Muslim Headwear vs Rules - Refs Decision
 

Muslim Girl Back on Basketball Court After Being Benched for Wearing Headscarf - ParentDish

From the article:

"But officials from the Mid-Maryland Girls' Basketball League say the referee was just doing what he had to do, because there was no request on file that would allow Maheen to wear the scarf."

I will never understand why parents, coaches and schools do not file the proper information so that these things cannot be a problem when game starts. I will never get this at all. You know the child is going to be wearing something unusual or possibly no one will agree with on a rules level, you cannot just verify this with the governing body or someone other than the game officials (who you will have several over the course of a season). All the officials will have are the rules and not all of us will agree. But a governing body can get the word out to all parties and let them know what they want. It is that hard to get the right information to the right people?

Peace

Agreed, Rut. If anyone is to fault in this article, it's the coach/school for not covering all bases before the season started.

It wouldn't be difficult to see this issue coming up at some point in the season, regardless of intentions.

Probably the same reason some teams don't think about illegal numbers, illegal undershirts, et al: "He/she's just a kid, ref, let 'em play!"

This is different than a number. You know you have a daughter that is going to play in a sport where no one of note is wearing such things while playing a game. You have to think someone is not going to accept her outfit and that maybe it might not fall under some rule somewhere. So in order to avoid that, talk to someone that can make an administrative decision. If a kid has a dress code at a school and your religious expression is outside fo that, would you not talk to the school administrators to get some kind of exception or understanding before you enroll in that school? I would think this is the same thing.

Peace

+1

Put the responsibility where it belongs. And it doesn't belong on the officials.

They just did this in VT for a player and a memo was sent to all officials.

I don't disagree with that. Still, if you want to understand why people don't make the effort to look into these matters, you have to consider what motivates people to do what they do (or don't do).

"It's just a game! Why do they make a big deal out of it?!"

Whether we're right or wrong -- and we're usually right, when we follow the rules -- in others' eyes, we are the O.O.O. when we enforce rules they don't like. To them, you're taking it away from the kids.

Mind you, I'm not defending their behavior. I'm simply saying that's where their heads may be.

Follow-up article on Yahoo!
 

Here's another article I found on this incident:

Muslim headscarf forces teen girl to bench in hoops game - Prep Rally - High School - Yahoo! Sports

It's pretty bad anymore that when a player is not allowed to play that thy &/or their parents have to get the media involved.

+2.0
...or parents who pull their child off of one school team, enroll them in another school then find out that their daughter, who is a Junior, must sit out 365 days before being eligible. But that is another topic. Same responsible party though1

Well that is not a universal rule or issue. In my area people can move and they are eligible immediately if you can prove the move was not for athletics or were recruited. And we have nothing to do with that as officials in any way.

Peace