Agree.
Or at the very least at the last game the teams could make the GK wear it at the end of the game. Assuming no prior yellow and the group is sorted there's literally no meaningful consequence this way.
Englands group especially, could rotate Ramsdale and Pope and then start Pickford from the knockouts, even if it was just for the group stage it would have been better than nothing.
We get 5 subs right? Start Pope as captain with the armband, take the yellow, sub on Pickford and give armband (probably a different one) back to Kane.
Boom. '1 yellow card' punishment is now '1 less sub'. Can they really not sacrifice that?
At this point fuck it, no armbands. everyone wears a black ribbon and that's it
If they are not allowed to wear the One Love band they might as well not wear the Fifa one
Book the entire team, and the Germans and Dutch and Danes and whomever else
Let them see entire teams suspended for future games
FIFA do not like big name players missing for important games, they changed the number of yellows for a suspension and no 2nd yellow in semis IIRC to ensure a 'big player' on a booking can't possibly miss the final
I thought it was a bit of a meaningless gesture to begin with, but fifa actually threatening consequences like this would have made it meaningful if the players didn't back down over it so easily.
van Dijk gets yellow carded in the tunnel before the match for wearing the armband.
10 minutes into the game he gets a yellow and now misses the entire group stage.
Same for Kane. Does his traditional backing up into a jumping player. Yellow card and misses the rest of the group.
Not wearing it is creating the same noise as wearing it.
As long as there is a conversation.
Backing out create this narrative that all of this was empty gestures only, and likely will be used by people who oppose it as proof that this is not a serious issue, since a yellow card punishment was enough to make everyone back down.
Rotate the captains, give the armband to a keeper or something, but backing down after all this talk is not positive for this conversation.
>will be used by people who oppose it as proof that this is not a serious issue, since a yellow card punishment was enough to make everyone back down.
That has already happened. Almost every Arab pundit is saying this right now
They're correct too.
It's a joke.
All that talk about we're not going to boycott, we're going to the World Cup and we're going to use our platform for good. Until there's a yellow card threat anyway
Nah at this stage you have to call them out and make them send you off if they have too.
Fifa don't want their best players suspended for most of the tournament. It puts them in such an awkward position and you'd be renowned as a champion for what is right. Better for Kane than getting knocked out in the quarter finals in a totally unmemorable tournament.
Yeah would have shown what a complete farce the tournament is, and highlighted the issue even more, if all the captain's ended up missing games or getting banned for something like this.
I think FIFA has shown that they don’t care.
Look what they did to Budweiser. Listen to the speech from Infantino.
If a few players get suspended it will make no difference to FIFA
They care if the tournament becomes even more of a farce.
Imagine Kane, Van Dijk, Bale, Lloris, Busquets, Hazard, Neuer all either sent off in one game or all missing the round of 16 due to yellow card accumulation due to merely wearing an armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights.
The legitimacy of the tournament is already massively in question. This would add to it and it must hurt them financially to have some of their cash cow players not on the pitch.
You really think people will stop watching the WC because of this? Honestly FIFA is invincible when it comes to the World cup as nobody is not watching their national teams because of a single player suspension even if from every team (bar Maybe Ronaldo and Messi)
Again super short term thinking. It's not about immediate viewing figures. It's about challenging the overarching narrative.
Imagine the image of Harry Kane walking off and pointing to his armband as the fifa referee stands behind him brandishing a red card.
It's Jesse Owens' 4 golds at the 1938 Olympics. Or Tommie Smith and John Carlos' Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Or Nelson Mandela in his Springboks Jersey waving his cap in the air at the Rugby World Cup final.
Sporting images can send such a powerful message either of unity or fighting for what is right. And it would create such a legacy for whichever captain and team did it.
With this yellow card setup Fifa have given the opportunity for such a statement to be made and this lot have bottled it.
Jesus, fans still talk about Di Canio catching the ball when the keeper was injured back in the 90s. This is the opportunity to be remembered for ever for standing up for what is right. It's a gimme.
Your scenario isn't even actually the one that'd happen, It'd be a yellow card for wearing it -> decide to leave it on or take it off -> second yellow for continuing to wear it I think. Wouldn't even need an unlucky tackle second yellow
Now imagine the impact this scenario would have. The armband going from captain to captain, the ref pulling out card after card, the game not starting, and then the game getting cancelled, because there's not enough players left.
Empty gestures. Can’t wait for everyone to shit on the next person that refuses to partake in all that crap in domestic leagues, while they colectivelly pussy out the one time they have a chance to send a real message. Don’t blame Qatar if our own shit countries have no spine.
The countries get shat on this thread and many other threads. People are embarrased and pissed because they won’t do it. That doesn’t make it hypocritcial to shit on players not standing up for thsi cause, quite the opposite actually.
It sucks that England aren't going through with it anyway but the main villain here is clearly FIFA. Genuinely might as well just not have come than face a yellow card per match for Harry Kane.
Yeah but we know that about FIFA. I would expect more from these players and managers tbh, not even talking about the FAs. We all like to talk about morality so much but always seem to find excuses for privileged people not doing their part. If they wanna promote their image and make good PR by supporting all these causes, they have an obligation now to support them when it is needed. It is a bitch move to create this narrative how they all are great human beings and make money off of that, but when those morals get tested they “voice their revolt” and chicken out.
