Luton Sixth Form College ‘extremely disappointed’ after being kicked out of cup semi-final during Ramadan

Luton Sixth Form College was kicked out of a football cup after being unable to attend a semi-final match that fell on the first day of Ramadan.

The college was due to face Richard Huish College in March for the semi-final of the National College Cup – but the match at the college in Somerset coincided with the first day of fasting.

As many of the Luton team’s players are Muslim and would be fasting during the match, the team wanted the game moved to a different date so its players would not be facing a strenuous 90 minutes of football with reduced food and water intake.

Despite explaining their circumstances, Richard Huish College did not change the date of the match. The decision to cancel the match was upheld by The Association of Colleges (AoC) – which meant Luton Sixth Form College was kicked out of the National College Cup.

The Luton team appealed the decision and asked for some flexibility, but this was denied.

An AoC Sport spokesperson apologised to the students who ended up ‘missing out on playing’ and they said that the association understood their disappointment.

They explained: “We published the competition fixture dates back in May 2022 to give teams as much notice as possible to plan for the season ahead. The Wednesday, March 22 match was confirmed by both teams the previous Friday (March 17).

“On Monday, March 20, 48-hours ahead of kick-off, one team indicated they were no longer able to complete the fixture, in part, due to Ramadan impacting on their team members.”

Jack Rashid, the father of one upset player, said: “They were devastated. It’s absolutely disgraceful. It’s almost like, ‘Tough, your religion, your problem’.”

He has complained to both Bedfordshire FA and Kick It Out, an anti-discrimination organisation.

The AoC’s spokesperson added: "We fully understand how Ramadan impacts on students, so we tried to rearrange the match, but due to the short notice – and with no alternative dates available ahead of the competition deadline – this proved to be impossible. The decision to award a walkover was taken, therefore, as a last resort as the rules require.

“We are committed to promoting inclusion and fairness in all our work. We always make reasonable adjustments when given sufficient notice and move dates where we can for religious festivals. In this case, sadly this was not possible because of the short notice. We continue to work with players, teams and stakeholders to ensure football is a game for everyone.”

A spokesperson for Luton Sixth Form College said: “Whilst we are extremely disappointed that our students have not to have been given the opportunity to play in the semi-final of the AoC National Cup and possibly the final, we understand that the AoC has taken the decision to award a walkover victory to our opponents based on strict adherence to the competition rules.”

Meanwhile, Richard Huish College hopes that the two teams can play a match again soon.

A spokesman said: “Huish were due to play Luton Sixth Form in the AoC National Cup college semi-final on March 22. The date for the match was set by the AoC on the March 15, and both Huish and Luton confirmed they could play.

“Unfortunately, due to staff absence and miscommunication from both colleges it would appear that this date was in fact unsuitable, as it fell on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. Final confirmation that the match date was unsuitable was made very close to the day and then further dates were unfortunately complicated by differences in term dates between the colleges.

They added: “We completely understand the sensitivities around the need to make adjustments to allow communities to observe such important religious events, and agree that player well-being during fasting is paramount.

“Senior staff at both colleges have since spoken to each other and acknowledge that in relation to communications and administrative organisation there were improvements that needed to be made on both sides. We are sorry that this has led to understandable upset for the Luton team and realise that they would be disappointed and frustrated by the AoC decision to allow a roll over.”

Despite the semi-final being cancelled, the team will be celebrated by the college.

The college spokesperson added: “We are very proud of our team who have had a superb season and have gone unbeaten in winning the AOC Eastern Regional Football League A. We will be organising an awards celebration where we will be recognising their achievements and presenting the team with the League Winners Trophies.”