Fusion of Faith
‘There are mixed opinions in the community if women should play sport but my family has supported from the very start. Our girls come each week, because they have a sense of belonging’
Lael Kassem
Lael Kassem set up the Auburn Tigers Women’s AFL team in Sydney, with her friend Amna Hassan. Lael grew up in a supportive single parent family, with her mother raising nine children, of which she is the only girl. At high school she discovered sport for the first time and became addicted. She has fused her two passions without compromising her faith in either. She wears her Hajib with pride when she plays. In 2012, she was selected to represent NSW Women’s AFL team. Lael has taken an extraordinary path as a young Muslim woman, and in turn changing and empowering the lives of all women, not only Muslim women by her dedication to AFL.
Are stereotypes and misconceptions of sporting ability across racial and cultural backgrounds still ever present?