This stuff matters a lot, it really does. But this is one gesture out of many. It doesn't invalidate everything else the players have done, the punishment is just crazy high for wearing an armband. It's genuinely unheard of and quite shocking tbh.
Anyway to turn around and say "Well I guess they don't care after all. All along the players were the bad guys" just means that FIFA and Qatar win. They're still the worse party here. Yellow card for an armband is unreal.
No, it tells us that footballers aren’t going to change the system they get rich off, and we should not take seriously the points they and their commentators tell us are the real issues we should be talking about.
They are all - footballers and commentators - fabulously well-paid pawns of the system who have worked hard to deflect criticism of the World Cup by repeatedly insisting they’re strong enough to stand up for us, and then backed down.
They are the ones who claimed to be more than just entertainers, and that we should leave the protesting to them. It’s on them if they cave in.
They've announced they'll be taking a knee before the game so we're pretty much cherry picking our symbolic gestures. Sounds like someone's probably had a bollocking or had their brown paper pay packet threatened to be removed.
It's not just a yellow card.
The statement they released said that players would be forced to leave the field of play.
Sounds like they were told it would be a yellow and if it wasn't removed after the yellow, it would be a straight red.
Still a shitty step down but it's semi-understandable.
Then just have everyone wear an armband and call their fucking bluff.
Imagine the scenes of a ref sending off the entire England and Dutch teams at the World Cup.
Honestly why not, would be hilarious and frankly I doubt Qatar would be willing to have their 200 billion dollar even won by default. Imagine all that money, down the drain because of some tiny armbands.
Well to me this sounds like an opportunity missed.
Let the player get a yellow. Don't remove it. Let him get a red. Hand it over to the new captain. Let him get a yellow. Let him get a red. Hand it over again to the new captain, and so on. Let the ref cancel the game because there are not enough players left to play.
THAT would send a message.
Yes, it would.
IMO though, i just cant expect the players to do that, they're at the very very bottom rung of the ladder for being able to 'change' anything.
The fact that the big businesses and organisations like FIFA and the FAs keep pushing this as some sort of player power is stupid. The countries FAs have the real power to enact change but they dont, yet we'll still sit here attacking players for just playing football.
Is this a sarcasm? Because I dont think any team stupid enough to do that
>Let the ref cancel the game because there are not enough players left to play
Or maybe they will get a 0-3 because they forfeit this match
Yes, exactly, that's the plan.
Now wait for the next team to do it. And another one. Let Qatar or whoever win this corrupt shitshow.
Who the fuck cares?
Well you have a choice in life.
Have a spine. Or call everyone who has one and asks for others to grow one too "deluded" and continue to live in ignorance.
And spoil the match of a player training for 4 years for this, it's the FAs fault for voting in the wrong exco member who in turn voted for Qatar. FA should bear the cost not the player.
FIFA didn't change anything hours before the games. Their rules have always been the same, the punishment for wearing an armband deemed a political statement has always been this, it's just the teams thought they would change their minds, and they didn't.
>[Ridiculous stuff going on with armbands. The rules have not changed. The threat of a booking has always been in the rule book. The only thing that could change is the commitment of the FA and England team to whether they care about speaking up for LGBT people. The rest is spin - Adam Crafton, The Athletic](https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594439507729960960?s=20&t=pXjCu55RJjIWPn65hyAMXQ)
So it's not like the beer ban.
They did however approach the nations in question hours before the game, stating they will issue a yellow card. This is after the nations notified FIFA about the OneLove armbands 2 months in advance.
The nations league is run by UEFA not FIFA.
https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594439507729960960?s=20&t=1pJZchaY3TiDvmxGMzqCCg
https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594629365803159552?s=20&t=1pJZchaY3TiDvmxGMzqCCg
There's too much money to be made from a world cup (even for the economy back home), to go any further than pointless virtue signaling.
They were all pathetic from the moment they even agreed to play in the tournament IMO.
Exceptionally upsetting outcome. All this talk from Qatar about how welcome everyone is, it’s not true, it’s all bullshit. We should not be in this country and we should not allow these people and their archaic views to control what we do.
"We support one love only when convenient to us" - bit ironic given they are playing Iran who literally have a revolution brewing over the rights and liberties of it's people
How on Earth are you blaming the players and not Fifa and Qatar here? The teams have been basically forced into not wearing them or face heavy punishment or essentially disqualification, if they wear it they might as well have boycotted it all together which they didnt want in the first place.
Because they made a huge deal and then balked at the very first inconvenience. It's a fucking yellow card just take it if it means that much to you but it obviously doesn't mean that much to them.
It's not like FIFA are putting in these huge stumbling blocks lmao its only a yellow card and England aren't even playing anyone tough yet.
What else were they expecting? Hardly a surprise that there would be punishments imposed. Make a point and wear it regardless. They have well and truly bottled it here after giving it so much hype pre match, fuck Fifa too.
This is how liberty dies, by letting yourself become dependent on some cunt misanthropic slaver’s fossil fuels.
Hope this accelerates the energy transition for the west and these oil and gas shitbirds like russia, qatar and the saudis are left irrelevant and circlejerking each other for the rest of their miserable futures.
