Wales’ football manager Rob Page was clear about why his team’s captain Gareth Bale would wear the ‘One Love’ armband at the Qatar World Cup: it was about demonstrating support of LGBT rights in a country where there are none. Whatever the pushback from Fifa, Page insisted last month that the armband would be worn: ‘That’s what we believe in, that’s what we stand up for’, he preached.
The Welsh team were not alone in taking part. Football captains of eight other European nations – including England’s own Harry Kane – were vocal about their plans to wear the armband to promote inclusivity in a host nation where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment and death. ‘Wearing the armband on the biggest stage in the world will have an impact’, Kane said.
Even Mark Bullingham, chief executive of England’s Football Association, expressed his readiness to make a stand – even if it meant being punished for breaking Fifa’s rules.
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