FIFA BAN ‘ONE LOVE’ ARMBAND IN WOMENS WORLD CUP

FIFA have announced that the use of the rainbow coloured band in the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia is now banned. This is due to them wishing to avoid the conflict that took place last year (2022) in the Men’s World Cup.

The captains of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark were going to wear the armbands to show that they stood with the LGBTQ community. However this caused an issue in Qatar as they have severe laws against the expression of LGBTQ love, where same sex relationships could result in up to 7 years imprisonment and possibly the death penalty.

To find another way of expressing solidarity, without over-ruling the the 2022 ban, FIFA has presented eight alternatives for the Women’s World Cup in Australia & New Zealand later this month. These include: Unite For Indigenous Peoples, Unite For Gender Equality, Unite For Education For All, Unite For Ending Violence Against Women, Unite For Peace, Football Is Joy Peace Hope Love Passion, Unite For Zero Hunger And The Unite For Inclusion Band.

The Unite For Inclusion band was FIFAs answer to the Rainbow and One Love bands. It has the same colours as the one love bands, red black and green (Pan-African flag) symbolising race and heritage and pink, yellow and blue (the pansexual flag), which represent all gender identities and sexual orientations. Why they have banned a flag that stood for the rights of the LGBTQ community and replaced it with another flag that partially stands for the same isn’t clear at all. A quote from Georgia Stanway shows that the football teams still stand with the LGBTQ even if they can’t change the rules: “If we can or we can’t wear the armband we know that we wanted to and we’ll stand by the fact that we wanted to.”