It should’ve been a pleasant, competitive and fun afternoon for the 8-eight-old Mili Hernandez and her soccer team completely consisting of girls. Mili likes to wear short hair, and she was planning to participate in the Springfield Soccer Club Soccer tournament in Nebraska.
“When my hair starts to grow, I put it short because I’ve always had short hair,” she told to WOWT. “I didn’t like my hair long.”
Before Mili got a chance to play soccer, she was disqualified from the tournament.
The organization of the tournament thought that Mili was actually a boy because of her short hair.
Mili plays at the Azzuri Cachorros Soccer Club in Omaha and is a star player. The other soccer team filed in a complaint. They thought that a ‘boy’ didn’t belong in a soccer tournament for girls.
The people who organized the event decided to check out the team documentation, and according to them, Mili was registered as a boy. However, another form had her listed as a girl, so the confusion was clear.
They then decided to disqualify Mili and her entire team anyway, a mere four hours removed from the game.
Mili’s father, Gerardo Hernandez, even showed them an ID of his daughter but none of it helped.
“I was mad; I never had that problem before. She’s been playing so long in different tournaments,” Mili’s father said to The Washington Post. “I don’t want no problems with nobody, but that wasn’t the right way to treat people. Why they want to tell my girl looks like a boy?”
“They didn’t even want to take it. They told us the thing was decided.”
Her brother mentioned that Mili felt that she had let her whole team down.
After the press received word of Mili’s story and the incident at the soccer tournament, the talented eight-year-old player has received tons of support from famous soccer players and teams around the world.
One of those messages from support was from none other than Abby Wambach, a very large name in the soccer world.
Mili, don’t EVER let anyone tell you that you aren’t perfect just as you are.i won championships with short hair https://t.co/WlfL3EIPic
— Abby Wambach (@AbbyWambach) June 5, 2017
She posted her messages of support on her Twitter and Instagram accounts, saying that Mili is amazing in every way.
“You can do anything you want to do and you can be anything you want to be,” Abby Wambach said.
Mili then received more support from famous international players, including Lydia Williams from Australia, Maddy Evans and Haley Carter from the US, Rachel Daly from the UK and Janine Van Wyk from South Africa.
@SInow @AbbyWambach Guess I should’ve been disqualified too….??♀️Keep doing you Mili #shorthairdontcare pic.twitter.com/2yPzC4OBUy
— Lydia Williams (@lydsaussie) June 5, 2017
I’ll second that #shorthairdontcare ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Ayi1bjl9l4
— Maddy Evans (@Mevans018) June 6, 2017
#BecauseShortHairStillDoesntCare #ImWithMili pic.twitter.com/trEXOZyY4I
— Haley Carter (She/Her) (@H_C_Carter) June 6, 2017
And me… #suitelifeofzacandcody ? I’m with Mili ????♀️ pic.twitter.com/tEEdEC1H5O
— Rachel Daly (@RachelDaly3) June 6, 2017
Guess I should’ve been disqualified too.. Keep going Mili #Shorthairdontcare pic.twitter.com/Ykx92PXcar
— Janine Van Wyk (@Janinevanwyk5) June 6, 2017
After Mili’s story quickly spread, the soccer tournament organization had to deal with tons of criticism and backlash regarding their decision to cease the match.
They later adjusted their statement, stating that the decision for disqualification was due to a clerical misprint error, rather than Mili’s haircut. Even so, Mili and her team shouldn’t have had to deal with this unfortunate issue.
However, we can imagine Mili is happy to receive support from her soccer heroes, and a couple of them even wanted to meet Mili in person. It’s not a championship win, but it is sure to bring a smile to Mili’s face.
As Mili’s father said:
“Everybody makes mistakes. But you just got to keep playing.”
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