FA’S stance on Guardiola’s yellow ribbon could unravel

Governing body takes a harder line than Uefa, but it is on weak ground and has only highlighted the cause further

Is anyone truly offended by Pep Guardiola wearing a yellow ribbon on the touchline during matches? Uefa is not and has no intention of trying to stop him but the Football Association has charged the Manchester City manager with a breach of its rules “on kit and advertising regulations” by wearing what has been deemed a political symbol.

While the FA has taken an absolutist stance – and Guardiola is set to be fined once he answers the charge, and risks a touchline ban if he continues – it is interesting to contrast its black-and-white approach with that of European football’s governing body.

The ribbon is being worn in support of the Catalan politicians who have been imprisoned during the attempts to hold a referendum over independence from Spain.

By charging Guardiola, of course, the FA has already highlighted the cause further and given it valuable publicity. Supporters distributed 6,000 yellow ribbons before Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

After the match, around half of Guardiola’s post-match press conference was dominated by the ribbon issue and he delivered an impassioned speech on it and why he wears the symbol. “I am a human being and this is for humanity,” he said.

By discussing it, Guardiola also opened himself up to questions as to how he can reconcile that with working for a club owned by the Abu Dhabi regime, given the accusations of human rights abuses it has faced. His response – that “every country decides the way they want to live” – was unconvincing.

Those questions are all legitimate, as is the general debate, and it is something that Guardiola has to square with his own conscience. While the discussion of political and human rights issues in a football press conference is not normal, no one lives in a bubble.

But that is the nub of the FA’S argument and it believes mixing sport and politics opens a can of worms, although it would not have any problem if Guardiola agreed not to wear the ribbon in view in his technical area but pinned it on to his jumper for his press conference, where he is filmed. Alternatively, he could still wear the ribbon during games as long as it is not visible – such as wearing it on his T-shirt under his jumper.

At the same time, the FA is clear that it regards its determined lobbying of Fifa to allow the wearing of poppies on players’ shirts around Remembrance Sunday as different. Its argument, which Fifa eventually accepted, is that the poppy is not a political symbol but simply a mark of respect and remembrance.

So, the FA has charged Guardiola, while Uefa has taken a much more sensible approach and will allow him to continue wearing the ribbon during Champions League matches. In principle, Uefa argues, and has done so since the end of 2016, that the “reasonable man” test needs to be applied.

That test is simple. It allows for a defence to be put forward as to why political messages or symbols can be worn as long as they are not considered offensive. The governing body would need to take into account the general public’s perception and the reaction of the opponents at a match and the message it sends out to supporters.

It also means that Uefa, while still having a rule in place to ban political messages, does not define what they constitute or look like, and will take each incident on a case-by-case basis. No one would argue that Red Star Belgrade fans did not cause offence when they recently showed their support for Bosnian Serb war crimes convict Ratko Mladic; and Uefa ordered the club to play the home leg of their recent Europa League tie against CSKA Moscow behind closed doors and issued a fine. Uefa was, however, wrong then to defer that ban.

Uefa did not reach the conclusion to use the “reasonable man” test on its own and, actually, it followed another Catalan case, the “Estelada case”, when Barcelona were fined in July 2015 after the Catalan Estelada flag was flown at the Champions League final.

The flag has become a symbol of