TIME TO TAKE A STAND WAS 2010
OneLove armband saga was purely gesture politics
MAYBE it’s time the BBC flew Fiona Bruce out to Qatar for a Question Time World Cup Special.
A panel of Gareth Southgate, Hansi Flick, Carlos Queiroz, Harry Kane and Gareth Bale could spend an hour chewing the fat over OneLove armbands, migrant rights and the civil unrest in Iran.
When they get to the last question — the one before the credits — someone could pipe up with a query about football. Just to lighten the mood a bit.
Qatar 2022 is now the most politically-charged sporting event of all time.
Russia were kicked out over the invasion of Ukraine. Iran players refused to sing their own national anthem before the game against England in protest at suppression of dissent in their homeland.
FIFA’s clampdown on players displaying their support for gay rights via OneLove armbands, meanwhile, sparked a silent gesture of protest from the German national team. And rival European associations are now trying to up the ante by finding new gestures to show they’re even more outraged than the Germans.
When the governing body pressed ahead with the award of the finals to a tiny desert state with a questionable approach to migrant rights, homosexuals and women, they not only brought a whole world of grief upon their own heads. By appealing to people to stick to the football, they pretty much condemned managers and players to a daily media circus where they’re asked about everything but.
Every World Cup brings a bit of off-field noise. The tournaments in South Africa, Brazil and Russia were preceded by questions over the political climate. Usually, by the end of week one, the racket fades and people start talking about the brilliance of Brazil or bickering over the GOAT credentials of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
FIFA must have hoped that Saudi Arabia and Japan’s unexpected triumphs, and Iran’s deserved win over Wales, would move the dial on a bit. They should be so lucky.
When managers and players should be focused on some of the biggest games of their lives, they spend every press conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre tiptoeing through the minefield of inclusivity, diversity and freedom of speech instead.
The most absurd example of the week came shortly after England’s 6-2 win over Iran.
Bukayo Saka is a young footballer with Arsenal. The son of economic migrants from Nigeria, he was one of three England players subjected to racist abuse after missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final. For all anyone knows, he’s a young man with strong political views.
Even if he’s the next Nelson Mandela, the time for an overseas journalist to put him on the spot over gay rights in Qatar was not minutes after he’d scored two goals for his country in their opening game of the World Cup finals. Talk about killing the moment.
It’s not the job of 21-year-old football players to take countries to task over their laws on homosexuality. It’s up to the English FA, the German FA and every other national association scrambling to paint themselves as the new gatekeepers of inclusivity to take the lead instead. Most of them thought they could burnish their right-on credentials by sticking a OneLove armband on the captains in Doha. By that point, the stable door was slammed shut and the horse was halfway to Dubai.
The actual time to make a stand on Qatar was back in 2010 when 14 of the 22 members of FIFA’s ExCo committee voted to let them host the World Cup in the first place.
That’s when Europe should have told football’s global body where to stick their decision. That was when they should have asked Old Sepp a few dogged questions over how football’s crown jewels came to fall into the hands of a tiny desert outpost where gay players and supporters can’t be themselves for fear of spending a night in the cells.
Instead, they came up with a lame and hollow plan to stick a OneLove armband on Harry Kane and Manuel Neuer. Then backed down the minute FIFA threatened to book the players for dissent. As soon as they realised it might actually cost them, they changed their principles quicker than Groucho Marx and stuck the armbands back in the box.
Like taking the knee, OneLove wasn’t really about doing the right thing. It was about being seen to do the right thing. A nice hashtag, it allowed football administrators, managers and players to tick some boxes, keep the campaigners off their backs and show sponsors they were taking a firm stand against Qatari intolerance. Right up until the moment when they lost their nerve and didn’t.