The Football Association of Wales have announced they will be addressing FIFA over reports Rainbow Wall bucket hats were confiscated from supporters last night.
In a statement the FAW said they have “collated evidence of the hats being confiscated” and will be “addressing the matter directly with FIFA”.
Former Wales captain Laura McAllister was among the supporters who had their hats confiscated and shared video evidence of the security staff online.
The Rainbow Wall – who are the official Welsh Football LGBTQ+ Supporters Group collaborated with the FAW to make the hats also released a statement saying they were “appalled” to see the bucket hats removed and have called on the FAW to find an “alternative & meaningful show of solidarity with LGBTIQ+ people over the coming weeks in Qatar.”
It wasn’t only Wales fans being challenged on wearing clothes with rainbow logos on, American sports journalist Grant Wahl also claims he was detained for 25 minutes, and had his phone confiscated for wearing a t-shirt with a rainbow.
This latest controversy comes just days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino addressed concerns over LGBT rights at this years world cup saying “Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled.” and just hours after the announcement that any players wearing the ‘one love’ captains armband would be given a yellow card leading to that show of support for the LGBT+ community being abandoned.
We don’t know yet what time the FAW will be meeting with football’s premier governing body but only 3 days into the World Cup LGBT+ rights within Qatar appear to be an issue far from being closed.