Armband saga an own goal
Qatar World Cup result just in: love has lost, hate has won. To his frustration, England captain Harry Kane was not allowed to wear his rainbow One Love armband as Fifa and the FA showed their true colours. The fight for inclusivity took a painful defeat in Doha.
Kane and other national captains wanting to wear the armband, such as Wales’ Gareth Bale and Virgil van Dijk, of Holland, are the innocents in all this, decent men wanting to focus on huge football games but also prepared to make a point about the importance of inclusivity. They are more in touch with the real world than Fifa, certainly, and clearly now the Football Association.
Of course, Fifa is the real villain in all this. Its president, Gianni Infantino, professed to believe in inclusion during his comical tirade on Saturday and now his business – it’s hard to see Fifa as a sporting body – has been unyielding in its refusal to permit Kane, Bale, van Dijk and four other European captains to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community without being booked.
Already tainted as the organisation that voted to take the World Cup to a country where same-sex relationships are illegal, Fifa’s resistance was no surprise, and England’s main fans’ group reacted powerfully. ‘‘Today we feel betrayed,’’ the Football Supporters’ Association said. ‘‘Today we feel contempt for an organisation that has shown its true values by giving the yellow card to players and the red card to tolerance. Never again should a World Cup be handed out solely on the basis of money and infrastructure.’’
Well said. And fair play to Alex Scott for wearing the ‘‘One Love’’ armband when presenting from the Khalifa International Stadium.
Infantino’s ‘‘today I feel gay’’ rhetoric looks even more surreal and shameful. The gay community’s low expectations of the tournament will have been confirmed. They would also have every reason to be angry with the FA. When it came down to it, when the FA’s principles were most being challenged, the FA capitulated. It bowed to Fifa.
The FA lost its moral compass in the desert, and few people can look to it for proper guidance again on these issues. It showed it has no power with Fifa, no influence in world football; an embarrassment for the association that brought the game to the world.
How the mighty have fallen. Its principles were not so strong after all. It believes in inclusivity and promotes it, but only up to a point. Such values should be non-negotiable.
The FA’s argument was that England captains had worn the armband in previous games, that it had spoken to Fifa over the past months and received no indication it risked sporting sanctions, namely yellow cards, and had expected only fines.
The FA could have called Fifa’s bluff. How humiliating would it have been for the Fifa referee who had to book the captains? Instead, the FA has empowered Fifa.