumbs and looking for hot moms in the stands during warm-ups?

Every prior game allowed for at least one observant, engaged, rules aware official, who should know the uniform rules, to bring this to the attention of the coach and point him in the direction of a legit solution.

It would be incumbent on the coach to pursue the proper waiver instead of peddling the old chestnut, "It was never mentioned all season".

Disgraceful reactions on so many different levels....

[Rich]

Did anyone ask Maryland why they were throwing their officials under the bus?

Diversity training? Really?

https://twitter.com/MPSSAA_Org

[deecee]

Originally Posted by Rich

Did anyone ask Maryland why they were throwing their officials under the bus?

Diversity training? Really?

https://twitter.com/MPSSAA_Org

Yes, it was insensitive for them to apply the rule.