Grealish calls armband ban ‘stupid’ after FIFA threat
ENGLAND captain Harry Kane was left disappointed after not wearing a rainbow-coloured antidiscrimination armband in their World Cup matches under threat of sporting sanctions from FIFA while Jack Grealish said it was ‘a bit stupid’ to prevent the skipper from doing so.
A joint statement from seven European nations who had signed up to the OneLove campaign – which included England and Wales – confirmed the armbands would no longer be worn due to fear of a yellow card being issued to the captain.
The band contains the rainbow colours associated with the Pride flag and had been set to be a strong statement in Qatar, a country which criminalises same-sex relationships.
Kane instead wore FIFA’s ‘No discrimination’ armband - which is not rainbow colouredr.
“We’re disappointed,” said the England skipper. “We wanted to wear it, that decision was taken out of my hands. I turned up to the stadium with the armband that I wore and I was told I had to wear that.
“Look, it’s out of our control as players. I’m sure the FA and FIFA will continue those discussions.
“You’ve seen over the last five years we’ve made a stand as a squad and we’ll continue to do that as much as we can. We took the knee today as well but sometimes these decisions aren’t up to us and that’s the bottom line.”
Grealish, who came off the bench to score England’s last goal in their Group B rout, was asked if he had a message for the LGBTQ+ community.
“We feel strongly about it. We are with them, we wish they were here with us. At the end of the day, all I can say is we wanted to wear it,” he said.
“I think it is a bit stupid why we couldn’t. Harry himself wanted to wear it, we all wanted Harry to wear it but sometimes in life and in football things are out of your control and there’s not much you can do about it.”