In keeping with the “just pull this shit at the last minute, what’re they gonna do about it?” playbook, it seems there’s a kerfuffle about the One Love captains armbands that the Euro teams were intent on wearing. FIFA and the Qatari’s cracking down against them, and talk that day 2’s captains (Kane, Bale and Van Dijk) may be booked if they defy orders and wear them.
Euro associations were well prepared to cop a €10K fine, but imagine those guys cop yellows and are forced to miss subsequent games as a result. Yet again, just like the beers, the cuntiest part of this cuntery is pulling it at the last minute when it could all have been addressed at any time in the last 12 years.
Maybe it’s an extension of the we-started-booking-players-for-taking-their-shirts-off-during-goal-celebrations-because-of-political-messages rationale that they’re applying to what is considered non-approved political messages on armbands.
Yeah the article I read said France opted out to show respect to the Qatari’s. Obviously not wanting to ruffle feathers with the PSG / Sarkozy connection.
Will always respect Kane and Bale if they take a yellow for doing that. I suspect they back down though, and fair enough (and shame and FUCK YOU to Fifa and Qatar 2012)
‘We have asked the captains not to wear the armbands’
A joint statement from the Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland about the One Love armband: "Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. 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 One Love 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.”
This, according to the BBC, is what it would be for - political messages are banned, such as lifting a shirt with a slogan - the armbands with One Love are considered a political message
I will forever respect the English, Welsh and US captains if they wear rainbow armbands in QATAR against IRAN. Iran’s anti-gay laws are even worse than Qatar’s.
Iran’s anti-gay laws are even worse than Qatar’s.