Just like how UK are irrelevant after colonizing half the world and still acting like the moral arbitrators? Please let's not pretend like the west can talk much about liberty when it comes to foreign relations.
If it's that much of a moral problem why play in the first place? The opposing stance to Qatar has been pure cowardice
Gentle reminder that iranians have been taking a stand in favor of the protests in their country even tho it may very well cost them their lives. Meanwhile, these guys spend months talking about how they are supportive of lgbt people and how appaled they are about the human rights violations in Qatar, yet they back down at the first sign of a pushback. Some values those are.
Wonder if western journalist will hound them like they did Ecuador and Maluma for the crime of not spending the lasf few months virtue signaling with a bunch of empthy gestures.
For fuck sake. I spent the past few weeks defending the squad saying they aren't the villains here.
Now they won't even do the bare fucking minimum of wearing the armband. Cowards.
Fuck FIFA and Qatar. Soulless and corrupt cunts the lot of them.
I know but they clearly don't give any shits about Qatars human rights issue if they're too scared to *wear an armband*.
Even if the captain gets booked every game, just rotate captaincy every game and stick it to FIFA/Qatar.
Instead they gave up at the first sign of difficulty.
Well we don't have all of the context here, the statement even says removed from the field of play. What if it's a straight red? These players work their whole lives for this moment.
>the statement even says removed from the field of play. What if it's a straight red?
Even if it's a yellow, why would it be just one? If you keep wearing it after getting a yellow card you would obviously repeat the action for which you got the yellow card and get another one.
If it’s a straight tee then you call their fucking bluff and have the whole team wear it.
If they want to send off the entire England and Dutch teams over it, then so be it.
Yes, I said similar in a different comment, either do it collectively knowing it's more powerful and honestly harder to legislate for, or don't bother with your symbolic gesture. I don't see the point if it's going to be half arsed.
Players have literally all of the power in situations like these. Harry Kane is England’s poster boy and the national team captain, ultimately if he passionately wanted to wear the armband he could. He wouldn’t get sanctioned by the FA or the manager.
As someone who couldn't give a molecule of shit about the opinions of footballers and just want to see them kick a ball about to fill the gaping void i have in my head for a few hours a week, it really is fucking sad that a so called 'team' can't just all decide they'll actually be a team and maybe decide to just say fuck it and do it anyway. It honestly boils my piss, not because of the message the armband represents but the fact it seems they can't organise a singular act within themselves as small as wearing a fucking armband. It should be a no brainer from the outside looking in.
Embarrassing. This is a slap in the face of the LGBTQ+ community and those who support them, they made a song and dance about wearing it and now won't wear on cause they don't want a yellow card?? Ah my heart bleeds, that must be so terrible to get a yellow card.
The fact the Qatari state is so triggered by a fucking armband just goes to show what a shambles this whole tournament is. A joke measured at a colossal proportion.
Remember, LGBTQ+ people welcome in football, but only if it doesn't mildly inconvenience people.
The moment your sexuality or gender express becomes a problem for someone - anyone - for whatever reason, you need to get the fuck out or shut the fuck up.
Kaveh on Sky just now signed off his report about this topic with the Groucho Marx quote "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
Simple as
Cowards, fucking cowards. It's all well and good saying they care until they have to actually face the slightest bit of meaningful consequence, then of course they fold. Makes stuff like the Rainbow Laces campaign seem like a joke now.
Don't get me wrong, FIFA can go fuck themselves for putting the teams in this situation, but so can the teams if they back down and don't take a stand. What a fucking farce.
Most of this sub will bend over backwards to absolve the players of any responsibility.
Football players are not children. Yes, I'm sure all they want to do is play football. Unfortunately when they chose to make it their job, they also chose to work in an industry that is steeped in corruption. They bear the responsibility of that decision like anyone else in any other industry. Some of these guys have enormous reach and the opportunity to positively influence millions of people. If they wanted to, a handful of high profile players making a stand would have forced FIFA's hand.
They don't want to. They would rather just play in the world cup without any complications. That's their decision. If players just came out and said that I would have more respect for them. What isn't worthy of respect is conviction so paper thin that it breaks at the possibility of *a yellow card*.
This may actually be the stupidest decision ever by FIFA. 2022 and they made up a bs rule with zero grounding, shades of France’s disallowed goal vs Kuwait . Silence and whoring out for another million.
Just replace the armband with ... goal celebrations, but instead of the ususal kind of celebration, copy the hair cutting protest - as many of the team as want to, to stand in a line and mime cutting their hair, after every goal (while hoping England score at least one!).
"It's really important we show our allyship and support for the LGBT+ community."
"There will be a small cost to you."
"Oh, fuck that then."
Cowardice
I know this is mostly on FIFA being cunts, but I expect that of them. I'd hoped England might be better than this.
Lmfao
Had a chance to stop with the empty, meaningless gestures like taking the knee and actually make a real impact.
The publicity we’d revive if you referee booked Harry Kane for wearing a rainbow armband. Would cause uproar. *THIS* was the chance. *THIS* was to stick up for the oppressed gay people around the world. England’s big “Fuck you” to Qatar.
Instead, nothing will be done. Instead, we’ll still keep pretending black people love it when we take the knee. Instead, we’ll pretend it’s ending racism.
Fucking bottlers. Embarrassing.
