Captain of Queen’s Park wears ‘fuhrer’ armband
BY MICHAEL PRINGLE michael.pringle@reachplc.com SCOTLAND’S oldest football club have been caught up in a Nazi row after their captain wore an armband with “Fuhrer” on it.
Queen’s Park received a complaint from a former player after Scott Gibson appeared with a band in the colours of the German flag and the offensive word during Tuesday’s Betfred Cup tie.
The word translates as “leader” or “tyrant” and is often associated with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Gibson, 24, wore the red, yellow and black armband during the match against St Mirren at Hampden Park.
However, Queen‘s Park said the full lettering of the band, gifted by a German club, reads “spielfuhrer” – which translates as “team captain”.
Stephen O’Donnell, 45, who played for the Spiders in 2000, said he complained to the club after noticing the armband in a photo online.
He said: “I was looking to catch up on the score, saw the picture and asked myself, ‘Why was he wearing that?’
“I thought, ‘That’s not right’. Where would you buy something like that, and why?
“If it just said ‘Fuhrer’, you could possibly excuse it but given the fact it’s in German colours, that’s a premeditated action.
“Queen’s Park are meant to be an all-encompassing club and this doesn’t reflect at all well on them.”
A club spokeswoman told the Record the full lettering could not be clearly seen in photos.
She said: “The Queen’s Park FC captain’s armband has the word ‘spielfuhrer’ on it, all one word. This translates into ‘captain’ or ‘team captain’.
“We have this armband to mark a long-standing association with German team Wattenscheid, which goes back over 10 years. The club remain in contact with Wattenscheid and were gifted the armband.”