FIFA World Cup 2022: Mario Ferri, Qatar pitch invader released
The man who ran onto the World Cup pitch carrying a rainbow flag and wearinga T-shirt in support of Ukraine and Iranian women has a long rap sheet.
The Italian who ran onto the World Cup pitch wearing a T-shirt in support of Ukraine and Iranian women defended his protest Tuesday, despite being served a tournament ban.
Mario Ferri, 35, a football player with a history of similar stunts, interrupted the Portugal-Uruguay game Monday when he sprinted onto the pitch wearing a blue Superman T-shirt with “Save Ukraine” on the front and “Respect for Iranian Woman” on the back.
Ferri, who calls himself “The Falcon”, also carried a rainbow-coloured flag adorned with the words PACE, meaning peace in Italian.
“I’m BACK,” wrote Ferri on his Instagram page Tuesday, where he describes himself as a “modern pirate”.
FIFA said Ferri’s official card to access the Qatar stadiums was cancelled and that he had been banned from future World Cup matches.
Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed that Ferri had been briefly detained after running onto the pitch before being released “without any further consequences”.
To his 133,000 followers on Instagram, Ferri said he undertook the stunt to send “important messages”, including for Iran “where I have friends who are suffering, where women are not respected”.
Mario ‘The Falcon’ Ferri
— Joe Crann (@YesWeCrann) November 28, 2022
2010 - South Africa
2014 - Brazil
2022 - Qatar
The Italian has priors. pic.twitter.com/SWJF01hGVG
“FIFA banned rainbow captain’s armbands and human rights flags in the stands, they blocked everyone, BUT NOT ME, like a Robin Hood,” he wrote.
“SAVE UKRAINE. I spent a month in the war in Kyiv as a volunteer and saw how much those people are suffering,” he wrote, calling for peace in the country heading into a tenth month of fighting after Moscow’s invasion in February.
He added that “breaking the rules for a good cause is never a crime”. Gay rights and the use of the rainbow flag have been a simmering issue at the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. The rainbow features in both the flag for LGBTQ rights and the peace flag.
According to the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, Ferri has played on teams in Jordan, India, San Marino, the Seychelles and Switzerland — part of his desire to play on every continent.
The man who ran out to the football field during #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022 is Mario Ferri, Italian football player and public activist.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 28, 2022
In March 2022 he helped evacuate Ukrainian women and children at the Polish border.
Grazie mille! pic.twitter.com/sw9Dj3zVMm
In 2010, Ferri invaded the pitch at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi during a game between Inter Milan and TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo while waving an AC Milan scarf.
Four years later during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he again sported his Superman T-shirt as he ran onto the field during a Belgium-USA game.
The T-shirt read “Save the children of the favelas,” referring to slums in Brazilian cities, with “Ciro lives” underneath, in memory of Napoli fan Ciro Esposito who was shot by a hooligan before the Coppa Italia final and later died.
In 2017, Ferri threw a Napoli scarf in the face of Juventus player Gonzalo Higuain during a Napoli-Juventus match.
“I decided to avenge the Neapolitans for Higuain’s move to Juventus,” he told the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.
“I said, ‘Traitor!’ and left.”
FEARS FOR WORLD CUP’S BRAVEST PITCH INVADER
Portugal’s clash with Uruguay was forced to stop after a spectator invaded the pitch carrying a rainbow flag. The protester raced onto the field from the stands just moments before Cristiano Ronaldo headed Portugal ahead in their World Cup Group H showdown.
The ITV cameras failed to show the individual, but commentator Jon Champion confirmed that he was carrying a rainbow flag.
Photos emerged later showing that the man was also wearing a blue T-shirt with the ‘Superman’ logo with the words ‘Save Ukraine’ written on the front and ‘Respect for Iranian Woman’ written on the back
After the short delay, Champion added that security had caught the person and ‘frogmarched’ him off the grass.
The protester raced onto the field from the stands just moments before Cristiano Ronaldo headed Portugal ahead in their World Cup Group H showdown.
Portugal star Ruben Neves said he hoped nothing bad happened to the man.
“We know what has happened around this World Cup,” Neves told reporters at a post-match press conference.
“It is a normal thing that can happen. Of course, we are all with them and the message on his shirt as well.
“We hope nothing happens to the boy because we understand his message and I think all the world understood it as well.”
WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN
The protest was addressed by White House Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre, speaking on the eve of a politically charged match between the USA
and Iran in Qatar.
“We are concerned over the potential treatment of LGBTQ+ spectators
and athletes,” she said.
“We urge the state of Qatar and all Qataris to fully realise the
emir’s message and that is to truly recognise, to welcome everyone to the Cup,
the World Cup.” FIFA said it had no comment to make at this stage.
FIFA CAN’T SILENCE PROTESTS
Seven nations, including England and Wales, planned for their skippers to wear One Love armbands in their opening World Cup matches.
The armbands promote inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights, with same-sex relationships illegal in Qatar.
Alongside the above three, Germany, France, Belgium, and Switzerland had all also wanted their captains to wear them.
But the seven skippers were warned by FIFA that they faced a yellow card as a “minimum” punishment for wearing the armbands.
Germany sent a defiant message to FIFA with an iconic team photo ahead of their shock World Cup defeat to Japan yesterday.
Their players lined up for the pre-match team photo and all covered their mouths with their right hand – an act to show they had been silenced by the tournament organisers.
We also reported last week how Qatar has been ordered by FIFA to stop forcing fans to remove their rainbow hats when they enter stadiums.