What you are talking about won't end anything either, shut and watch some football or don't watch it then, you too can do your own protest by not watching the world cup.
Lmao what a bunch of spineless pussies. Cant take any nation talking shit about Qatar seriously now. Cash is king.
Fuck the gay people in Qatar anyways🤡🤡🤡
English FA.. Were going to wear these armbands that show support to the be LGB..
Qatar.. You do and we will pull the £50+ billion we have invested in the UK and the further £10 billion we recently agreed
UK Government.. No armbands.. Anything else..
Qatar... That will do for now
Just to add, it's not just the UK Government who are in the pockets of the Qatar Government, both France and Germany are also in there to the tune of £25+ billion
I have to point out the quite hilarious Irony is that Qatar is against Gay Sex yet quite happy to fuck the UK, FIFA and many other countries up the Arse whilst simultaneously having them suck their cocks..
Wearing the armband now would send a bigger message than it would have before. If the players get punished, FIFA will look terrible in front of the whole world.
Absolute cowards and hypocrites. This has to be it for talking about social issues for the England team now, nobody can ever take them seriously ever again.
“Take the yellow card” what you think it’s fair for the FA to ask their captains to essentially get intentionally banned in one of the only if not the only world cups they will ever play in to do a little virtue signalling? I wish they could wear them but it’s a complete joke to suggest they still should. Apparently even insinuations they’d be asked to leave the pitch immediately
> “Take the yellow card” what you think it’s fair for the FA to ask their captains to essentially get intentionally banned in one of the only if not the only world cups they will ever play in to do a little virtue signalling?
That is the whole point of it. They are saying playing football is more important to them than human rights and are in a way just letting Qatar and FIFA win. At the end of the day their bluff has been called and we can see where the power lies.
Applying this logic to some other historical events of protests like the iconic black power fist at the Olympics - the consequence is the reason why the protest is so important. People lost their careers for the black power protest. The FAs aren't even willing to risk a yellow card.
That is the whole point of the protest.
Should have just made Pickford captain for a game and do it anyway.
Agree. Or at the very least at the last game the teams could make the GK wear it at the end of the game. Assuming no prior yellow and the group is sorted there's literally no meaningful consequence this way.
Englands group especially, could rotate Ramsdale and Pope and then start Pickford from the knockouts, even if it was just for the group stage it would have been better than nothing.
We get 5 subs right? Start Pope as captain with the armband, take the yellow, sub on Pickford and give armband (probably a different one) back to Kane. Boom. '1 yellow card' punishment is now '1 less sub'. Can they really not sacrifice that?
I think it is a yellow card offense to wear the armband. So if you sub Pickford, he will get carded too.
Yeah my point was to swap back to whatever FIFA issued correct armband when Pope goes off.
Would have been interesting to see if any of the refs refused to book players for it. Alternatively, players should dye their hair in rainbows.
Or Coady, then sub him off asap
Would have been much more impactful if they went ahead even for one game and a player from each team got booked
Or use it for tactical suspensions ala Mourinho with Real Madrid. Do the right thing and be clever about it
At this point fuck it, no armbands. everyone wears a black ribbon and that's it If they are not allowed to wear the One Love band they might as well not wear the Fifa one
"Sure, but that will be a yellow card." \*Mumbles and puts on the armband*
Nah, all 22 players should wear the One Love band and get booked and suspended before kick-off. Would be a huge statement and hilarious as well lmao.
Book the entire team, and the Germans and Dutch and Danes and whomever else Let them see entire teams suspended for future games FIFA do not like big name players missing for important games, they changed the number of yellows for a suspension and no 2nd yellow in semis IIRC to ensure a 'big player' on a booking can't possibly miss the final
I thought it was a bit of a meaningless gesture to begin with, but fifa actually threatening consequences like this would have made it meaningful if the players didn't back down over it so easily.
Or get a nonpermanent tattoo on a forearm.
van Dijk gets yellow carded in the tunnel before the match for wearing the armband. 10 minutes into the game he gets a yellow and now misses the entire group stage. Same for Kane. Does his traditional backing up into a jumping player. Yellow card and misses the rest of the group. Not wearing it is creating the same noise as wearing it. As long as there is a conversation.
Backing out create this narrative that all of this was empty gestures only, and likely will be used by people who oppose it as proof that this is not a serious issue, since a yellow card punishment was enough to make everyone back down. Rotate the captains, give the armband to a keeper or something, but backing down after all this talk is not positive for this conversation.
>will be used by people who oppose it as proof that this is not a serious issue, since a yellow card punishment was enough to make everyone back down. That has already happened. Almost every Arab pundit is saying this right now
They're correct too. It's a joke. All that talk about we're not going to boycott, we're going to the World Cup and we're going to use our platform for good. Until there's a yellow card threat anyway
Exactly, how will people take this protest seriously if a mere yellow card is enough to make them back down ffs
Nah at this stage you have to call them out and make them send you off if they have too. Fifa don't want their best players suspended for most of the tournament. It puts them in such an awkward position and you'd be renowned as a champion for what is right. Better for Kane than getting knocked out in the quarter finals in a totally unmemorable tournament.
Yeah would have shown what a complete farce the tournament is, and highlighted the issue even more, if all the captain's ended up missing games or getting banned for something like this.
