{"id":934575,"date":"2026-10-20T05:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934575\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T05:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:24:19","slug":"football-tasmania-bans-palestinian-futsal-teams-river-to-the-sea-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934575\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Tasmania bans Palestinian futsal team\u2019s \u2018river to the sea\u2019 kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football Tasmania says a Palestinian futsal team \u201cwon\u2019t be allowed to play\u201d while its jerseys carry \u201cfrom the river to the sea, always was, always will be\u201d, after two other teams wore them in solidarity and the match was called off.<\/p>\n

Chief Executive Tony Pignata told Pulse the team was free to wear a Palestinian national shirt, but would not play if it kept the slogan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther teams wear national strips, whether it\u2019s Greece, Italy, Socceroos, Matildas, whatever. But under the laws of the game we don\u2019t allow any political slogans on shirts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re free to come down and wear their Palestinian shirt with pride, no problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jerseys, designed by Palestine Futsal Team player Feras Shaheen, carry the phrase \u201cfrom the river to the sea, always was, always will be\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pignata said Football Tasmania was \u201cnot singling them out, it\u2019s across the board\u201d. Image \/ File<\/p>\n

Shaheen said the team was handed a 3-0 forfeit loss on October 11 after refusing to remove the jerseys.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, two other teams in the six-team social league wore the jerseys in solidarity and were told they could not play.<\/p>\n

Hughie Nicklason, who played in the match, said the teams instead played a friendly game in the jerseys after Football Tasmania officials walked off the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all just want to play football and we think that it\u2019s not fair or just that this team is being excluded,\u201d he told Pulse.<\/p>\n

Pignata said any team wearing a shirt with a political slogan would not be allowed to play.<\/p>\n

\"\"Football Tasmania said political slogans were not permitted under the laws of the game. Image \/ Kristy Alger<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not singling them out, it\u2019s across the board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shaheen, who has family in Gaza, said the jersey was a cultural expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe text that they\u2019re referring to is a humanitarian message. It\u2019s a cultural expression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the jersey also highlighted the relationship between Palawa people and Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\"\"Shaheen, who has family in Gaza, said the jersey highlighted ties between Palawa people and Palestinians. Image \/ Kristy Alger<\/p>\n

Asked whether the slogan was humanitarian rather than political, Pignata said he was \u201cnot well-versed\u201d in the politics of the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our take, it\u2019s a slogan which has political meaning as well, so they won\u2019t be allowed to play in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many Jewish groups view the phrase \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d as a call for the elimination of Israel.<\/p>\n

Shaheen said that interpretation was false.<\/p>\n

\"\"The team argued the competition rules referred to FIFA\u2019s Law 4 only for shin pads and jewellery. Image \/ Kristy Alger<\/p>\n

\u201cI say to them to actually speak to Palestinians so they can explain to you that that is false,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Football Tasmania has told the team that shirts displaying \u201cany part\u201d of the combined slogan will not be permitted.<\/p>\n

Nicklason said he had worn \u201calways was, always will be\u201d shirts in the competition before and \u201cthat has never been an issue in the past\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shaheen said the team had played a few games in the jerseys and \u201cthere was no dramas\u201d, before being told to cover them up following a complaint.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Palestine Futsal Team was handed a 3-0 forfeit loss on October 11. Image \/ Kristy Alger<\/p>\n

Pignata disputed that account.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncorrect, I think this is the third week that they\u2019ve worn or tried to wear [the jerseys],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the team had been told \u201cthey aren\u2019t allowed to have that slogan\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an email to Football Tasmania last week, the team argued the competition rules referred to FIFA\u2019s Law 4 only in relation to shin pads and jewellery.<\/p>\n

Football Tasmania replied that its decision was \u201cfinal\u201d and that it \u201cmay consider taking further action it considers appropriate under its regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pignata said Football Tasmania\u2019s role was \u201cto administer competition in accordance with the regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shaheen said he had \u201cnothing against them\u201d personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they\u2019re just following the rules, but I think it\u2019s important for them to understand the context in which the rules is placed in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football Tasmania says a Palestinian futsal team \u201cwon\u2019t be allowed to play\u201d while its jerseys carry \u201cfrom the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-934575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}