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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Jim van Wijk

World Cup VAR referee forced to deny on air ‘far right’ hand gesture

Shaun Evans said it was an ‘involuntary, subconscious twitch’ that led to an ‘OK’ symbol during the official broadcast of Germany's opening game against Curaçao on Sunday - (Youtube)

An Australian video assistant referee (VAR) has denied intentionally making a hand gesture linked to white supremacists during a broadcast ahead of Germany’s match against Curacao on Sunday.

Shaun Evans was seen forming an upside-down ‘OK’ symbol with his right hand as cameras cut to the VAR team. While also used in the innocuous ‘circle game’, the gesture has been adopted by far-right groups and was added to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) list of hate symbols in 2019.

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