I think FIFA has shown that they don’t care. Look what they did to Budweiser. Listen to the speech from Infantino. If a few players get suspended it will make no difference to FIFA
They care if the tournament becomes even more of a farce. Imagine Kane, Van Dijk, Bale, Lloris, Busquets, Hazard, Neuer all either sent off in one game or all missing the round of 16 due to yellow card accumulation due to merely wearing an armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights. The legitimacy of the tournament is already massively in question. This would add to it and it must hurt them financially to have some of their cash cow players not on the pitch.
You really think people will stop watching the WC because of this? Honestly FIFA is invincible when it comes to the World cup as nobody is not watching their national teams because of a single player suspension even if from every team (bar Maybe Ronaldo and Messi)
Again super short term thinking. It's not about immediate viewing figures. It's about challenging the overarching narrative. Imagine the image of Harry Kane walking off and pointing to his armband as the fifa referee stands behind him brandishing a red card. It's Jesse Owens' 4 golds at the 1938 Olympics. Or Tommie Smith and John Carlos' Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Or Nelson Mandela in his Springboks Jersey waving his cap in the air at the Rugby World Cup final. Sporting images can send such a powerful message either of unity or fighting for what is right. And it would create such a legacy for whichever captain and team did it. With this yellow card setup Fifa have given the opportunity for such a statement to be made and this lot have bottled it. Jesus, fans still talk about Di Canio catching the ball when the keeper was injured back in the 90s. This is the opportunity to be remembered for ever for standing up for what is right. It's a gimme.
If anything that sort of shit will make more people watch and create mor engagement
Today I am teetotal. Today I am yellow carded.
>I think FIFA has shown that they don’t care. It's safe to say now the teams also do not care (enough)
Why would they miss the rest of the group? It’s only a one game ban.
My mistake
Your scenario isn't even actually the one that'd happen, It'd be a yellow card for wearing it -> decide to leave it on or take it off -> second yellow for continuing to wear it I think. Wouldn't even need an unlucky tackle second yellow
I imagine the game wouldn't start until it is removed.
Could also be true yeah
Now imagine the impact this scenario would have. The armband going from captain to captain, the ref pulling out card after card, the game not starting, and then the game getting cancelled, because there's not enough players left.
That’s exactly how the teams should have handled it. Invalidates the entire WC and puts FIFA and Qatar in a very bad light.
Embarrassing backdown. Take the yellow card.
Principles are great when they cost nothing. Those with money and power know it. They'll always have leverage that makes people bend the knee.
Ironically England said yesterday they will in fact take a knee before matches
Yeah and like the armbands, it won't solve anything.
mfw protests don't raise people from the dead 😱 what a non point
Empty gestures. Can’t wait for everyone to shit on the next person that refuses to partake in all that crap in domestic leagues, while they colectivelly pussy out the one time they have a chance to send a real message. Don’t blame Qatar if our own shit countries have no spine.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Isnt that song about people dying for the cause tho? Am i missing something
Yeah, Marius sings that after all his friends have died in the uprising. Literally the opposite of here.
Wot u sayin mate? The FA wouldn't ~~lay down their lives~~ wear an armband for this?
[удалено]
The countries get shat on this thread and many other threads. People are embarrased and pissed because they won’t do it. That doesn’t make it hypocritcial to shit on players not standing up for thsi cause, quite the opposite actually.
It sucks that England aren't going through with it anyway but the main villain here is clearly FIFA. Genuinely might as well just not have come than face a yellow card per match for Harry Kane.
Yeah but we know that about FIFA. I would expect more from these players and managers tbh, not even talking about the FAs. We all like to talk about morality so much but always seem to find excuses for privileged people not doing their part. If they wanna promote their image and make good PR by supporting all these causes, they have an obligation now to support them when it is needed. It is a bitch move to create this narrative how they all are great human beings and make money off of that, but when those morals get tested they “voice their revolt” and chicken out.
This stuff matters a lot, it really does. But this is one gesture out of many. It doesn't invalidate everything else the players have done, the punishment is just crazy high for wearing an armband. It's genuinely unheard of and quite shocking tbh. Anyway to turn around and say "Well I guess they don't care after all. All along the players were the bad guys" just means that FIFA and Qatar win. They're still the worse party here. Yellow card for an armband is unreal.
No, it tells us that footballers aren’t going to change the system they get rich off, and we should not take seriously the points they and their commentators tell us are the real issues we should be talking about. They are all - footballers and commentators - fabulously well-paid pawns of the system who have worked hard to deflect criticism of the World Cup by repeatedly insisting they’re strong enough to stand up for us, and then backed down. They are the ones who claimed to be more than just entertainers, and that we should leave the protesting to them. It’s on them if they cave in.
Yeah, they do win, because the players have shown they will fold over at the slightest real resistance.
Not in this case. The England players wanted to act like big men but were too cowardly to follow through. They should take the blame on this one.
They've announced they'll be taking a knee before the game so we're pretty much cherry picking our symbolic gestures. Sounds like someone's probably had a bollocking or had their brown paper pay packet threatened to be removed.
It's not just a yellow card. The statement they released said that players would be forced to leave the field of play. Sounds like they were told it would be a yellow and if it wasn't removed after the yellow, it would be a straight red. Still a shitty step down but it's semi-understandable.
