Sir, – Your editorial on the World Cup “armbands” controversy shows how ridiculous the debate on these issues has become (“The Irish Times view on the latest World Cup controversy”, November 21st).
Your direct comparison between the tokenistic suggestion that European captains should wear the offending armbands and the brave refusal of the Iran team to sing their own national anthem is a serious insult to the Iranians. They have risked grave consequences for themselves and their families by taking the stance they did. All the European players were risking by wearing the armbands was a yellow card – and they weren’t even willing to do even that!
The unwillingness of European players to make even the most meagre sacrifice for their so-called proudly held beliefs in relation to equality shows that they are not beliefs at all, but just an exercise in virtue-signalling which they can cast aside when it suits them. – Yours, etc,
SARAH-ANNE CLEARY,
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Strokestown,
Co Roscommon.
Sir, – In 2026, the World Cup will be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. If, at that event, teams from Middle Eastern countries chose to wear armbands with slogans designed to convince western audiences that homosexuality is wrong, would you support their right to do so?
If European players should wear political slogans to convince citizens of the Middle East of the wrongs of their culture, as your editorial clearly suggests, then surely those countries can do likewise to convince us of the wrongs of Western culture when they are playing football here?
I ask this as a gay Irishman who is regularly lumped into the amorphous “LGBTQ+ community” by your newspaper. Surely sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander? – Yours, etc,
THOMAS RYAN,
Harolds Cross,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – The contrast between the Fifa president and the Iranian national football team could not be more stark. In solidarity with the oppressed women of Iran, the players all stood mute as their national anthem was played. This is potentially going to cost them all dearly, as the religious leaders back home will want to make examples of them for daring to challenge their leadership.
Gianni Infantino, on the other hand, made a ludicrous speech comparing himself to gays, women and immigrants, none of which he is. Rather, he is a very wealthy straight, white male who has no idea or interest in the way the groups mentioned are and have been treated in Qatar. But all of this fatuous nonsense comes at no cost to him. Unlike the Iranian players. When the story of this World Cup is written, the players will undoubtedly be seen to have been brave, braver than most people might be, and Mr Infantino will be seen for what he is, a self-serving apologist for a morally bankrupt organisation, and the Qatari regime. – Yours, etc,
TREVOR TROY,
Baile Átha Buí,
Co na Mí.