Alex Scott wears One Love armband during Qatar World Cup coverage
"If sports stars are going to cover the World Cup, they should use their platform for good, and Alex is showing them all up," one supporter wrote.
Alex Scott has received extensive praise from football fans after she wore a One Love armband during BBC World Cup coverage, just a matter of hours after FIFA imposed sanctions against players who do the same.
It’s a powerful statement from the 38-year-old presenter, former Lioness and England captain, who has not explicitly labelled her sexuality but shared she’s been in relationships with both men and women.
On Monday, nine European countries, including England’s captain Harry Kane, made a U-turn on their commitment to wear One Love armbands after FIFA threatened to book players who stepped onto the pitch with the armband with a yellow card.
The One Love armbands were “to promote inclusion and send a message against discrimination of any kind,” a visual opposition to the fact homosexuality is illegal and punishable with prison sentences and death in Qatar.
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch recently reported that six LGBTQ Qataris had been beaten and sexually harassed while in police custody. These reports were denied by Qatar.
Scott word the armband in a pitch-side discussion with Kelly Somers ahead of England’s opening World Cup match against Iran and many are commanding her for this act of bravery.
“Alex Scott, a queer woman of colour, is putting herself in danger by being in Qatar and publicly supporting the LGBTQ+ community,” one tweet reads. “If sports stars are going to cover the World Cup, they should use their platform for good, and Alex is showing them all up.”
“Alex scott a women who has just come out and now is in a country where she can be killed or imprisoned for being part of the community is wearing the one love armband, brave and powerful stuff from her,” another wrote.
Some even notes Scott’s act showed up the men’s teams: “Alex Scott has more balls than the entire England men’s football team, we love to see it”
“Action speaks louder than words. No protest in history ever needed permission,” Versus, a platform championing the future of young football athletes, tweeted.
“Massive respect to Alex Scott for donning the OneLove armband despite multiple national team U-turns,” they added.
Scott’s act of FIFA defiance follows numerous people in the footballing world speaking out against Qatar’s World Cup hosting, including England footballers Jake Daniels and Beth Mead, Scotland’s Zander Murray, and Australia’s Josh Cavallo.
Following their decision to no longer wear the One Love armbands, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland released a joint statement outlining that they could not put their players “in a position where they could face sporting sanctions”.
“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision, which we believe is unprecedented,” their statement read.
The FIFA World Cup will be held from 20 November to 18 December 2022.