14-year-old girl in England banned from playing football because she's Spanish

Carmen Olmos (Image courtesy Yahoo sport)

In a startling twist of fate, a 14-year-old girl has been banned from playing football in England simply because she is Spanish.

Carmen Olmos cannot play for her community club Wortley FC because the Football Association deems the teenager to be ineligible until she is granted “international clearance”.

International clearance for a 14-year-old who just wants to play football for her community club?

Head of sport at Fulneck School, Dave Needham, talked about Carmen and how frustrated and heartbroken she was when she heard the news.

“She is a fantastic footballer,” he said. “She attended a number of trials with Wortley Girls FC and enjoyed them so much that she asked to join. The club wrote to the FA to check, because Carmen had not previously registered for either a Spanish or English club.

“Sadly, the reply was that she could only play for the school. Carmen is unhappy, her family are unhappy, we are unhappy and Wortley FC are livid.”

Carmen, bitterly disappointed with the ruling, said: “I really enjoyed the training, and the girls at the club were really helpful,” she said.

Robert Greaves, the secretary of the Wortley Girls FC criticized the rules, saying: “It seems to be a rule designed for professional clubs and it’s the same rule for everyone – which is not appropriate,”

“This is a 14-year-old girl who is at a school in Leeds and wants to play football.”

Although the FA is considered to be the villain here, they are pointing fingers at FIFA regulations which state that “the same rules apply to the registration of foreign minor players who have never been previously registered.”

All in all, while they deliberate on what is right and what is wrong, one thing remains certain – they have killed a young girl’s dream of playing professional football. At least until she gets “international clearance”.