Fans expressed their displeasure when England and Wales announced that their captains would not wear OneLove armbands during the World Cup in Qatar due to the risk of an automatic yellow card.
In a country where homosexuality is punished by up to three years in prison, England’s Harry Kane and Wales’ Gareth Bale were among a handful of national team players who were scheduled to wear the armbands as a show of support for the LGBT community.
However, the football associations of these countries and six more said today that they are unwilling to risk “sporting consequences” in defense of the idea.
The Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland issued a united statement stating, “FIFA has been quite clear that it will apply sporting punishments if our captains wear armbands on the field of play.”
As national federations, we cannot place our players in a position where they could face sports punishments, such as bookings, so we have urged the captains not to wear the armbands during FIFA World Cup games.
The teams stated that they were willing to “pay fines that would typically apply to violations of kit laws” but that they “cannot put our players in a position where they could be cautioned or even compelled to leave the field of play.”
“We are extremely disappointed by FIFA’s decision, which we consider to be unprecedented – we informed FIFA in September of our desire to wear the OneLove armband to actively support inclusiveness in football, but received no reaction,” the statement continued.
England will launch their World Cup campaign against Iran later today, while Wales will face the United States in the evening fixture.
They are simply submitting to oppression.
Before the England game, fans outside the stadium shouted their unhappiness about the armband decision.
Steve Wright, 43, an England supporter from Derby, said: “I do not agree with this.
They are simply capitulating to the persecution of the Qatari government.
Shaun Rowland, 56, from Hertfordshire, also spoke outside the Khalifa International Stadium before England’s match and said, “I’m not a fan of the game.” “They bottled it up, didn’t they?
“Would it have made a significant impact? I do not know, but I find it unfortunate.”
Meanwhile, 55-year-old Simon Hill from near Cambridge added, “Focus on football.”
Terry Woolf, 52, from Hitchin, responded to the decision with a simple, “What a surprise!”
An official spokeswoman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated: “We share the FA’s displeasure with FIFA’s decision, which places players in a very precarious position.
“The decision ultimately rests with the FA. Regarding LGBT rights in general, it is evident that Qatar’s policies differ from those of the United Kingdom and are not ones we would support.”
It comes after FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated “today I feel gay” during a tirade directed at journalists on Saturday, in which he implied he understood the plight of oppressed communities because he had red hair.
“Today I feel Qatari. Today I felt Arabic. I feel African today. Today I feel gay. Today I feel crippled. I feel like a migrant laborer today “he stated.
“I am not Qatari, Arab, African, homosexual, or handicapped.
“I feel this way because I understand what it is like to be discriminated against and bullied as a foreigner in a strange nation.
“I was ridiculed as a child because I had red hair, freckles, and I was Italian, so you can imagine.”
The Football Supporters Association (FSA) addressed its ire towards FIFA as opposed to the national football associations that have opted to back down in the face of potential bookings.
“To paraphrase FIFA president Gianni Infantino, LGBT+ football fans and their allies will be furious today,” the statement read.
“We feel cheated today. Today, we hold an organization in contempt for revealing its actual principles by handing the yellow card to players and the red card to tolerance.
“Never again should the World Cup be awarded exclusively based on financial and infrastructure resources. No nation without LGBT+ rights, women’s rights, worker’s rights, or any other universal human right should be granted the privilege of hosting the World Cup.”
