Sports
Derided by The World,
Quebec Beats a Retreat
SIKH MEDIA SERVICE
From Kiran Kaur
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
I am told that later this morning, a bunch of Quebec officials will finally hold a press conference -- hurriedly today, and not a week from now, as they had callously told us earlier this week -- and then they will sheepishly announce that the silliness precipitated by the Quebec Soccer Federation’s Patka/Turban ban is over.
Derided by the world, scolded by the national and international soccer heirarchy, and shunned by children -- Sikh and non-Sikh -- from across this beautiful land, the petty bureaucrats will make a hasty retreat from the bizarre statements they‘ve been feeding us these last few weeks.
But first, they will go through a string of mental gymnastics.
It’s a victory, they’ll tell us … just you watch.
You will see them stand before you and unabashedly maul logic, while convulsing and contorting and trying to wiggle out a way from under the sheer weight of facts, as they tell us how they have “accepted with enthusiasm and relief” the public admonishment by FIFA yesterday, and have been indifferent to the embarrassing siege by the Canadian Soccer Association put into place a few days earlier.
They’ll tell you how they have merely waited for a ruling from FIFA, of how their concern is only for the public interest, of how much they worry about safety, of how much they love soccer and children, and how important it is for Quebec to build a secular society.
[Secular, my foot. Their definition of secular is: as long as you subscribe to the particular faction of what they claim is their religion, and no other, then we’re all a big, happy, secular family!]
I wonder who’ll be the spokesperson who’ll have to eat crow before the world press gallery this morning.
QSF Executive Director, Brigitte Frot, who famously said at the outset of this fiasco that Sikh children can play in their backyards, but not on Quebec’s play-fields?
Surely they’ve found a brighter light since then to represent them.
Pauline Marois, Quebec’s Premier, who thinks anything and everything is fodder if it helps the separatist cause?
Again, not the brightest knife in the drawer, this one, if you ask me. They’ve had better leaders. Though, I hasten to add, I do hope she stays around for ever. Having heard the quality of her pronouncements in the last two weeks, it’s clear that with her at the helm, the separatists aren’t going to get anywhere very fast … and Canada will remain safe and secure, for sure.
I suggest it is time for some heads to roll, though. And, trust me, they won’t be wearing turbans, those heads.
Thank the good Lord for small mercies.
Hallelujah.
June 15, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Dr Birinder Singh Ahluwalia (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), June 15, 2013, 10:42 AM.
To admit and reverse and rectify one's errors is an act of courage (though some acts of error may remain in-excusable no matter what) and such activity should be lauded at all times (not derided) and such sentiment should also apply to any QSF's decision to reverse the Patka ban in Quebec's soccer arena. I would thank QSF's officials for seeing the light of the day on this issue if indeed they reverse the patka ban ... Thank you in anticipation, for your righteous action that I'm sure will be forthcoming.
2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), June 15, 2013, 12:55 PM.
@1 Dr Birinder Singh Ahluwalia: Due to this incredibly stupid ban on patkas/turban, Sikh children in Quebec have lost an entire season. They took too long to reverse their decision, and even then it was the result of worldwide media attention rather than the best interests of soccer players. It would only be praise-worthy had they reversed this ban in a timely fashion and if they had done it from a position of compassion rather than being forced into a corner.
3: Jim Burghart (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), June 15, 2013, 1:23 PM.
Somebody once said this so succinctly, unfortunately I can't remember who, that it is easy to be politically correct: all you have to do is ... not be an asshole! There's a lesson in it for the worms in Quebec.