This Just In: Life is not Fair! Deal with it.

Big stink in the Tampa, FL area: Muslim girl on a soccer team wanted to wear her head scarf while playing. Soccer rules require all players to be dressed exactly the same, so ref decided she couldn't play unless she dressed exactly like the other players. She refused to remove her head scarf, and therefore sat on the sidelines.

Of course, everyone feels sorry for the girl, and as expected, there were immediate accusations of Muslim-hatred on the part of the ref. But how about this?
1. Soccer has rules, which are published and available to all prospective participants prior to try-outs.
2. Ref's job is to enforce rules.
3. The girl was breaking the rules.

The girl wasn't singled out because she is Muslim, she was singled out because she was breaking the rules. The rules require that all players wear the same uniform so that no one player stands out and is easier to identify by teammates. She was wearing something that no one else on her team was wearing. It didn't matter if it was a head scarf or a bicycle flag strapped to her back or a screaming neon pink jersey - it was different, and therefore not allowed. So the ref did what he was supposed to do.

What if the ref decided to arbitrarily not enforce other rules? What if he allowed the other team to field an extra player? Do you really think that would be tolerated for an instant? So why is he being excoriated for enforcing the uniform rule?

And in an attempt to be fair to this girl and let her wear her head scarf and therefore be more easily identified by teammates, wouldn't that in fact be unfair to the other team? (For the record, the other team was fine with her playing with the head scarf.) So it's okay to be unfair to the entire other team just so this girl could violate rules that she should have known about before even trying out for the soccer team?

And just for grins, how quickly do you think the girl's parents would sue the soccer league and everyone else within a 30-mile radius if the girl had worn the head scarf in the Florida heat while engaging in an athletic activity, overheated, and suffered health problems?

Look, the rules have been in place for a long time. The girl should have looked at the rules, or the coach should have informed her of them on the first day of try-outs, and she should have made a decision: Which is more important, playing soccer, or following my religion's dress code? We all make decisions throughout our life, and most of those decisions have ramifications with which we must live. So here's one for the girl: If you follow a religion that has a dress code, you may have to refrain from participating in certain activities that have uniform requirements.

Please don't say that it's discriminatory. The rules are there to ensure the fairness of the competition. The girl and her parents are free to petition to have the rules changed. They are also free to start a "head scarf required" league. Just don't ask for special privileges in the current league with the current rules, especially when it's unfair to the other team. These are the rules. If you can abide by them, great, feel free to participate. If you can't, that's fine too, but you'll have to find something else to do with your time, because you won't be playing soccer in this league.