May 15, 2025 (Updated )
Zainab Alema is known by fans at The Bulldozer, something she describes as a combination of “smashing through” the pitch and “paving the way for something better”. The Leicester Tigers player is the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman to make their debut in Premiership Women’s Rugby, the highest level of the sport in the UK.
Reflecting on the coverage of her achievement, Zainab tells Journo Resources: “It was very mixed, but majority positive. There were a couple of rugby pages that posted. One in particular went viral, but there were a lot of rubbish comments on there like: ‘So what if she’s wearing a hijab? So what if she’s Black and she’s Muslim?’”
But, as Zainab points out, it probably did need to be singled out by the media; research by The Muslimah Sports Association shows that while 80 per cent of Muslim women participate in sport casually, it’s a story rarely told in the media. At the same time, a third say previous experiences have negatively impacted their participation in sport.
“People need to be aware that there are Muslim women that exist that enjoy sport, and they’re good at it,” says Zainab.
After Mohamed Salah scored 30 goals for Liverpool’s men’s team during the 2017/18 season, a new chant could be heard at Anfield. “If he’s good enough for you, he’s good enough for me,” sang fans. “If he scores another few, then I’ll be Muslim too. If he’s good enough for you, he’s good enough for me. Sitting in the mosque, that’s where I wanna be!”
But often this welcome is contingent on being a superstar. Just a few years later, three people were banned from the Europa League quarter-final after chanting racist and Islamophobic slogans about the footballer. And these attitudes don’t just affect players; in 2015, a spectator at a Liverpool men’s team match posted a photo of Muslim fans praying in a stairway during a match, labelling it a “disgrace”.
These incidents don’t happen in isolation. “It kind of infiltrates from mainstream media”, says sportswriter Abdullah Mamaniyat. “When you’ve got negative connotations, it filters through to sports as well.” Similarly, a 2021 report from The Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) found nearly 60 per cent of media coverage of Muslims was negative.
Arif Islam(L) and Abdullah Mamaniyat (R).
But the very presence of Muslim athletes has the power to counter these negative stereotypes — as does good reporting. A 2021 study in American Political Science Review found hate crimes in Liverpool dropped by 16 per cent after Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool Men, while fans halved the rate of anti-Muslim comments posted online.
“Just because there was a Muslim — openly Muslim athlete — doing so well for them, it changed the whole perspective,” says Arif Islam, a sports journalist for SportsPro. However, for Arif, this is closely linked with having Muslims represented in the newsroom, to better understand personal experiences and represent them.
Reflecting on the time he interviewed Muslim cricketer, Azeem Rafiq, he says: “That personal interaction that me and him had, other people wouldn’t be able to get those sort of questions or answers out of him.” From an athlete’s perspective, Zainab agrees: “I definitely feel it’s easier to talk to the Muslim journalists about the faith bit because they understand.” Recalling an experience she had with one Muslim interviewer, she adds: “I felt fully represented as a Muslim woman.”
There’s a paradox when it comes to Muslims in sport — and a stark difference between what happens on and off the pitch. After the 2024 summer transfer window, there were 44 Muslim players in the men’s football Premier League. Considering there are 20 clubs with squads of 25, that’s an estimated 8.8 per cent of players who are Muslim.
Journalism is a different story. Research from City University in 2016 found that just 0.4 per cent of UK journalists are Muslim — and that’s where the figures stop. While the NCTJ’s Journalists At Work 2024 report does mention religion, it only offers a breakdown of no religion (59 per cent) versus Christian (36 per cent). The remaining five per cent are classed as ‘other’, gathering together Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and other religions.
For its part, the NCTJ says that “sample size restrictions mean we cannot show this data at this level” — but the upshot remains that the proportion of different religions is masked. What’s more, the figures we do have are both wildly out of step with what’s happening on the pitch and the actual UK Muslim population — 6.5 per cent in the latest census.
With so few Muslim journalists, can we really say that current sports coverage truly reflects the stories of elite Muslim footballers? It’s also a problem of tokenism, says Sky Sports reporter Fadumo Olow. “When you’re the only Muslim person in this space […] or the only hijabi in a place, you become that go-to source or that voice for all of those issues.” Yet one person cannot voice everybody’s subjective opinions and experiences.
Similarly, a lack of accurate statistics can also directly affect sports journalists’ reporting; the fact that so many stats are out of date doesn’t help. For instance, Abdullah says the outdated census made it “hard to talk about rising populations of Muslims and then dive into the percentage that are women in sport” for an article on South Asian Heritage month and the representation of women in sport.
So, how do we start matching the growing representation on the pitch with that off it?
“I think better access is the key part. If you know you’re lacking in representation from a certain community, then go to that community and make it known about this career and this pathway,” suggests Fadumo.
Some organisations have already started work in this area. The Aziz Foundation provides scholarships for British Muslims to study media and journalism courses. More broadly, Nujum Sports champions Muslim athletes and educates sporting bodies. For example, producing the Muslim Athlete Charter, a framework for how clubs can best support Muslims, such as not being sprayed with alcohol in celebrations.
These practical accommodations are sorely needed within journalism too; Fadumo tells us it was a welcome change when she joined Sky and her manager pointed out prayer facilities and offered adjustments to her work schedule during Ramadan. These facilities still aren’t standard at some stadiums both athletes and reporters will be working at.
Recounting her struggle to carry out her daily prayers, which can clash with training and matches, Zainab says: “I used to go to the place where we were playing an hour earlier so I could suss out a suitable place to pray. I’ve prayed in parks before, I’ve prayed in the back of shops.” She describes feeling a weight being lifted off her shoulders when her previous club, Richmond, provided rooms at the club to pray in after she sought support.
Usmaan Akthar, a social media specialist, also believes that broadening conversations about how religion and sport interact can help create better content. “It would be great to hear about not just Muslim athletes, but other athletes that are Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, and so forth. Learning more about their faith and why it’s so important to them and how they rely on their faith to allow them to perform at an elite level.”
For example, he says content like “A Day in the Life of an athlete fasting” published during Ramadan could help others understand their unique struggles and have “more of an appreciation for the athletes that are willing to fast in the name of their faith, but also compete at a high level.”
There’s a lot to be done, but Zainab says she has begun to feel change as a spectator. “There are times where I’ve gone to watch rugby and I just know that I’m going to be the only Muslim woman there,” she says. But at a recent Red Roses game, Zainab bumped into several other Muslim women.
“A place that I’ve been to so many times, and I’m actually seeing a group of Muslim women at Twickenham Stadium. That was really beautiful for me because I just thought, wow, things are changing.”
With growing numbers of Muslims playing, watching, and reporting on sport, their presence is starting to be felt. Now it is time for more of their voices to be heard.
