Qatar officials refuse BBC Reporter entry to the stadium for wearing a “rainbow” striped watch during the Wales v England encounter at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
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Qatari guards doesn't allow wearing rainbow colored stuffs to the stadium.
Ahead of the FIFA World Cup match between England and Wales, FIFA issued a statement saying that rainbow-colored hats and flags would be allowed during the stadium premises. Still, Qatari guards made a U-turn at the entry gates. A BBC cameraman was not allowed entry into the stadium because he wore a watch with a rainbow-colored strap.
The BBC Sports Correspondent was Natalie Pirks and she soon took to her Twitter claiming that she has been held outside the Al Bayt Stadium just because of a watch. Her cameraman was wearing an Apple Watch with a rainbow-colored strap and the security upon spotting stopped her to enter the premises of the FIFA World Cup stadium.
Some supporters and fans had rainbow-colored flags with them which were also confiscated by the guards. A clip has also gone viral where ex-Wales women’s captain Laura McAllister was being asked to remove her rainbow-colored bucket hat during Wales’ match against the USA a couple of days ago and she also confirmed later on that she had to smuggle her hat into the stadium.
In response to these issues, FIFA has taken a great initiative and a step ahead by allowing the to use rainbow-colored bucket hats and flags inside the stadium. After Germany conveyed their message of being silenced by FIFA, the fans will now be allowed to use the flags as a protest to the LGBTQ+ issues in the host country for the second round group stage FIFA World Cup matches.
What did Natalie Pirks and Laura McAllister say about this incident?
Natalie Pirks shared a picture of her cameraman’s watch on Twitter and wrote, “Just arrived at the Al Bayt stadium for England’s game and my cameraman, wearing the rainbow-colored watch strap his son got him, was stopped by security and refused entry. Clearly, the message from FIFA is still not getting through.”
Laura McAllister who was not allowed to enter the stadium as she was wearing a rainbow-colored hat and the security guards stopped her later posted on her Twitter saying, ” We are now in, to their credit the Qataris have set up a hotline for crews experiencing problems, this managed to help us eventually get past security.”
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Soumyadeep Mondal
(882 Articles Published)