The law firm representing the school and the concerned sports authority said that the incident related to the Sikh American student occurred due to miscommunication.
A ninth grade student from Pennsylvania was not allowed to play a soccer match on Tuesday, apparently for wearing a Turban, a Sikh article of faith. The athletic association said the incident was a result of a miscommunication. The student attends the Marple Newtown High School, which is close to Pennsylvania.
The law firm representing the Marple Newtown High School informed NBC News that the student was to participate in a match between the Marple Newtown High School and Conestoga High School.
I grew up playing soccer in Texas and faced discrimination from referees more than once for my Sikh turban. Some accused me of hiding bombs.
— Simran Jeet Singh (@simran) September 28, 2017
The student was not allowed to compete; although the attorney representing the school said the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) referee’s decision might not be due to religious discrimination.
“Our District was surprised to learn that, according to a PIAA soccer referee’s decision, the PIAA apparently does not have a rule that reasonably accommodates the wearing of religious headwear by our student athletes who play soccer,” Mark A. Sereni, the school district’s solicitor, added in a statement.
“Our District is investigating this ruling and has advocated and will continue to advocate for the rights of our student athletes to appropriately wear religious headwear,” he said.
Due to the recent circulation of this article, it is important to note that the NFHS has no ban on religious headwear in soccer. https://t.co/wchyncitz4
— NFHS (@NFHS_Org) September 29, 2017
PIAA’s executive director Robert A Lombardi said the incident did not occur due to rules issues but because of miscommunication, NBC News reported. He explained that the school did not request a change to National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to permit the headgear that is part of religious faith. Lombardi said that such issues are taken on a case-by-case basis.
He told NBC that the rule has been updated after the school’s request.
“Annually, all schools are informed of this information at the pre-season rules meetings held in their area,” Lombardi said. “The oversight by the school should not cause this overreaction.”