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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   30419 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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International Culture War: Seven European World Cup captains ditch One Love arm band under FIFA pressure

So basically: European countries decide on a face-saving, performative gesture while still going to the Qatar World Cup, despite it being a more repressive, anti-LGBT country.

Then, when they actually get to Qatar, FIFA - I guess to stay on the right side of Qatar and any future traditionalist cultures that want to bid for a World Cup- pulls the rug out from under them and starts threatening sporting sanctions if they do wear a "one love" arm band, turning it into an actually meaningful symbol of defiance if they do wear it.

They don't though, they fold.

"As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games."

I guess I shouldn't be shocked; they folded when they went so why not fold again? But I am a bit surprised that they weren't even allowed this irrelevant gesture, and by how far FIFA is apparently going to help its patrons.

Well, this is the sort of thing we should expect from an exchange in culture (which everyone keeps telling us will enrich us). What did they expect? That it would always go one way and globalization meant that everyone would inevitably fold to all Western moral presumptions? It's a highway, not a one-way street. Moneyed Third-Worlders will push back to maintain their ways.

Maybe I'm late to the party on this but I found the pan-African Nationalist colors to be the most striking feature of the flag. If they wanted that kind of symbolism why not go for something Indian, given how many of the slave laborers are from there.

Presumably because this is just imported American culture war so the relevant oppressed group is U.S. blacks. Same for all the bizarre BLM protests in countries like Ireland.

I wouldn't read too much CW into this. Most sports leagues have uniform rules that result in penalties if they're ignored. The NFL was notorious for a while for fining players for writing messages on their cleats or even wearing unauthorized hats at press conferences. And very little of this was political; Alex Smith got fined for wearing a San Francisco Giants hat. While the NFL probably went too far, it's understandable that sports leagues want to regulate how players dress. They're called uniforms for a reason, and it's easy to see how lax enforcement could lead to ridiculous outcomes where every player is wearing some kind of flair.

I didn’t realize it at first, but this went beyond fines to yellow cards. That makes it strictly more aggressive than anything the NFL has done for uniform violations. Allegedly, it’s not what the clubs expected, either:

Wales said the countries involved had been prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations, but sporting sanctions had been a step too far.

Qatar probably insisted on it. If I were in their shoes I too would adopt a zero tolerance policy due to "Offer an inch, they take a mile" propensity of the left.

In football there is leeway on dress.

Yes, you can't paint anything you like or take off your shirt without sanction but many countries have had modified shirts and uniforms with special logos for certain events. In fact: another recent culture war dustup was a Muslim player refusing to wear a modified, LGBT-friendly shirt in France.

FIFA is almost certainly doing this to mollify Qatar, not some principled opposition to allowing the slippery slope via a "OneLove" armband that they could have simply said no one could wear months ago.

EDIT: Case in point: Belgium forced to change away kit for World Cup after Fifa demand one word ["Love"] is removed from their shirt. These kit designs are decided way in advance. If FIFA had a problem with it for violating strict messaging guidelines, why did it go this far? Why wait till now to do something?

I don't mind the NFL exerting control over player uniforms, but found it irksome they extended that control to player dress during post game press conferences. I always liked how far Chad 'OchoCinco' Johnson went to troll them about the uniform rules (he legally changed his name to be able to put his spanish numerals on his jersey after getting fined for a related joke). One of the better trolls in the NFL.

I wasn’t familiar with the term “booking,” but the specific penalty sanction was a yellow card at the start of the match, actively damaging the team’s chances at the beginning. It’s like if the NFL had started throwing Unsportsmanlike Conduct at Kaepernick at the beginning of each game.

Wales said the countries involved had been prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations, but sporting sanctions had been a step too far.

Taking this at face value, there was an understanding that FIFA would use off-field punishments so long as the players weren’t affecting gameplay, and the teams only folded when FIFA escalated. Of course, they’d make this statement whether or not they expected such an outcome. I don’t know how consistent FIFA has been about penalties sporting sanctions.

[this is what] we should expect from an exchange in culture (which everyone keeps telling us will enrich us). What did they expect?

Consensus-building aside, I’m an American. That is more or less exactly what I expect. Western Europe just doesn’t have our level of cultural pressure to get away with it.

Generally, with regards to Football, the term 'penalty' is reserved for a foul made inside the 'penalty area' which would result in a 'penalty kick' being given. If you say a player was 'given a penalty' you are saying that the player was rewarded a penalty kick for being fouled inside the opposition's penalty area.

In general, the term used when not referring to a penalty kick is 'penalized'. I.e., the player was penalized with a yellow for a foul.

Thanks. Fixed.

Meanwhile, in actual meaningful gestures:

https://twitter.com/borzou/status/1594678318397362176?

Iran national football club stand mournfully and refuse to sing national anthem of clerical regime during first match against England at World Cup 2022 in act of protest against Khamenei henchmen’s violence

Huge risk for these guys. Regime has issued arrest warrants for football legends who have spoken out against it, and has arrested famous actresses just for appearing without hijab in public. How will they be treated when they return to Tehran to a heroes welcome at the airport?

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