‘This is what courage looks like’: Anthem boycott as England cops ban

As England’s players abandoned plans to wear a rainbow-themed armband, their opponents stood silently to show “what courage looks like”.

Iran's Ahmad Noorollahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Mehdi Taremi did not sing their country’s national anthem. (Photo by Fadel Senna / AFP)

Iran’s World Cup players chose not to sing their national anthem in apparent support for anti-government protesters in their homeland on Monday, as European teams ditched rainbow-themed armbands.

Led by captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the Iranian players stood impassively as their anthem rang out before their opening match of the tournament against England in the Qatari capital Doha.

Ahead of the game, Jahanbakhsh said the team would decide together whether or not to refuse to sing the anthem in solidarity with the nationwide protests triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody on September 16.

Amini, an Iranian of Kurdish origin, died three days after her arrest in Tehran over an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women.

All of the Iran players stood silently. (Photo by Fadel Senna / AFP)

A testing moment. (Photo by Fadel Senna / AFP)

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz admitted his players are feeling the strain of protests in the Islamic republic after they suffered a heavy 6-2 defeat by England in their World Cup Group B opener on Monday.

Speaking after his team were routed by England, Iran boss Queiroz made it clear the political unrest had taken a toll on the squad.

“It is not right to come to this World Cup and ask them to do things that are not their responsibility. They want to bring pride and joy for the people,” Queiroz told reporters.

“You don’t even imagine behind the scenes what these kids have been living in the last few days, just because they want to express themselves as footballers.” Queiroz said that whatever the players said, they could not win. “Of course we have feelings and beliefs and in due time, at the right moment, we will express them,” he said.

This is what courage looks like. https://t.co/OaFbwsvSXK

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 21, 2022

England’s captain Harry Kane had been expected to wear a rainbow-themed armband for the match, but hours before kick-off, the English, German and five other European federations said they were abandoning the plan to wear the “One Love” insignia.

They have been widely viewed as a symbolic protest against laws in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

The seven teams said they felt they had no choice but to ditch the plan because of the risk their captains would be punished by football’s world governing body.

“FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” the federations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland said in a statement.

They said they had been prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations because they had “a strong commitment to wearing the armband”.

“However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play,” they said.

— with AFP