In the most controversial World Cup ever, a new controversy reared its head just hours before both England and Wales got their Qatar 2022 campaigns underway. Both countries had indicated that their captains - Harry Kane and Gareth Bale - would wear OneLove captain’s armbands during their respective opening fixtures and throughout the tournament.
However, just hours before the World Cup started, world football’s governing body, FIFA, announced its own official armbands for each nation’s captain to wear in games. The new armbands are in partnership with three United Nations agencies, and will feature a different social campaign as the tournament progresses.
Nine countries in total had made clear their plans to wear the OneLove armbands in a unified message to promote inclusion and diversity. The wearing of the armband was felt particularly significant in Qatar due to the state’s stance on homosexuality - which is illegal in the country and can even be punishable by death.
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The OneLove armband, which is rainbow coloured, is meant to show support to the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness about the continued discrimination some people face in Qatar. It features a colour-striped heart with a white ‘1’ within a black outline. The initiative itself was launched by the Netherlands before Euro 2020.
It's understood that the football associations involved would have been prepared to pay a fine if their captains wore the armband, but on Monday morning it was confirmed that they would back down and not ask their captains to wear them amid the threat of sporting sanctions, including yellow cards for Bale and Kane. A joint statement from the FAW, the FA and other European football associations who were intending to wear the OneLove armband, said: "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 cant 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 not response. Our players and coaches are disappointed - they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."
It's clear that the players themselves had wanted to support the OneLove campaign. Wales captain Gareth Bale had said: “Us as footballers, it’s been a difficult subject to talk about. We can shed a light on problems that are going on. We’ve spoken to the FAW, they’ve been speaking to the Welsh Government who have been speaking to Qatar and FIFA in working on these issues. For us as players we are fully behind it (wearing the armband).” Meanwhile, England skipper Harry Kane said: “I think we’ve made it clear as a team and a staff and organisation that we want to wear the armband.”
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