Supporters travelling to Qatar for the World Cup will be urged not to provoke locals by waving rainbow flags near places of worship or urinating on the street, the head of the FA of Wales has said.
Noel Mooney, the FAW chief executive, said that discussions with the tournament’s organising committee have been “going in the right direction” and they have received assurances that LGBTQ fans will be welcomed despite homosexuality being illegal in the emirate.
But Mooney is calling on all fans to use common sense and keep in that they are in a country with a different culture ahead of Wales’ first appearance on the global stage since 1958.
“We have a very strong LGBTQ community among our supporters and a good number are travelling for sure,” Mooney told MirrorFootball. “We’ve been told there will be tolerance but even as a heterosexual couple they don’t do public affection on the streets.
“Where to watch is provocation. If you’re going to a mosque and running around with a rainbow flag, then that kind of stuff is when we ask people to demonstrate common sense.
“We’re going to a different country with a different culture. When people visit our culture they see things in ours they won’t like either so we’re urging common sense first of all and to be tolerant and mindful of their culture. When you go on holiday to another country you do think of their culture and behave in a certain way to show respect for that.
“There will be a lot more meetings over the next weeks but what we’re hearing from the Supreme Committee is that everyone is very welcome and it will be an inclusive World Cup. We’ll take it as face value. It’s an opportunity to make the world better by demonstrating how different cultures can come together in the Middle East. We’re excited by that but mindful of their culture.”
Speaking generally about supporter behaviour and local customs in Doha, he added: “It’s not OK to do things that you may get away with here, urinating in the street for example. You might get away with that on a dark night here, you won’t get away with it there. If you’re doing things that insult their culture, then they will call you out on it. We’ve looked at it as a platform for dialogue and improving the world. For trying to show best practices and our values, what we hold dear.”
Wales are taking an active role in the UEFA working group set up to tackle human rights issues and their head of diversity and inclusion, Jason Webber, is in daily contact with other associations to discuss various concerns.
Mooney said that he has also spoken to Gareth Bale about the potential of making a statement to highlight migrant workers’ rights.
In March England’s Harry Kane vowed to speak with other captains ahead of the tournament to decide on a unified approach and while discussions have taken place no conclusions have been drawn. Mooney agrees that a united gesture made by several nations, which satisfies both the players and Wales FA, is the best course of action.
“I’ve heard various ideas and nothing’s been decided,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Gareth myself about potential concepts that have come from European nations but nothing has been agreed yet. What might be the best way is having a united front – whatever it is we should agree on something together. I don’t know what it will look like yet or what it will be.
“There’s a lot of dialogue with groups such as the International Labour Organisation and Amnesty International. Our hotel, for example, we’re auditing it at the moment – how does it operate, and its policies. A number of things are being discussed that sound very good already.
“There have already been discussions here about how we should approach it. It’s not every day, there have been loose discussions with it. Jason has come back with ideas and talking to other FA about different concepts. I look forward to seeing a plan we can buy into, that the players are happy with and association are happy with. And that is positive.”
