Muslim teenagers at an all-girls school who won a national football championship said they felt empowered to play in their hijabs and likened it to superheroes wearing capes.

Peterborough’s Iqra Academy, an independent Islamic school, won the Muslim Schools National U15 Girls Football Championship on 3 December, which is sponsored by the English Schools Football Association.
In the final, which was held in Leicester, the Iqra team beat Al-Aqsa school from the host city 2-0 to win the title for a seventh time.

Team captain Shahida said all the players wore the hijab and while it was “not easy to compete feeling like the odd ones out” she felt proud of how far the team had come.

‘Don’t fit in’

The Iqra Academy in Bretton, Peterborough, has more than 100 students.
The school set up a football team in 2016 and has since competed in 250 matches and won 200 of them.

Shahida, who aspires to have a career in the medical field, said football was “a hobby and an outlet” for her. She has been competing for the past three years.

“We have worked hard to get to where we are. It is not easy to go out there and compete as [sometimes as] the only hijabi girls team. It feels like we don’t fit in. But in reality, you being the odd one out makes people to take notice of you,” she said.

“You know how Superman wears a cape – my hijab is my cape. It makes me unique, it makes me special. This is my identity. It is part of me. It makes me feel empowered. At the end of the day – they are girls, we are girls and playing a sport we love.”

Inaya, from Year 10, who wants to be a speech therapist, plays for the school’s cricket and football teams.
She said: “Sometimes opponents make fun of us. We feel there is a bias sometimes which puts us down. But we try to use that to give us motivation to win. Even if we face barriers we know we can overcome it.”

The girls said they felt “well supported” by both their coach and their families and called for more girls from diverse backgrounds to be encouraged into sports.

This year, the school was given the Equal Access National Award from the Barclays Girls Football School Partnerships, to highlight its contribution to girls’ football.

Michael Wright, the principal at Iqra and manager of the team, said he felt “extremely proud of the girls, who show such great commitment and resilience”.
He added: “The school’s development of football and health and wellbeing has had a dramatic impact on students, staff, and the whole school. Iqra is now a happier and heathier school, students are more confident and have greater opportunities in sports and health initiatives, to fulfil their potential as active British Muslim women.”

Source: BBC