All the other teams that wanted to wear the "one love" armband folded as well, btw. France had already given up on the plan before, but England, Wales, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark also gave in when threatened with yellow cards.
The "one love" armband was already a compromise - a reaction to the FIFA outlawing armbands with the rainbow flag because they're "political" (the two genders: cis and political. The two sexual orientations: straight and political). So they came up with this weird thing that has the green, black and red shades from the pan-african movement and the magenta, azure and neon yellow from the pan pride flag and was officially intended as a statement of solidarity with all marginalized groups, not just (but also) the LGBT community.
BTW, not a single pro at this tournament is out. Not one. Out of 32 teams. I don't know what leaves a worse aftertaste, that our lifes aren't even worth a yellow card, that people performatively criticize Qatar while we are being slaughtered in the USA with most people barely noticing, or that all this happens in a milieu were coming out as queer is still considered a career ender in 2022.
I don't follow sports, so I don't know what proportion of teams wanted to wear the band, but it occurs to me that if they had all stuck to their guns, they could have said, "OK, go ahead with the punishment" and they all could have started with a yellow card and been on the same footing, effectively making the punishment meaningless. It still would have been a pretty empty gesture, but it would have been something.
but it occurs to me that if they had all stuck to their guns, they could have said, “OK, go ahead with the punishment” and they all could have started with a yellow card and been on the same footing
Right. But you had a host of nations that weren't participating at the outset. Only seven of the thirty-two participants were a part of this stunt. Players from countries like Japan, Korea, Brazil, Poland and Saudi Arabia weren't invited or they weren't interested. It was West Europeans Only.
All the other teams that wanted to wear the "one love" armband folded as well, btw. France had already given up on the plan before, but England, Wales, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark also gave in when threatened with yellow cards.
The "one love" armband was already a compromise - a reaction to the FIFA outlawing armbands with the rainbow flag because they're "political" (the two genders: cis and political. The two sexual orientations: straight and political). So they came up with this weird thing that has the green, black and red shades from the pan-african movement and the magenta, azure and neon yellow from the pan pride flag and was officially intended as a statement of solidarity with all marginalized groups, not just (but also) the LGBT community.
BTW, not a single pro at this tournament is out. Not one. Out of 32 teams. I don't know what leaves a worse aftertaste, that our lifes aren't even worth a yellow card, that people performatively criticize Qatar while we are being slaughtered in the USA with most people barely noticing, or that all this happens in a milieu were coming out as queer is still considered a career ender in 2022.
I don't follow sports, so I don't know what proportion of teams wanted to wear the band, but it occurs to me that if they had all stuck to their guns, they could have said, "OK, go ahead with the punishment" and they all could have started with a yellow card and been on the same footing, effectively making the punishment meaningless. It still would have been a pretty empty gesture, but it would have been something.
Right. But you had a host of nations that weren't participating at the outset. Only seven of the thirty-two participants were a part of this stunt. Players from countries like Japan, Korea, Brazil, Poland and Saudi Arabia weren't invited or they weren't interested. It was West Europeans Only.
I see. Yeah, if most of the participating teams weren't going to wear the armband, then it would have been a real punishment.