In early October 2023, after a football match between the women's team
of the Chambéry sport 73 club during which some players wore the hijab,the far right went wild on social media, calling for the club's
subsidies to be cut. ---- It all started with a banal situation: in an
amateur club that did not have a women's team, a "group of girlfriends",
as the club president describes them, took the initiative to set up a
football team. They naturally wanted to play against other teams. Some
wore the hijab, but were not worried about it, having seen that FIFA
authorized wearing it during matches. Everything went well, the team
lost by a respectable 19-0. It should have ended there.
But a few days later, Rémi Garnier, a petty professional fascist elected
to the regional council under the National Rally label, published a
press release expressing his indignation at the possibility of women
dressing freely. Describing this match as a "symbol of Islamist
infiltration into sport" and claiming to defend the "dignity of women",
this little sandbox Nazi spread the Islamophobic obsessions of the RN
and the sad passions of the extreme right in his press release,
provoking a wave of cyberbullying of the club and the players.
The attack is based on the regulations of the French Football Federation
(FFF), which prohibit the wearing of "any sign or outfit that
ostentatiously manifests political, philosophical, religious or union
affiliation", a rule whose application actually targets Muslim women in
the vast majority. And a French particularity, which must be linked to
the surge in Islamophobic ideas in recent decades, and to the country's
colonial history. Embarked on an Islamophobic fever, the FFF has
distinguished itself in recent years on the subject: it recently decided
to ban the wearing of tights and helmets, under the pretext of fearing a
"misappropriation" by practicing Islam[1]. The federation also
recommends banning breaks for drinking and eating when breaking the
Ramadan fast occurs during a match[2].
In Paris, the collective Les Hidjabeuses was created in 2020 to claim
the right of sportswomen to dress as they wish. In particular, they
seized the Council of State regarding the FFF's regulations concerning
its regulations on ostentatious signs. But the latter rejected their
request, thus going against the recommendations of its own public
rapporteur, who recommended the repeal of this rule[3].
Back to Chambéry, where the FFF's Islamophobic fulminations could have
dire consequences. In its press release, the RN calls for the regional
council, chaired by the very right-wing Laurent Wauquiez, who is quick
to cut funding at any cost, to remove the club's subsidies. A threat
that puts the club in a perilous situation, with its 220 members
counting on this money to allow the club to operate. This would be a
real collective punishment under a deeply racist pretext. Since this
affair, the women's team has withdrawn from competitions, preferring to
continue training by dressing as they wish, even if it means sacrificing
their participation in the championship. One more example of the
concrete effect of Islamophobic policies that claim to defend women's
rights: excluding them from public spaces.
Edmond Rösti
Validate
[1]"Football: why the FFF bans the wearing of tights and helmets in the
name of secularism", Le Parisien, April 30, 2024
[2]"FFF: why is Ramadan taboo in French football?", Radio France, March
22, 2024
[3]"Ban on the veil in football competitions: the Council of State
considers the FFF regulations "appropriate and proportionate"", Le
Monde, June 29, 2023
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Islamophobie-dans-le-foot-le-RN-et-la-FFF-contre-les-femmes
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