MY ACCOUNT
England are considering their approach to the OneLove campaign after it emerged captain Harry Kane could be booked for wearing the rainbow armband in their World Cup opener against Iran this afternoon.
OneLove, which promotes ‘inclusion and sends a message against discrimination of any kind’, has grown in significance in the build-up to the tournament in Qatar, a country in which homosexuality is illegal.
England, along with other European nations like Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, formed an alliance with all stating their captains would wear the armband in a show of solidarity and support with the LGBTQ community.
However, FIFA attempted to wrestle back control of the narrative on Saturday by launching their own collection of armbands across a range of social issues with a different subject for each stage, including ‘Save the Planet’ and ‘Bring the Moves’.
It also emerged they were also considering ordering referees to issue yellow cards to captains wearing the OneLove armbands as soon as matches kicked off.
It has left the Football Association in an uncomfortable position just hours before Gareth Southgate’s men open their campaign at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham told Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve had meetings with FIFA this morning and there are discussions that are carrying on.
“We’re very keen to wear the armband, we want to do it, but we would need to consider the implications.
“Normally in these situations there’d be a fine that would get paid and we’ve always said we are very happy to do that – well, happy might be the wrong word but we’d be prepared to pay the fine because we think it’s important to show our support for inclusion.
“If the sporting sanction threat is real, though, we’d need to look at that, take a step back and work our if there’s another way to show our values.”
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand, meanwhile, suggested Denmark are in a similar situation, insisting it would be unfair for players to be booked before the match even started.
He said: “It’s not up to the players, it’s not a player decision. Imagine going on the pitch with a clear yellow card to start with, that is not possible and we have to make sure it’s not up to the players.
“We’ve played with this armband before – that means under UEFA. We’ll see.
“Sports sanctions, not only economical sanctions, but sanctions that lead to something that has to do with sport, the result, yellow cards, we cannot ask the players to go on the pitch with that and I don’t think it’s the players’ decision. I think it’s our federation, our decision.”
It was put to Hjulmand that FIFA issuing sanctions would contradict their own statute, which states they are “committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights”.
He replied: “I hear you, I say the same thing, also because this is not something invented for this occasion, it’s something we’ve done before. OneLove armband – I can’t see the problem, for me it’s a big question mark.”
