Support for human rights isn’t ‘politics’

Imagine if the World Cup had come to this country for 2022, or to australia, or to the United States. Would there be any problem with a training top that carried the message ‘Human rights for all?’ Of course not. The pursuit of human rights isn’t seen as political here. It’s a, well, human right. Only if FIFA awards the World Cup to a repressive nation in which basic rights are often denied does such a statement become political.

This brings us to Qatar. The Danish Football Union asked if their players could train there in shirts with a message advocating human rights and FIFA said no. They claimed it was a political statement. not in a free country it wouldn’t be. Say the World Cup was in england and Denmark wanted to parade in shirts proclaiming ‘B******s to Brexit’ or ‘F*** the Tories’ — that would be viewed as political and insulting to the tournament hosts. It says everything that the support of human rights is the equivalent challenge in Qatar.