Shame on nations that crumbled at Fifa diktats
SIR – Contrast the courage of the Iranian footballers in Qatar (Leading Article, November 22), who refused to sing their national anthem, with that of the English, Welsh and other football associations who crumbled at the diktat from Fifa not to wear Onelove armbands.
Such collective cowardice is shameful given that the Iranian players will probably be punished when they arrive home.
J Meirion Thomas
SIR – Fifa made a terrible decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, and compounds this by restricting protests such as the Onelove armbands. The most effective way of expressing dissatisfaction with the event would be for the parent company of Budweiser, one of the principal sponsors, to withdraw its sponsorship. It has already had the agreed sale of its beer partially cancelled by the Qatari government.
Morality may not be a currency that Fifa grasps, but money talks, particularly the loss of it.
Roger Gentry
SIR – England’s first game of the World Cup was televised on the BBC. There were two commentators droning on throughout the game. Why are two needed to tell us what we can plainly see? And at half time four people told us more about what we had already seen.
So the BBC had six people – including multimillionaire Gary Lineker – to cover one game, when it bleats that it must cut popular services because it is short of money. Terry Lloyd