England have been forced into a dramatic last-minute U-turn over their plans for captain Harry Kane to wear a “One Love” armband during their World Cup campaign.
In September, the Football Association had announced plans for Kane to join a group of 10 national team captains, including Wales skipper Gareth Bale, in supporting the OneLove campaign as part of their efforts to highlight the oppression of the LGBT+ community in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.
England had expected to be handed a fine for their actions, which breach Fifa’s rules on kit, and said they were happy to pay it.
But just 24 hours before their opening game against Iran, the World Cup organisers indicated that if captains continued with the plan, they would be booked as soon as the game started, according to a joint statement issued by England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.
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“Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” the statement said.
“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in Fifa World Cup games.
“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband.
“However we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.
“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision which we believe is unprecedented – we wrote to Fifa in September informing them of our wish to wear the OneLove armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response.
“Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways.”
The Football Supporters’ Association said it felt “betrayed” by Fifa’s inflexibility.
“To paraphrase Fifa president Gianni Infantino – today LGBT+ football supporters and their allies will feel angry,” an FSA statement said.
“Today we feel betrayed. 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. No country which falls short on LGBT+ rights, women’s rights, worker’s rights or any other universal human right should be given the honour of hosting a World Cup.
“Since 2010 we have been raising questions about the suitability of Qatar as a World Cup host. Everyone could see this coming and it’s astonishing that, on the morning of England’s World Cup opener, Fifa are trying to censor players for sharing a positive message.”
Analysis: A weak and humiliating climbdown
By Sam Cunningham, i’s chief football correspondent in Doha
So Fifa called England’s bluff and they crumpled like a house of cards in a desert sandstorm.
The first sign of any real, meaningful inconvenience to the England player who would wear the OneLove armband – supposedly the big gesture to promote diversity and inclusion – and the Football Association backed down.
How humiliating this is, for the English FA and the others, to have already so meekly fought for their cause, only to be told that wasn’t happening either. And that if you wanted to die on that hill at the 2022 World Cup there’s up to seven yellow cards coming your way. Nooooo… not seven! We couldn’t possibly take seven yellow cards!
Fifa then waited until the day of England’s opening game against Iran to confirm that those yellow cards would be flying if Kane had the audacity to wear a completely made up symbol that is sort of like a rainbow but isn’t a rainbow. With the minutes ticking down to kick-off, it gave them no time to come up with a clever solution, other than to fold.
“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision,” the joint statement said. So frustrated that you’re going to… do exactly what they say? There are other words for that, which aren’t “frustrated”.
And I know, of course, this isn’t only on England. They made the decision alongside the FAs of Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. But they didn’t have to follow everyone else. They didn’t have to see which way the wind was blowing then leap onto a hand glider and let their morals be swept away.
Read Sam’s analysis in full here.
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