TKD, Islam, French Canadians, and Politics

[Flatlander]

MONTREAL — Five young girls were suddenly thrust into Quebec's controversy over the rights of religious minorities Sunday when they weren't allowed to compete in a local tae kwon do meet unless they removed their Islamic head scarves.

Full Story

 

[tellner]

This has exactly the thin end of nothing whittled down to a point to do with "safety". It's mistrust of Muslims possibly with a shot of Quebecois xenophobia.

 

[CoryKS]

Not exactly sure where "rights" come into play, this being a local meet which, presumably, is free to make its own rules. But I'm not Canadian, so what do I know. Personally, there are certain articles of clothing that I would find... motivating... to have an opponent wear.

 

[Kacey]

My concern is not with the rule, per se, but with the method of enforcement. If practitioners have competed previously while wearing hijab, then any change in the rules, or enforcement of previously unenforced rules, should have been clearly made to all participants prior to the tournament registration deadline. To have arrived at such an event and be told you can't compete because this rule has changed/is now being enforced is, IMHO, unprofessional. If the participants were not notified of the change sufficiently in advance, then I think that some accommodation should have been made - certainly, between the headgear and, if necessary, putting the end of the hijab inside the back of the students' top, I see no safety concern - I have seen plenty of TKD practitioners with very long hair who would be much more at risk than these girls.

 

[terryl965]

I know USAT and AAU allows this to be worn and I personnally see no reason not to allow it.

 

[Carol]

Mr. Faucher said there may well have been previous meets at which girls wearing the hijab were allowed to compete, but a few lapses in enforcement are no excuse to ignore the rulebook entirely.
Gael Texier, the girls' coach, said the issue will have to go all the way to the sport's governing body, the World Tae Kwon Do Federation.
"We'll have to take a stand," she said.
International referee Stéphane Ménard says the girls weren't allowed to take part in yesterday's event because the sport's rules don't allow hijabs.

Can anyone point to an online source verifying that WTF rules do not allow hijabs?

 

[terryl965]

Can anyone point to an online source verifying that WTF rules do not allow hijabs?

Carol there is no such rules and they allow them if it is for religous status which it is.

 

[Flatlander]

Follow up story.

MONTREAL — When news came that young Muslim girls had been turned away from a tae kwon do competition in Quebec because they wore Islamic head scarves, one of the people upset was the former dean of engineering of the University of Ottawa. Aside from being an electrical engineer, Tyseer Aboulnasr is a hijab-wearing black belt in tae kwon do, a mother of two who began practising martial arts in her 40s.
While she understands that officials at the Fédération de Tae kwondo du Québec are applying their rules to the letter, she feels that they are betraying the sport's spirit of inclusiveness.

The tournament was held under the rules of the Seoul-based World Taekwondo Federation. WTF rules are unambiguous. Article 4.2 states that "wearing any item on the head other than the head protector shall not be permitted."

 

[Ping898]

more follow-up

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070514/od_nm/hijab_dc;_ylt=AveFFdRGckAQ9nP92CbsgZ7MWM0F

The Muslim hijab, banned at a taekwondo tournament in Quebec last month, will be allowed at the 2007 World Championship in Quebec City later this month, the International Taekwon-Do Federation announced on Friday.

The decision by a Quebec federation last month to bar a team of Muslim girls from taking part with their hijabs at the regional tournament had prompted protests of discrimination, but Quebec federation officials said it was a matter of safety.