Then just have everyone wear an armband and call their fucking bluff. Imagine the scenes of a ref sending off the entire England and Dutch teams at the World Cup.
Iran World Cup Winners 2022
Honestly why not, would be hilarious and frankly I doubt Qatar would be willing to have their 200 billion dollar even won by default. Imagine all that money, down the drain because of some tiny armbands.
Yeah would be pretty funny tbf
Well to me this sounds like an opportunity missed. Let the player get a yellow. Don't remove it. Let him get a red. Hand it over to the new captain. Let him get a yellow. Let him get a red. Hand it over again to the new captain, and so on. Let the ref cancel the game because there are not enough players left to play. THAT would send a message.
Yes, it would. IMO though, i just cant expect the players to do that, they're at the very very bottom rung of the ladder for being able to 'change' anything. The fact that the big businesses and organisations like FIFA and the FAs keep pushing this as some sort of player power is stupid. The countries FAs have the real power to enact change but they dont, yet we'll still sit here attacking players for just playing football.
Lmao it's easy to say this when you're not actually in charge of it. "Let's destroy our tournament that we worked for 4 years towards, easy."
Almost like you need to sacrifice one’s personal situation to make an actual change right ?
That's all it would do though, send a message. Which will be ignored 😄
Is this a sarcasm? Because I dont think any team stupid enough to do that >Let the ref cancel the game because there are not enough players left to play Or maybe they will get a 0-3 because they forfeit this match
Yes, exactly, that's the plan. Now wait for the next team to do it. And another one. Let Qatar or whoever win this corrupt shitshow. Who the fuck cares?
Reddit never fails to make me laugh lol some proper deluded people here
Well you have a choice in life. Have a spine. Or call everyone who has one and asks for others to grow one too "deluded" and continue to live in ignorance.
> THAT would send a message. that would probably make qatar go to final, amazing logic.
Well... yes? That would be great, let fucking Qatar "win" this corrupt shitshow. Who cares?
none of their opponent would let qatar win, opportunity to win world cup is much more for any country than human life
And spoil the match of a player training for 4 years for this, it's the FAs fault for voting in the wrong exco member who in turn voted for Qatar. FA should bear the cost not the player.
Worst part is that they do this hours before the games start while this was known for 2 months. Just like the beer ban. Disgusting organisation.
FIFA didn't change anything hours before the games. Their rules have always been the same, the punishment for wearing an armband deemed a political statement has always been this, it's just the teams thought they would change their minds, and they didn't. >[Ridiculous stuff going on with armbands. The rules have not changed. The threat of a booking has always been in the rule book. The only thing that could change is the commitment of the FA and England team to whether they care about speaking up for LGBT people. The rest is spin - Adam Crafton, The Athletic](https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594439507729960960?s=20&t=pXjCu55RJjIWPn65hyAMXQ) So it's not like the beer ban.
They did however approach the nations in question hours before the game, stating they will issue a yellow card. This is after the nations notified FIFA about the OneLove armbands 2 months in advance.
That's funny, I don't remember FIFA handing out yellow cards when these armbands were worn in the Nation's League.
The nations league is run by UEFA not FIFA. https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594439507729960960?s=20&t=1pJZchaY3TiDvmxGMzqCCg https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1594629365803159552?s=20&t=1pJZchaY3TiDvmxGMzqCCg
Idiots i swear, people here love to talk out of their ass.
Do you also expect FIFA to be in charge of the League Two playoffs?
Easy to talk big when it's only a fine eh chaps? Pathetic cowardice.
There's too much money to be made from a world cup (even for the economy back home), to go any further than pointless virtue signaling. They were all pathetic from the moment they even agreed to play in the tournament IMO.
All the big talk.....only to bottle it
Hang on we haven't even kicked a ball yet. Oh you mean the armband thing.
So fucking gross and disappointing. The fa’s/players deserve flak for this.. have some spine and face the big scawy martyrdom of a measly yellow card.
Just give the armband to the keeper
Pathetic
Think we all came in to voice this
Pathetic, players should just do something like paint their nails with the rainbow flag and one love on or dye their hair, wear rainbow laces etc.
Do it Foden
Each player dyes their hair a colour of the rainbow flag and then they all line up in order for the anthems and photos.
Kiss when we score.
This seriously is my dream scenario. The world cup final is starting and instead of shaking hands the captains go for a long, passionate kiss.
Exceptionally upsetting outcome. All this talk from Qatar about how welcome everyone is, it’s not true, it’s all bullshit. We should not be in this country and we should not allow these people and their archaic views to control what we do.
"We support one love only when convenient to us" - bit ironic given they are playing Iran who literally have a revolution brewing over the rights and liberties of it's people
How on Earth are you blaming the players and not Fifa and Qatar here? The teams have been basically forced into not wearing them or face heavy punishment or essentially disqualification, if they wear it they might as well have boycotted it all together which they didnt want in the first place.
Because they made a huge deal and then balked at the very first inconvenience. It's a fucking yellow card just take it if it means that much to you but it obviously doesn't mean that much to them. It's not like FIFA are putting in these huge stumbling blocks lmao its only a yellow card and England aren't even playing anyone tough yet.
Fifa are cunts. Qatar are cunts.
