Wales fans have rainbow-coloured hats confiscated before USA game in Qatar
The Football Association of Wales is investigating the circumstances around female supporters having rainbow-coloured bucket hats confiscated upon entry to the team’s Group B opener against USA.
Some Wales fans reported being confronted by security for bringing the hats into the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium and others have had them seized. The Rainbow Wall, a Welsh LGBTQ+ fans’ group, said on Twitter: “Not the men, just women. @FIFAcom ARE YOU SERIOUS!!”
The former Wales footballer Laura McAllister, a trustee of the FAW Trust, was among those to have a rainbow-coloured bucket hat taken away before entering the stadium to watch the team’s first game at a World Cup finals since 1958.
“So, despite fine words from @FIFAWorldCup before event @Cymru rainbow bucket hats confiscated at stadium, mine included. I had a conversation about this with stewards – we have video evidence,” she said on Twitter. “This #WorldCup2022 just gets better but we will continue to stand up for our values.”
It came as the US journalist Grant Wahl said he was detained by security staff after he wore a rainbow shirt to the match.
McAllister, a past Fifa council candidate, said it was a “small moral victory” that she managed to eventually get the hat into the stadium after being informed that unless she took the hat off, she would not be allowed in.
“I pointed out that Fifa had made lots of comments about supporting LGBT rights in this tournament and said to them that coming from a nation where we’re very passionate about equality for all people, I wasn’t going to take my hat off,” she said. “I think we’ve had plenty of warning that this wasn’t going to be a tournament where human rights, LGBT rights and women’s rights were going to be well respected, but coming from a nation like Wales, we were very keen that we still took a stand coming here.
“They were insistent that unless I took the hat off we weren’t actually allowed to come into the stadium.”
The Wales manager, Rob Page, said he was not aware fans were ordered to remove their hats. “It’s a shame they weren’t allowed to bring them in,” he said.