On Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 9:10 pm, United States Youth Futsal made the decision to deny a player the ability to play for their team. The reason being that she is a girl on a boys team.
In a sign of solidarity with their teammate, Wolves Futsal Club stood united. And refused to play without her.
In response, United States Youth Futsal’s Northeast Regional Tournament Staff decided to forfeit all of the Wolves’ matches for the tournament; thus denying the Wolves - and any other team in the same position - an opportunity to compete at the highest levels of United States Youth Futsal competition.
The Wolves’ first scheduled opponent in the tournament, Bolts FC, agreed to play a full-length scrimmage immediately following the ruling and expressed zero concern with the girl playing. The scrimmage resulted in a 3-3 draw. United States Youth Futsal recognized it as a 3-0 win for the Bolts.
United States Youth Futsal is a national organization that is supposed to represent the most progressive country in the world. United States Youth Futsal only denies “coed teams” at its regional and national tournaments. The rule was implemented in 2016 with no further explanation.
We feel that no girl in this country should be denied the ability to play with her team at the highest levels of competition. We feel that the rule is not correct in any way; competitively, morally or ethically.
We feel that if a girls is skilled enough and physically capable enough to play with the boys, she should be allowed to. Period.
We hope that you will share our message so that the ceiling is removed from United States Youth Futsal.