Yes Brave Sir Robin turned about and gallantly he chickened out
Bravely taking to his feet he beat a very brave retreat
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin.”
Monty Python and
the Holy Grail
The Great Armband Saga is one of the most dispiriting and discreditable episodes in the history of sport.
The rainbow armband which the captains of eight nations proposed to wear at the World Cup was little more than a token gesture of solidarity with gay people at a tournament in a country where they’re oppressed. ‘One Love’ was a statement so vague as to be practically meaningless. Yet it still proved too much for Fifa to stomach.
The apparent threat of a yellow card to the eight captains was scarcely the most fearsome of sanctions. But it sufficed to scare national associations, teams and players back into line. Millionaire wimps crumpled like paper bags in a shower of rain.
In doing so, they probably rang the death knell for the much-touted idea that there’s an affinity between big-time sport and progressive causes and that we’re living in a golden age of political awareness among players.
Instead, sport has been undeservedly dining out on the deeds of dissidents from the past. The idea that every player is a potential Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith or Colin Kaepernick has been revealed as nonsense.
Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam matters so much because it cost him a great deal. He risked jail, was stripped of his world title and banned from boxing for three and a half years at the peak of his career.
Possibly incurring a yellow card seems a very small sacrifice by comparison yet the players of England, Denmark, Wales, Belgium, France, Holland, Switzerland and Germany felt it was too much to ask.
Germany’s ‘we’ve been silenced’ number was better than nothing but had the advantage of being risk free. If they genuinely felt strongly about it, Manuel Neuer should have worn the armband.
Fifa’s draconian reaction to mild dissent borders on the deranged. Their insistence that Belgium also remove the word ‘love’ from their jersey displayed McCarthyite levels of paranoia.
That attitude emboldened local security men to confiscate rainbow hats from Welsh supporters and to detain the American journalist Grant Wahl for wearing a rainbow T-shirt. Rather than striking a blow for tolerance, the World Cup empowered its enemies.
Having caved in such humiliating fashion, the decent thing would have been for the countries involved to hang their heads in shame and keep silent.
Instead FA CEO Mark Bullingham was still banging on about “showing our values” even as Gareth Southgate was cravenly declaring, “I do understand Fifa’s situation in that you can set a precedent and it’s difficult to know where to draw the line.”
Having received much praise in the run-up to the tournament for a gesture they eventually didn’t have the guts to make, England apparently believe their climbdown changes nothing.
Once safely back on home soil they’ll probably declare their abiding commitment to tolerance, diversity, social justice etc. But principles are meaningless if you don’t stand up for them when the going gets even slightly tricky. After all the architect of Fifa’s armband ban, Gianni Infantino, also declared his support for progressive ideals when revealing that he felt Qatari, African, Arabic, gay and disabled. And at the opening ceremony Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani declared, “How lovely it is that people can put aside what divides them to celebrate their diversity.”
These are strange words from the ruler of a country where gay people are imprisoned but the Emir, who was educated in England, knew this is the kind of empty formula demanded on such occasions. He may suspect that a lot of Westerners declaring their support for such things don’t really mean it or at least don’t feel very strongly about them. Last week’s collective surrender suggests he might be right.
Some have tried to excuse Fifa on the grounds that hatred of homosexuality is part of Qatari culture and we should ‘respect’ that. This is a profoundly amoral stance given that the main victims of the Qatari government’s homophobia are gay people from that country.
In 1983 the Supreme Court dismissed David Norris’ appeal against the continued criminalisation of homosexuality on the grounds of “the Christian nature of our state and on the grounds that the deliberate practice of homosexuality is morally wrong, that it is damaging to the health of both individuals and the public and, finally, that it is potentially harmful to the institution of marriage.”
Ireland had perhaps the most punitive attitude towards gay people of any Western country back then. When Declan Flynn was beaten to death in Fairview Park in 1982, his killers walked free from court after the judge declared, “This could never be regarded as murder.”
Things have changed since but not because we suddenly woke up and thought gay people were OK. They changed because of the activism of David Norris and others like him. And also because the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared that our ban on homosexuality was illegal.
So where would we be if people had argued that nobody should challenge our national homophobia and that foreigners like the ECHR should keep their noses out of our business? People lucky enough to live in countries where such attitudes have largely disappeared owe solidarity to those who live in countries where they haven’t.
The argument that the West did terrible things once so we have no right to say anything is just as ridiculous.
For most of the great era of Western power Harry Kane’s ancestors on his father’s side, like mine on my mother’s side, were in Connemara trying to subsist on some of the worst land in Europe. That hardly precludes either of us from believing that homophobia is evil.
Now it appears that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to be threatened with a yellow card.
The People’s Game should be ashamed of itself.
Saudi Arabia prove biggest winners in first week of finals
Saudi Arabia may be the biggest victors of the World Cup so far. Not only was their win over Argentina the headline result of week one but it was achieved on the soil of a major regional rival.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were only restored last year after Saudi severed them in 2017 because of Qatar’s links with Iran. It’s safe to bet that when Qatar secured the tournament, they didn’t imagine it would give their neighbours the chance to become the toast of the Arab sporting world.
Making things even better for Saudi Arabia were the struggles of its deadliest enemy. Iran had to watch its players refuse to sing the national anthem before being hammered by England. The regime’s response was typically measured with a headline in its main newspaper screaming, ‘Iran 2, England, Israel, Saudi, Traitors 6’.
With the investment in Newcastle United also paying dividends at the moment it’s been quite the sporting year for the Saudis. Local boy Osama Bin Laden’s observation that, “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse,” perhaps came to mind last week. The 2030 World Cup bid is surely gathering steam.
Cunningham and Mahony light up Munster battle
World Cup notwithstanding, the finest individual performance of the week may have come at the rainier surroundings of Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds last Sunday.
Pauric Mahony’s display, which yielded seven points from play and six from frees, was one of the finest in club championship history. The attacker has produced some spectacular performances for club and county but this was his finest hour.
It was also a red letter day for Ballygunner, who seemed about to be swept aside by an almost perfect first-half showing from Na Piarsaigh which left the All-Ireland champions trailing by five points at the break.
Any loss of hunger following last season’s long-awaited title would have been exposed at that stage. Instead, Ballygunner stuck to their trademark measured style and were eventually rewarded with a 2-20 to 2-15 win.
Saturday’s final in Thurles will pit them against Clare champions Ballyea. Yet the star of the show in the other semi-final was on the St Finbarr’s side, who lost by a point after playing almost the entire game with 14 men.
Wing-forward Ben Cunningham, with nine points (four from play), displayed remarkable maturity for a player who just two years ago was starring with the Cork minors.