Gandhinagar: A referee asked a 12-year-old Gujarat origin Hindu boy to leave the soccer field for wearing a Swaminarayan kanthi-mala in Brisbane, Australia.

The referee had reportedly refrained a boy named Shubh Patel from playing soccer with kanthi mala in his neck. Shubh preferred to not play the soccer game rather than removing the kanthi.

He said, “I would rather choose to follow my religion than break the kanthi just for the soccer game.”

He also claimed that he is not stopped in any other games for wearing a kanthi mala.

Indian communities were agitated by the referee’s order. Football Queensland had initiated an investigation about this dispute and also apologized to the boy’s family. The boy is now given special permission to play soccer while wearing a kanthi.  DeshGujarat