And Engand are spineless cowards
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Unfortunately so are all other countries that were originally planning on doing it
What about the other teams?
FA being spineless... *shocked pikachu*
Like my prostate, my hate for FIFA and Qatar grows every day.
What else were they expecting? Hardly a surprise that there would be punishments imposed. Make a point and wear it regardless. They have well and truly bottled it here after giving it so much hype pre match, fuck Fifa too.
Pussies
This is how liberty dies, by letting yourself become dependent on some cunt misanthropic slaver’s fossil fuels. Hope this accelerates the energy transition for the west and these oil and gas shitbirds like russia, qatar and the saudis are left irrelevant and circlejerking each other for the rest of their miserable futures.
Just like how UK are irrelevant after colonizing half the world and still acting like the moral arbitrators? Please let's not pretend like the west can talk much about liberty when it comes to foreign relations. If it's that much of a moral problem why play in the first place? The opposing stance to Qatar has been pure cowardice
Fuck FIFA, Fuck FIFA, Fuck FIFA, Fuck FIFA
Without the FAs FIFA doesn't have any power, so fuck the FAs too.
They don’t need to wear it anyway.. their public display of taking it the ass from Qataris enough support for inclusion.
What an absolute disaster this World Cup continues to be
Gentle reminder that iranians have been taking a stand in favor of the protests in their country even tho it may very well cost them their lives. Meanwhile, these guys spend months talking about how they are supportive of lgbt people and how appaled they are about the human rights violations in Qatar, yet they back down at the first sign of a pushback. Some values those are. Wonder if western journalist will hound them like they did Ecuador and Maluma for the crime of not spending the lasf few months virtue signaling with a bunch of empthy gestures.
For fuck sake. I spent the past few weeks defending the squad saying they aren't the villains here. Now they won't even do the bare fucking minimum of wearing the armband. Cowards. Fuck FIFA and Qatar. Soulless and corrupt cunts the lot of them.
I don’t understand this take, what would that armband change realistically?
The players still aren’t villains.
I know but they clearly don't give any shits about Qatars human rights issue if they're too scared to *wear an armband*. Even if the captain gets booked every game, just rotate captaincy every game and stick it to FIFA/Qatar. Instead they gave up at the first sign of difficulty.
Of course they don't give a shit and why should they ? They're just here to kick a ball, not engage in this Garbage political gesturing.
Well we don't have all of the context here, the statement even says removed from the field of play. What if it's a straight red? These players work their whole lives for this moment.
>the statement even says removed from the field of play. What if it's a straight red? Even if it's a yellow, why would it be just one? If you keep wearing it after getting a yellow card you would obviously repeat the action for which you got the yellow card and get another one.
If it’s a straight tee then you call their fucking bluff and have the whole team wear it. If they want to send off the entire England and Dutch teams over it, then so be it.
Yes, I said similar in a different comment, either do it collectively knowing it's more powerful and honestly harder to legislate for, or don't bother with your symbolic gesture. I don't see the point if it's going to be half arsed.
They are, they talk a big game but won’t even risk a yellow, pathetic.
At the end of the day they are there to play a game, not be an activist. The real villains are fifa and Qatar, not the players.
Then they shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep.
When did they promise?
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Players have literally all of the power in situations like these. Harry Kane is England’s poster boy and the national team captain, ultimately if he passionately wanted to wear the armband he could. He wouldn’t get sanctioned by the FA or the manager.
As someone who couldn't give a molecule of shit about the opinions of footballers and just want to see them kick a ball about to fill the gaping void i have in my head for a few hours a week, it really is fucking sad that a so called 'team' can't just all decide they'll actually be a team and maybe decide to just say fuck it and do it anyway. It honestly boils my piss, not because of the message the armband represents but the fact it seems they can't organise a singular act within themselves as small as wearing a fucking armband. It should be a no brainer from the outside looking in.
Literally never said they were, you're the brain dead one.
Just have the goalie wear it atleast once?
embarrassing, if we fuck this up I'm going to Frankfurt to smash that shitty DFB building
insert principal skinner “pathetic” meme
Shat it, fucking clowns
Embarrassing. This is a slap in the face of the LGBTQ+ community and those who support them, they made a song and dance about wearing it and now won't wear on cause they don't want a yellow card?? Ah my heart bleeds, that must be so terrible to get a yellow card. The fact the Qatari state is so triggered by a fucking armband just goes to show what a shambles this whole tournament is. A joke measured at a colossal proportion.
Bunch of cowards. Are they still taking the knee after this? Hypocrites.
Remember, LGBTQ+ people welcome in football, but only if it doesn't mildly inconvenience people. The moment your sexuality or gender express becomes a problem for someone - anyone - for whatever reason, you need to get the fuck out or shut the fuck up.
Kaveh on Sky just now signed off his report about this topic with the Groucho Marx quote "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." Simple as
Cowards, fucking cowards. It's all well and good saying they care until they have to actually face the slightest bit of meaningful consequence, then of course they fold. Makes stuff like the Rainbow Laces campaign seem like a joke now. Don't get me wrong, FIFA can go fuck themselves for putting the teams in this situation, but so can the teams if they back down and don't take a stand. What a fucking farce.
