In a touching display of female solidarity and cultural awareness transcending competition, a team of soccer players were recently captured on video forming a protective huddle around their opponent after her headscarf came undone in the middle of a game.
As reported by The Good News Network , the women stopped the game in order to offer the player from the opposing team some much-needed privacy while she fixed her hijab.
RELATED STORIES
The incident took place during the WAFF Women’s Club Championships last week while Shabab al Ordon Club took on Arab Orthodox Club.
While she was trying to dribble the ball past her opponents, an unnamed Arab Orthodox player realized her hijab had come undone, revealing part of her hair to both the live crowd and to the cameras televising the match.
At once, she dropped to her knees and put her hands over her head.
Without missing a beat, the very players tasked with defending against the athlete sprang into action to protect her modesty.
Momentarily stopping the game, four members of the Shabab al Ordon team hurried to form a huddle around her, keeping the Arab player shielded from the crowd and the cameras as she fixed her hijab.
Once her headscarf was securely in place again, the huddle dissolved.
This led to cheers and a round of applause from the crowd inside the stadium.
Watch the full video below.
Footage of the incident was posted online by the Jordan Football League and was then later shared by ESPN.
“Bigger than sports,” ESPN captioned the post which has since been watched more than 1.5 million times and received nearly 80,000 likes.
The Shabab al Ordon Club team went on to win the tournament.
But it was their incredible act of kindness towards their opponent and their respect for her religious conviction that won them the affection of people everywhere.
In the comments, many people have come forward to applaud the players’ actions.
“What an amazing display of cultural awareness within a competitive setting,” one user wrote. “These players instantly shifted their minds from trying to win a game to an inclusive mindset to help an opponent for something bigger than the game. Beautiful!”
Another read it as a good example of an even broader ideal.
As they added , “That is respect. That is freedom of action. If we all could learn to respect other’s cultures and [beliefs].”
But of course, since this is the internet, there were also people who chose to insert their opinions on religion into the mix.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where women didn’t have to cover their hair to appease a make believe invisible man in the sky?” one user mused.
The best response to that comes from Nadia B. Ahmad and Asifa Quraishi-Landes.
![Image credit: Reddit | [deleted]](https://static.diply.com/sQqaoIQeUmeI6Tw79glJ.jpg)
In an op-ed piece for The Washington Post , they wrote the following about misconceptions surrounding hijabs:
“The notion that wearing a headscarf is inherently oppressive ignores the agency of the person who dons it. Third-wave feminism holds that women should get to choose which practices are best for them without having to contend with anybody else’s expectations. That, not an uncovered head, is what liberation looks like.”
