British teams fined for poppy war tribute
ZURICH: FIFA fined England 45,000 Swiss francs ( US$ 43,850, 42,000 euros) on Monday for wearing a poppy tribute to British war dead during their November 11 World Cup qualifier against Scotland.
Scotland were fined 20,000 Swiss francs, while Wales and Northern Ireland were given 20,000 and 15,000 Swiss franc fines respectively for making their own tributes.
FIFA rules ban “political” symbols on shirts during official games, but the British nations denied they had breached the ban. England’s Football Association said it would appeal against the fine.
“We note the decision by the FIFA disciplinary committee, which we intend to appeal,” an FA spokesperson said.
“As a first step, we have written today to FIFA requesting the grounds for the decision.”
England’s players and manager Gareth Southgate and Scotland’s players wore black armbands bearing red poppy motifs at the Wembley game, which England won 3- 0.
The qualifier was staged on Armistice Day, when Britain traditionally pays tribute to the country’s war dead.
FIFA disciplinary committee chairman Claudio Sulser stated it was not their “intention to judge or question specific commemorations as we fully respect the significance of such moments in the respective countries, each one of them with its own history and background”.
But in a statement he explained they had issued the fines as “rules need to be applied in a neutral and fair manner across FIFA’s 211 member associations”.
He added: “The display, among others, of any political or religious symbol is strictly prohibited. In the stadium and on the pitch, there is only room for sport, nothing else.”
FIFA rules ban “political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images” on player kits.
However, British lawmaker Damian Collins, chairman of the all-party Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, told AFP he felt FIFA hadn’t applied their rules properly.
“FIFA got themselves into a bad place and have applied their rules in the wrong way,” said the 42year- old, also a founding member of the FIFA reform lobby group FIFA Now. “They have shown a total lack of sensitivity and the FA are right to appeal and to refuse to pay the fine.” — AFP