England captain Harry Kane and the FA have been branded as spineless and cowards after their u-turn on weraring the ‘one love’ armband. England along with seven other European countries had decided to go against the FIFA regulations and sport the rainbow armband.
The armband was a show of support for the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar. But just before the game against Iran, England and their skipper decided against wearing the armband for fear of FIFA sanctions. The governing body of the game had made it clear that any player sporting the armband would be booked.
Following FIFA’s ultimatum, England along with Wales, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark have decided against wearing the armband. Earlier in the day, a joint statement from the 8 nations read: “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 comitment to wearing the armband.
“However we cannot put our players in a position where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play,” it added.
Harry Kane slammed by fans:
As Harry Kane walked out on the field without wearing the rainbow armband, fans and pundits took to Twitter to slam him as well as the FA. While some labelled the decision as pathetic, some went on to call Kane and FA spineless and cowards.
Here are some of the reactions:
So not only have England/Harry Kane chickened out of their promise to make a small stand with the armband, they're actually going with the official FIFA-sanctioned one instead because of a tiny bit of risk.
Servile and pathetic.
— Daniel Austin (@_Dan_Austin) November 21, 2022
Muhammad Ali went to jail for what he believed in. @HKane was afraid of a yellow card.
— Mohammed Hijab (@mohammed_hijab) November 21, 2022
The fact that they immediately caved because (God forbid) Harry Kane might get a yellow card, underscores yet again how all the sanctimonious virtue signaling is empty nonsense.
How about just abandon it entirely and concentrate on the actual football instead? pic.twitter.com/tEKgjxQvNl
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 21, 2022
Harry Kane not going to wear the one love armband because he's afraid of a possible yellow card threat.
Imagine being gay and fearing death just for being who you are.
— Bradley Wall ?️? ????? (@BWallArthur) November 21, 2022
I'm not gay, but if I was, I'd be absolutely furious about this FA armband U-turn. Makes an absolute mockery of the whole 'we're going to speak out about human rights in Qatar rather than boycott it' stance.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 21, 2022
FIFA – Corrupt.
Pundits – Cowards.
The FA – Spineless.How are LGBTQ+ footballers supposed to come out and feel comfortable in themselves, when you can’t even wear an armband? Deplorable.
— Harry Marston (@HarryMarstonLD) November 21, 2022
Spineless. Pathetic. Embarrassing.
The FA can forget pretending that they care about the LGBT community and inclusion now, we all know it's entirely vapid. https://t.co/H1Tqwwyht0
— Alfie | HITC Sevens (@HITCSevens) November 21, 2022
Players will take yellow cards for blatant dives or to con a ref for a cheap penalty.
But they won’t take a yellow card to show solidarity for equal rights or love.
Spineless cowards.
End of story.
This WC is the worst in history and a fucking disgrace to the sport and us.
— Cnutavious Arthur Morgan III (@ArthurBiggun) November 21, 2022