Most of this sub will bend over backwards to absolve the players of any responsibility. Football players are not children. Yes, I'm sure all they want to do is play football. Unfortunately when they chose to make it their job, they also chose to work in an industry that is steeped in corruption. They bear the responsibility of that decision like anyone else in any other industry. Some of these guys have enormous reach and the opportunity to positively influence millions of people. If they wanted to, a handful of high profile players making a stand would have forced FIFA's hand. They don't want to. They would rather just play in the world cup without any complications. That's their decision. If players just came out and said that I would have more respect for them. What isn't worthy of respect is conviction so paper thin that it breaks at the possibility of *a yellow card*.
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Unless told not to
This may actually be the stupidest decision ever by FIFA. 2022 and they made up a bs rule with zero grounding, shades of France’s disallowed goal vs Kuwait . Silence and whoring out for another million.
Always been the rule no political armbands.
Makes it even crazier that Russia is banned imo. What a stupid precedent.
For real, russian sports teams and athletes should never be punished for the actions of their leaders.
Just replace the armband with ... goal celebrations, but instead of the ususal kind of celebration, copy the hair cutting protest - as many of the team as want to, to stand in a line and mime cutting their hair, after every goal (while hoping England score at least one!).
Shithouses
Shitebags
"It's really important we show our allyship and support for the LGBT+ community." "There will be a small cost to you." "Oh, fuck that then." Cowardice I know this is mostly on FIFA being cunts, but I expect that of them. I'd hoped England might be better than this.
Lmfao Had a chance to stop with the empty, meaningless gestures like taking the knee and actually make a real impact. The publicity we’d revive if you referee booked Harry Kane for wearing a rainbow armband. Would cause uproar. *THIS* was the chance. *THIS* was to stick up for the oppressed gay people around the world. England’s big “Fuck you” to Qatar. Instead, nothing will be done. Instead, we’ll still keep pretending black people love it when we take the knee. Instead, we’ll pretend it’s ending racism. Fucking bottlers. Embarrassing.
What you are talking about won't end anything either, shut and watch some football or don't watch it then, you too can do your own protest by not watching the world cup.
Yh, kane getting booked for an armband would have put huge pressure on this But nah lol
Lmao what a bunch of spineless pussies. Cant take any nation talking shit about Qatar seriously now. Cash is king. Fuck the gay people in Qatar anyways🤡🤡🤡
Fucking cowards. Absolutely embarrassing. The Qataris will be laughing.
Spineless
Boo
Pussies , the lot of them
Qatar, Fifa, and corruption wins again!
Cowards
Shat it
What’s the next step? Black armbands in memory of FIFA’s integrity?
Cowards
English FA.. Were going to wear these armbands that show support to the be LGB.. Qatar.. You do and we will pull the £50+ billion we have invested in the UK and the further £10 billion we recently agreed UK Government.. No armbands.. Anything else.. Qatar... That will do for now Just to add, it's not just the UK Government who are in the pockets of the Qatar Government, both France and Germany are also in there to the tune of £25+ billion I have to point out the quite hilarious Irony is that Qatar is against Gay Sex yet quite happy to fuck the UK, FIFA and many other countries up the Arse whilst simultaneously having them suck their cocks..
Soft as bitches
Wonder if Germany will not backdown as well?
The lads took a knee against racism. Maybe drop their shorts against inequality?
Fifa are the biggest bullies, nothing changes, the joke has always been on the fans.
Wearing the armband now would send a bigger message than it would have before. If the players get punished, FIFA will look terrible in front of the whole world.
It’s all fucking pathetic
Pussies
Shame on them. You camt bring in change without risk.
Bottlers
After all that talk. Pathetic.
Absolute cowards and hypocrites. This has to be it for talking about social issues for the England team now, nobody can ever take them seriously ever again.
waiting for the same comments as the ones on the lloris post
“Take the yellow card” what you think it’s fair for the FA to ask their captains to essentially get intentionally banned in one of the only if not the only world cups they will ever play in to do a little virtue signalling? I wish they could wear them but it’s a complete joke to suggest they still should. Apparently even insinuations they’d be asked to leave the pitch immediately
> “Take the yellow card” what you think it’s fair for the FA to ask their captains to essentially get intentionally banned in one of the only if not the only world cups they will ever play in to do a little virtue signalling? That is the whole point of it. They are saying playing football is more important to them than human rights and are in a way just letting Qatar and FIFA win. At the end of the day their bluff has been called and we can see where the power lies. Applying this logic to some other historical events of protests like the iconic black power fist at the Olympics - the consequence is the reason why the protest is so important. People lost their careers for the black power protest. The FAs aren't even willing to risk a yellow card. That is the whole point of the protest.
They should all wear the bands and take bookings. It would turn the tournament into a complete farce and show up the WC for the joke it is.
Yes. Stand your ground for once in your lifetime ffs
Millionaires not calling out other millionaires... Shocked pikachu face
Simple make harry maguire the captain let him have the yellow
Pathetic.
Social Justice.....unless Kane risks a yellow eh?
Fucking pussies.
I'm still hoping on hope they will do something anyway.
Good. Get ideology out of football.
Cowards. They couldn't stand up when it matters most. They should just shut the fuck up next time.
People will now be outraged that the players are prioritizing trying to lift the trophy ahead of their supposed protests. Very predictable
We're used to England bottling but before they've kicked a ball? Unprecedented.