Security guards ahead of Wales’ 1-1 draw with the USA cracked down on fans wearing pro-LGBTQ+ clothing at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
Fans reported being forced to remove rainbow-coloured bucket hats, rainbow wristbands and even rainbow laces.
And one man even reported he was refused entry to the stadium because he was wearing a T-shirt sporting a rainbow.
LGBTQ+ rights have been at the centre of controversies around the World Cup – with same-sex relationships punishable by death in Qatar.
Welsh fan group The Rainbow Wall reported only women were targeted and forced to remove their rainbow clobber.
And this included former Wales international football star Laura McAllister.
CALLS FOR US TO BE BOOTED FROM WORLD CUP AMID FLAG ROW
– Peter Botte, NY Post
The Iranian federation planned to file a complaint with FIFA after U.S. Soccer deleted the Islamic Republic emblem from Iran’s flag on social media posts to show support for protesters there.
The posts were later taken down.
The tensions have escalated ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup match between the two countries in Qatar, which will decide which squad will advance out of Group B.
U.S. Soccer posted a graphic Saturday of the group standings on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram showing the green, white and red Iranian flag without the emblem, with a U.S. spokesman adding the move was intended to show “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights.”
U.S. Soccer added that it was a one-time display and future social media posts are expected to use Iran’s official flag, the Associated Press reported. U.S.
Soccer also said the posts with the altered flag would be taken down, and they were deleted Sunday morning. A Sunday post about Tuesday’s game featured Iran’s official flag.
“Clearly the decision we made was to show support for the women in Iran. That stands,” a U.S. Soccer spokesman told The Athletic. “This is our decision, not anyone else’s or pressure from anyone else.”
Tasnim News, Iran’s state-affiliated media agency, reported Sunday that the legal advisor of the Iranian Football Federation said a complaint will be filed to FIFA’s Ethics Committee requesting the U.S. team be booted from the tournament.
“According to section 13 of FIFA rules, any person who offends the dignity or integrity of a country, a person or group of people … shall be sanctioned with a suspension lasting at least ten matches or a specific period, or any other appropriate disciplinary measure,” Tasnim News Agency tweeted. “By posting a distorted image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its official account, the US football team breached the FIFA charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty. Team USA should be kicked out of the #WorldCup2022.”
The legal advisor of the Iranian Football Federation says the sports association will file a complaint against the US Soccer Team to FIFA’s Ethics Committee after the US Men's National Soccer Team disrespected the national flag of Islamic Republic of Iran. https://t.co/z7uOrykk9k
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) November 27, 2022
At least 450 people have died and more than 18,000 have been arrested, according to human rights advocacy groups, in protests in Iran since the suspicious death in Tehran in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing a hijab in violation of the country’s conservative dress code.
Iranian players refused to sing the country’s national anthem before a 6-2 loss in their first match of the World Cup last week against England, with team captain Ehsan Hajsafi saying protesters “should know that we are with them.”
The USMNT needs a victory Tuesday over Iran to advance to the Round of 16 after drawing in each of its first two matches against Wales and England.
FANS RIOT AFTER WORLD CUP UPSET IN DISGRACEFUL SCENES
Police used water cannon and teargas after coming under attack from football supporters who brought havoc to the centre of Brussels following Morocco’s shock 2-0 World Cup win over Belgium in Qatar.
Dozens of fans smashed shop windows, threw fireworks and torched vehicles. Police said that 11 people had been arrested with one remaining in custody.
A spokeswoman said some fans were armed with sticks and a journalist “was injured in the face by fireworks”.
Around a hundred police officers were mobilised while residents were warned to avoid certain areas of the city centre. Metro stations were closed and streets sealed off to limit the spread of the violence.
A surveillance helicopter flew over the city before calm was restored at around 7:00pm (18:00GMT). An AFP journalist saw protesters burning a car, rubbish bins and a number of electric scooters.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the incidents of this afternoon. The police have already firmly intervened. I therefore advise against fans coming to the city centre. The police are doing all they can to maintain public order,” tweeted the mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close.
“I have ordered the police to carry out arrests of the troublemakers.” Belgium is home to around 500,000 people of Moroccan descent. In the eastern city of Liege, a gang of 50 people attacked a police station, breaking windows and damaging two police vehicles. The police there also resorted to water cannon.
Storefronts and a bus shelter were vandalised. Incidents also broke out in Antwerp in the north where a dozen people were arrested.
Meanwhile, Dutch riot police carried out baton charges in three cities to disperse unruly Moroccan football supporters celebrating their team’s victory.
Police took action in Rotterdam, where some 500 people gathered near the city centre, as well as in The Hague, Amsterdam and Utrecht, Dutch police tweeted.
“Supporters threw fireworks and glass at the riot police who then carried out charges,” Rotterdam police said.
Video images showed police with batons and shields sweeping the city centre. Riot police also dispersed fans in Amsterdam and The Hague.
The Netherlands’ large Moroccan community burst into celebrations, lighting torches and fireworks and driving around hooting car horns and waving Moroccan flags shortly after the match ended.
More Coverage
A-League shock as Central Coast Mariners owner quits
Richard Peil has quit the Central Coast Mariners, with drastic funding cuts made by the governing body making it impossible for him to keep the club afloat from his own pocket.
Sermanni reveals plan to tackle Fowler problem
Where to play football sensation Mary Fowler was a problem former Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson struggled with – interim coach Tom Sermanni is on a mission to find the answer.