14 DAY TRIAL // The NFL is not having a good year. The American Football League has somehow managed to find itself at the heart of every major scandal that's affected the media in the last couple of months, and it was generally about very sensitive issues such as racism, domestic violence and religion.
We're not going to talk about the whole Washington Redskins name-changing debacle, or the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal. Today, the NFL is under fire for penalizing a player simply because he decided to do a Muslim prayer in the end zone during a game.
Abdullah was immediately flagged after he dropped to his knees
The player is Husain Adbullah from Kansas City Chiefs and he was astonished to find that the referees did not see kindly to the fact that he chose to touch his head to the ground while kneeling in the end zone and penalized him for “unsportsmanlike conduct.”
The safety had just intercepted a pass by Tom Brady and returned it for 39 yards to give his team the victory when he slid to his knees and prayed in silence. It's a known fact that Adbullah is a devout Muslim and his choice to celebrate his achievement with a prayer shouldn't shock anyone.
But that didn't stop referees from penalizing the player for violating NFL rules which forbid “celebrations while on the ground.” The scandal is sparked by the fact that prayer is generally overlooked from this rule, but it's only Christian prayer it seems.
Christian player Tim Tebow actually became famous for religious celebrations in the end zone and was never penalized
USA Today points out that the entire affair reeks of double standard and gives a fitting example: Christian player Tim Tebow, also a highly religious player, who often celebrates touchdowns by posing in prayer. In fact, the gesture was so common that it became a phenomenon in the 2011 season, known as “tebowing.” Tebow himself was never penalized for his gesture.
After the game, many fans took to Twitter and other social media platforms to express their anger at this double standard and called out the NFL for its apparent hypocrisy. The NFL has not yet commented on the matter, but it bodes ill for them if the penalization stands, another slap in their face and it seems they're running out of cheeks to turn.
The issue is still under debate as it's been pointed out that referees might not have penalized Abdullah for the prayer but for the slide he made before that. If the NFL wants to avoid another scandal they don't need, they should address the issue quickly and offer a formal apology if Abdullah was indeed penalized for his religious gesture.