Young footballer hopes hijab campaign will inspire others

A 16-year-old girl who led a campaign for Muslim girls to be allowed to wear sport hijabs during PE lessons says she hopes it will have a nationwide impact.

Umme Kalsoom said it was prompted after she felt "vulnerable" when expected to take off her hijab while playing sport at her school in Burnley, Lancashire.

"I did it to bring comfort to myself and the other girls" she said.

The school has since changed its policy, which it said was due to health and safety concerns.

According to traditional Islamic rulings, Muslim women are required to cover their head with a garment, often known as the hijab.

A number of sports are now enabling more Muslims to wear the covering after the attire was previously banned by many organisations.

Umme Kalsoom said: "(The hijab) makes me feel like myself.

"Taking it off to do something I love didn't enable me to feel my full self and I lacked confidence without it."

Umme Kalsoom has played football for four years as part of a scheme with the Football Beyond Borders charity, who helped her speak about her experiences with her school's leadership team and Lancashire County Council.

She says she was struck by the attention her campaign achieved, adding: "I didn't know it would go this far."

The 16-year-old said other Muslim girls have since sought advice and that she hoped her campaign would "break down the barriers for girls to play football everywhere they exist".

She added she was "very excited" about England's Lionesses playing in the Women's World Cup.

"It was so inspiring to see them get themselves to the final of the Women's Euro and win the trophy."

She described football as "really inclusive and really powerful because you play with people with different abilities and from different backgrounds, so it brings people together and it makes them more confident".

Morocco's Nouhaila Benzina was recently praised as a role model on becoming the first footballer to wear the hijab at this summer's Women's World Cup.

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