The FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicked off only yesterday, but football fans may feel already mentally exhausted. This state of exhaustion is not caused by watching too many incredibly good football matches, but from the controversies the event has unleashed. In fact, it looks like the dared sportswashing is an almost impossible activity to carry out. The latest controversy regards a small accessory - the OneLove armband.
Until yesterday some teams had confirmed their captains would be wearing the rainbow armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights. England's captain Harry Kane, for example, stated the team intended to do so.
In Qatar people from the LGBTQ+ community face a lot of challenges, male homosexuality is illegal and same-sex sexual activity is punishable with prison or may even lead to a death sentence. In October 2022, Human Rights Watch issued a research that found out that Qatar Preventive Security Department forces arbitrarily arrested LGBTQ+ people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention.
The teams didn't intend to wear the armband out of respect or as a provocation, but to show they support inclusion. The national football associations wrote to FIFA in September to let them know they intended to wear the armbands, but had no response. Besides, the armbands were used in other occasions such as the UEFA Nations League matches in September.
This morning FIFA issued a warning highlighting that the captains could be booked or forced to leave the pitch if they insisted on wearing the armbands. The warning aligns with FIFA's opposition over the years to political protests or sloganeering during games or in stadiums (Law 4 of the Laws of the Game restricts the possibility of having slogans on shirts or undergarments, while there are further regulations on political gestures within the Disciplinary and Ethics codes).
As a result, by the late morning the situation had dramatically changed: England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland stated their captains would not be wearing the armband.
In a joint statement, the seven teams explained: "As national federations, we can't put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games. We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play. We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented (…) Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."
Captains can now wear the FIFA-mandated band - "Football unites the world" - or the armband that was designed for nations that would reach the quarter-finals, spelling "NoDiscrimination", and that will now be available throughout the tournament to allow all 32 captains to wear it.
The decision goes against what Qatar had stated in December 2020, when they announced they would comply with FIFA rules promoting tolerance and inclusion at matches despite the Arab country's strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws and even allow rainbow flags on the pitch.
An armband is a small accessory, but it can show allegiance and support, yet in this case the problem is not the armband per se or the dilemma "wearing or not wearing it". The real problem is that, if they are scared about an armband, then how will things ever change for LGBTQ+ community in Qatar? Because that's the main point of hosting an inclusive sports event - making sure that through it and after it, things can change for the better for the hosting country. That's why FIFA shouldn't have opposed the decision to wear the OneLove armband, and that's why captains should have risked a yellow card.
But that tolerance is getting the red card at the World Cup in Qatar is proved also by the negative reactions caused by another accessory, a rainbow bucket hat donned by Welsh fans during the USA-Wales match today. According to reports, female supporters wearing the hats got them confiscated. Looks like rainbows are out of fashion in Qatar.
But there were other issues that took away the attention from football and reshifted it on the situation in Iran. Protests have been going on for two months in the country after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, detained by the "morality police" for being in violation of the dress code for women. Shaken by the demonstrations, the strongest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's clerical leadership answered with violence, killing so far 380 people, including 58 children. The latest ones to be arrested are actresses Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, both detained as they removed their veil in public and supported the protests.
Prior to the World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, all the Iran players were silent as the anthem was played. Iranian fans showed their conflicting emotions by being noisy, instead, to try and drown out the anthem and to show they do not feel represented by their team and hope they lose to avoid the regime taking the merit. Iranian fans also carried the lion-and-sun flag of the country's pre-revolutionary government (banned in the country since 1979) or held placards with the words "Women, Life, Freedom", the uprising's main slogan. FIFA may not like political messages on the pitch, but there's more at stake on the Qatar pitches than just a few goals.
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