11 year old kibbutznik Ayala Lavin plays on the Hapoel Mateh Yehuda boys basketball team. The league allows girls to play on boys teams with some limitations.
In a game against Elitzur Efrat, the Efrat team protested her presence and said they wouldnt play against Hapoel Mateh Yehuda with Yamin on the court being that their team is made up of religious boys. Her coach called her aside and told her she would have to sit out the game.
The wrinkle in the story is that the league rules allow girls to play on the boys teams but with some limitations including it being dependent on the opposing team being ok with it. If however the opposing team protests for religious reasons, the girl cannot play but must sit out the game.
Elitzur Efrat was in the right, according to the rules of the league.
As an aside, the league is now being sued to scrap this rule and to treat girls and boys equally.
It seems to have been a shock because in a game between these two teams earlier in the season, the Efrat team played despite Yamin being on the court and lacing up and did not protest her presence. It seems the kids didnt care, but when some parents had found out about her participation in the game, after the fact, they got upset and made the decision that next time she would be told to sit.
This sounds like one of those sappy moments in the stories that you hear about how the team rallied around their disheartened teammate and bolstered her with support and said they would all refuse to play unless she can. Or the Efrat team saying we wont stop her form playing, this is our problem and we will forfeit. But that did not happen. And the rule allows for it.
The league has responded to similar complaints in the past saying the religious beliefs of its players must be respected. And they must be. But what about her and her team's beliefs? Do they also not deserve to be respected? And not just her beliefs - what about her herself -does she not deserve to be respected?
If the league is mixed, girls cant be told they cant play because someone else doesnt want them to. If girls are not going to be allowed to play at times, make it fully separate leagues, which is totally normal. If the league allows girls to play and in that sense it is a mixed league, even if only in a limited way, religion should not be used to hurt others. Heck, a team might not want to face her and make a bogus religious claim to force her to sit.
There are so many inspiring stories from all levels of sports of how athletes, especially young athletes, stood up for inclusivity, for standing up for the weaker, for doing the right thing as people with the desire to win remaining secondary to being good human beings. This is not one of them. And that's a shame.
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