“Football is not for people like you or us.”
This is what coach Hilaal Ali used to hear from her parents as the Liverpool Muslim woman asked them if she could join a football team when she was still young.
Growing up, Ali pursued her dream and graduated with a degree in Football Coaching and Management. Yet, when she started looking for a competitive team to join in the city, she felt neglected by the Liverpool County Football Association.
Contacting the association twice to get a list of teams, no one contacted her back ever.
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“My email address was taken down by the person who answered my phone call, and he agreed to send me a list of teams,” she told Liverpool Echo.
“I waited a few minutes whilst continuing to check my email to see whether he had sent it to me.
“I finally accepted that he was not going to send anything across. My gut instincts were right, I did not receive anything, I thought maybe he didn’t take my name down properly, so I took this as human error.
“I called the Liverpool County FA again the following Monday, explaining to the guy who answered the phone that his colleague had agreed to send me a list of local women’s teams, but he never did. The second guy said he would send over a list of teams instead but the same situation occurred again.
She added: “I felt like I wasn’t taken seriously by the two members of staff at the Liverpool County FA.”
Viral Post
Hilaal took to twitter to share her experience and how it made her feel and her tweet quickly went viral, garnering thousands of retweets and shares.
She said: “My thread has gotten a lot of attention on Twitter. A number of people were upset and angry in the same way that I was. Many could empathized with my situation.
“This demonstrates that I am not the only one who has encountered this issue as this issue is bigger than just football.
“Many people were happy that I called out a big organization for failing to deliver on its promises, as this is quite rare in the football industry.
“I had to stay true to my beliefs and ensure that our voices (BAME individuals) were heard. I’ve been complimented on my bravery in speaking up.”
Liverpool County FA said it is dedicated to ensuring that football opportunities are provided for all across Merseyside.
“Whilst we appreciate that we’re unable to change the way that Hilaal was made to feel, as an organization we have reached out to apologize,” a spokesperson for the Liverpool County FA said.
Confronting Challenges
The scene of a hijabi Muslim girl playing football is not a familiar one, thus many Muslim women have been challenging the status quo to pursue their dreams.
Nigeria’s Abdulazzez Zulfah is one of the few Muslim women who play football in her country. The 17-year-old believes her hijab is not a hindrance but an inspiration for other Muslim girls who may be interested in sports.
Jamad Fiin is also an American Muslim basketballer who launched new camps for basketball to change the game for young athletes, especially Muslim girls.
In order to play football while donning hijab, “Les Hijabeuses”, a collective of young hijab-wearing female footballers campaigning against the French football federation’s (FFF) ban, was launched in 2021.