The handing over of the One Love armband is seven national disgraces. FIFA faces a fight...

First off, damn FIFA. Fuck Gianni Infantino, and fuck this fucking World Cup.

At least for those of us who weren't sure if we could watch the tournament in good conscience, there was some comfort to be had in the fact that a reasonable number of headline acts were ready to take a stand. against some of the problems. that make this fuckfest so divisive.

Admittedly, nine players sporting a piece of colored rubber band is a far cry from the Stonewall riots but the prospect offered at least a modicum of solidarity with one of the groups marginalized by the hosts and organizers of this World Cup. After just one day, these people are once again wondering where they belong in a tournament that is shaping up to be even more disgusting and free than we feared.

It's on FIFA. The world governing body left it until the day before the first captain was due to take to the field with a One Love armband to reissue the threat of yellow cards for any skipper not toeing his discriminatory line. Have no doubt, it was a calculated bastard act.

There should have been seven different nations sporting these armbands but, on Monday morning, with no backbone among the national associations, they bottled it up. Dramatically, embarrassingly, shamefully.

No one is shocked by FIFA's actions. They couldn't be scared anymore after choosing Qatar, a country that criminalizes homosexuality, to host a World Cup. Infantino and his buddies don't even bother to try to hide the values ​​they hold most dear. Don't you feel very gay today, Gianni?

Until there is real and radical reform within the game's governing body or, more likely, the FIFA mafia is completely disbanded, little will change. It's the truth, more horrifying to some than most, we have to live with and balance our own minds.

But everyone expected better from organizations like the Football Association and others across Europe. To yield so pitifully in the face of such mild intimidation constitutes seven different national disgraces and one sorry collective clusterfuck.

Didn't they read the rules when they made such a show of their supposed inclusion? FIFA has not changed them. They waited until the weekend to call them all back, but the risk of sending their skippers off with an unsanctioned armband was still there, black on white. The associations really should have seen it coming.

"We cannot put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions, including bookings," cried their statement on Monday morning confirming that they had all shit in their beds.

When we – more so the groups supposed to be represented by this now meaningless gesture – needed the associations to redouble their efforts on their principles, they let us all down. What they have managed to do is put their captains and players in a very delicate position, far more awkward than a pre-match booking.

They should have fought back instead of surrendering so obediently to the dark forces in Doha and Nyon. Would FIFA officials have booked all the players who chose to wear the armband? It doesn't matter anyway; the message would have been sent.

This message counted more than "sporting sanctions" as soft as a yellow card. The FA did not feel comfortable putting their players in such a position, they say. Why not? They are big boys. We can only hope that some of these players, many of whom are socially conscious, also have more guts than the costumes they are cursed to portray.

The only vaguely positive twist in this desolate saga is that FIFA's true colors parade with their abhorrent lack of morality. But we already knew that. Absolutely no one needs reminding what collective of c*nts we have to run the game.

So that can't be the end of the matter. England and the other nations that have surrendered must regroup and find a way to resist FIFA's threats. There is nothing in FIFA laws (that we can find) against body art, at least outside of China. Temporary tattoos everywhere?

Even this, like the One Love armband, is a weak gesture of support for people who need and deserve it. But now, the harm caused by his absence in Qatar will far outweigh the benefits he was able to enjoy around every captain's bicep. Now is the time to go bigger. And for the FA to do much, much better.

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