Allow athletes to speak their mind
Photo courtesy of Reuters
The battle between some national teams and FIFA over the wearing of the ‘OneLove’ captain’s armband has been well-publicized. The armband is intended to represent inclusion and diversity in soccer, and it uses an image of a heart filled with rainbow colors to depict that message. Before being banned by FIFA, the armbands were developed by the Royal Dutch Football Association and were meant to be worn by the captains of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland and Germany during the World Cup.
FIFA and Qatar officials have continued to reiterate that everyone would be welcome in the small Gulf country. “I have been speaking about this subject with the country’s highest leadership,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in an official statement. “They have confirmed, and I can confirm that everyone is welcome.” But other quotes and actions have contradicted that sentiment.
Qatar’s World Cup Ambassador Khalid Salman referred to homosexuality as “damage in the mind” in an interview with a German reporter, calling it “haram,” which means forbidden in Arabic. In a letter sent out to each team participating in the World Cup, FIFA pleaded for teams to “not allow football to be dragged into every ideology or political battle that exists,” continuing on to say, “At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world.”
The safety of LGBTQ+ fans has been a major concern during the World Cup as homosexuality is outlawed in Qatar, and violating these laws can result in a sentence of up to three years in prison and/or fines. Under sharia law, if a Muslim is found to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the death penalty could be applied, although there are no known cases of capital punishment being used in this manner.
These penalties do not include the alleged abuses faced by LGBTQ+ individuals while in police custody, which can include beatings and sexual harassment, according to accounts given to Human Rights Watch. Nor does that factor in the discrimination they face in everyday life due to Qatar’s conservative culture.
This culminated in German players protesting before their first match against Japan by covering their mouths in their team photo to show support for LGBTQ+ rights. There have also been confrontations with fans and security officers over rainbow-colored clothing and accessories.
FIFA have documented their desire to remain “politically neutral” on social issues and have deemed the ‘OneLove’ armbands, which are meant to symbolize inclusivity in soccer, too “overtly political.” FIFA has replaced the ‘OneLove’ armbands with four other armbands bearing generic messages like, #NoDiscrimination, #SaveThePlanet, #EducationForAll, #ProtectTheChildren and #BeActive. Even though the intent of these messages is so broad and nonspecific that they can’t be criticized, they are in fact overtly political in nature.
#SaveThePlanet seems offensive to every politician, government official and large corporation who doesn’t believe in human-caused climate change. #EducationForAll references the restrictions placed on education for girls across the world compared to their male counterparts. It doesn’t mention how wealth intersects with class to create an unequal learning atmosphere globally. #ProtectTheChildren and #NoDiscrimination are extremely contradictory when considering that these statements apparently don’t include LGBTQ+ youth who are routinely discriminated against around the world and especially in Qatar, where their very existence is a crime. The messages also do not include migrant workers who face significant racism and classism when searching for promotions compared to their Qatari counterparts. The messages also neglect to mention the children of migrant workers who passed away because a few powerful people deemed a couple of soccer games and millions in revenue more valuable than human life. But #BeActive is a positive all-inclusive message, way to go FIFA!
Sports can act as a magnifier of social problems in the world. For those who say we should keep politics out of sports, they really mean to silence the players’ and fans’ voices and keep power in the hands of the most influential people who can use “sportswashing” campaigns to legitimize their wealth and rule.
