Sexual tension as football’s big show kicks off
Russian women urged to welcome visitors with open arms as pre-match crowd hears a political refrain
NO ONE had quite succeeded in kicking politics into touch as, under the cloudy skies and ambiguous sexual climate of the Russian capital, football’s greatest show finally got under way yesterday.
The afternoon was not halfway through when police bundled gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell into a van and carried him off for questioning, for daring to question the policies of Vladimir Putin on gay people in Chechnya.
He had unrolled his blue-and-red poster beneath the statue of former Red Army chief of staff Marshal Zhukov near Red Square. Football fans swarmed nearby but decided that what Mr Tatchell had called a one-man protest should remain that way.
He said that getting arrested was “standard” for Russians with similar views to his, but that he had been treated more leniently because of his British passport.
He was later released from custody.
There had been no such reticence on the part of the hosts to broach the subject of heterosexual relationships.
One legislator, apparently pursuing an exercise in damage limitation following an unfriendly response to comments by a colleague, urged local women to welcome their visitors with open arms. “The more love stories we have connected to the world championship, the more people from different countries fall in love, the more children are born, the better,” said parliament member Mikhail Degtyaryov. That was in contrast to Tamara Pletnyova, who heads a parliamentary committee on children and families, and whose views were branded “racist and archaic” when she warned Russian women to consort with local men only.
The Kremlin was reluctant to weigh in, noting only that its women were “the best in the world” and that spectators were being handed World Cup identification cards adorned with the legend “Say no to racism”.
“This is probably the best way to characterise the atmosphere of this holiday and Russia’s approach to it,” said Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also insisted that his country welcomed fans from “all genders and all (sexual) orientations.”
The singer Robbie Williams, whose booking on Monday for the opening ceremony had been met with surprise given his negative portrayal of Moscow society in his 2016 song Party Like a Russian, chose to omit the number from his set list at the pre-match entertainment in the Luzhniki Stadium, whose programme had been a closely guarded secret.
Williams, whom Fifa described as a “global music icon”, opened the proceedings with his 1998 single Let Me Entertain You, after having spent time on stage with the former Brazil striker Ronaldo.
The Russian harpist Alexander Boldachev then took the stage, with a large “fire bird” carrying operatic performer Aida Garifullina. She sang a duet with Williams of his anthem Angels, before Williams brought the ceremony to a close by singing Rock DJ.
He said the experience, in front of an 80,000 crowd, was “a boyhood dream”.
Former Spain captain Iker Casillas brought out the trophy ahead of the show, with the 32 flags representing the competing nations unfurled during the performance of Angels.
But closer to home the use of flags by England supporters remained a sore point, with Theresa May saying she hoped a way could be found to allow everyone to show their support should they wish.
It had emerged earlier that postal workers had been told not to fly the Cross of St George on their vans during the tournament because of a “duty of care” Royal Mail said it had to its staff and the public not to cause “a potential hazard”.
“The Prime Minister believes everybody should be able to show their support for the England football team,” Downing Street said.
The PM believes everybody should be able to show support.
A Downing Street spokesman on concerns over the flag of England being flown.