Diversity in women's football : The Muslimah Sports Association (MSA)
By Samuel Gentles
What is the Muslimah Sports Association?
The Muslimah Sports Association (MSA) is a multi-award winning organisation and charity committed to providing social inclusion for females who may feel excluded as a result of their ethnic origin, religion or belief - particularly members of the Muslim and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities (BAME).
They aim to achieve this by:
- Providing sports and linked services.
- Enriching and empowering lives through sports.
- Making sure there is a wide range to an access to a range of sports.
"It was really made for women just to have a safe space to play sports without thinking about what they are wearing and how they look, what their body type was. Just something for them to socially engage with, get fit, have fun, meet new people, but play sports at the same time."
This award recognises the individuals, organisations, groups or programmes that have had the biggest impact on supporting a bigger, better workforce for physical activity and sport.
We only gone and won another award! Truly humbled!
— Muslimah Sports Association (MSA) (@MuslimahAsso) February 24, 2022
The British Muslim Awards Social Inclusion Project of the Year 2022!
Come and celebrate 🎉 with us on 18th March!
Limited tickets available! #britishmuslimaward #awards #recognition #trailblazers pic.twitter.com/rqvzZFAkPq
Yashmin Harun BEM
Chair & Founder
The Muslimah Sports Association was originally founded in 2008 by Yashmin Harun due to limited sporting opportunities during her childhood for women of ethnic minorities.
Yashmin's struggle to find a pathway into participating in sports at an elite level inspired her to think of an initiative to provide future generations with an opportunity to fulfill her childhood aspirations.
The founder, of Bengali and Gujarati descent, grew up in Scotland as a Muslim and initially faced challenges being part of the only Muslim and ethnically diverse family in her area.
"I had always wanted to be a footballer, but the opportunities like we have now wasn't there when I was growing up."
She has pioneered in diversifying women's involvement in football and balances being a director at the FA with the work she does with the Muslimah Sports Association.
Yashmin said the opportunities for ethnic minority women and "especially Muslims" has improved as a result of the advancements made by the Football Association (FA).
She added: "We now have more of a voice to influence strategies and policies."
Yashmin started the MSA "quite selfishly" because she wanted to get back into sports, but struggled as "no one was buying into it".
Eventually more and more women were taking part in a variety of sports with the Muslimah Sports Association.
Sport Award at the 2023 Asian Women of Achievement Awards
Due to her dedication Yashmin Harun was honoured and won the 2023 Asian Women of Achievement Awards in June.
Her supporters say since the start of her MSA journey she has provided a safe space for Asian women to participate and excel in sports has been provided.
"You don't do this job for awards and things like that, you do it because you love it and you love seeing the growth of women in sport."
Yashmin said that she has seen people come to sessions not knowing "how to kick a football" and found their journey to be "phenomenal and quite humbling".
She said to get recognition for managing these operations is "really nice but the important thing is giving women an opportunity that they wouldn't have had without the MSA".
Frenford and msa women fc
Frenford & MSA Women were established in 2018 by Yashmin Harun to encourage more women of ethnic minorities to get involved in sports.
The team's training and match pitches are situated in Redbridge which is recognised as one of the most ethnically diverse areas of London.
On average female residents in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities participate less in sport. As a result, Frenford and MSA are working to improve the numbers involved by developing players from a grassroot level.
"We started to look for football coaches and we couldn't find a female coach, never mind someone from an ethnic minority background. So I started to work with the FA, the Essex FA, London Sport and the local council (Vision Redbridge) to see how we can work together to offer tailored coaching courses for ethnic minority women".
Meet two of the coaches at frenford and msa women fc
Yasmin Hussain, Head Coach
Yasmin is a Muslim from a Bangladeshi background and is an example of how the London FA are integrating female leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds to prompt the progression of women playing and coaching football from BAME communities.
She was given the opportunity to use her childhood passion of football to take further steps in coaching the game at the age of 33.
She said: "I loved playing football, it was a part of my life growing up until the age of 13 I had to give it up.
"There were no female coaches in a female environment and that was a barrier for me."
Yasmin did not have the opportunities to develop her skills when she played football and said her experiences inspired her "to be the female coach to break down the barriers".
In the last four years she has worked with the club to develop four female youth teams from under 10s to under 16s.
Tina Sheikh, Coach
Conversation with Tina about her coaching mentality at Frenford and MSA Women FC
Tina Sheikh's coaching career was in the men's game until she joined forces with Yasmin Hussain to help coach at Frenford & MSA Women FC.
Yasmin and Tina previously shared a local connection which made Yasmin's selection easier on her search for more female coaches.
"I am aware there are not a lot of women coaches around, so in that way I think I might be a bit wasteful in the men's game."
Tina said she was happy to provide support because she understands the importance of having female coaches in an all women session to help them "feel comfortable".
Tina is currently doing a Level-2 coaching course and said there's "still a long way to go" to diversify and improve opportunities for women in football.
She said out of the 35 coaches on the course there are only four women and they share a tight connection because "they all have a story of how they were shut down by someone".
Tina said she hopes the girls who attend the recreational sessions on a Monday can walk into school proudly and say "yes I play football".
Quiz Time...
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