Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 22 November 2022.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:51, 22 November 2022

Absolutely. It was an outrageous last-minute u-turn by FIFA. It was a very different proposition to what they had said they would do. I think the initial one was that they would fine the football association, and I think certainly the European football associations that had signed up to that sort of accepted that, if you like. Sporting sanctions are very, very different, aren't they? If Gareth Bale had been booked and then he was booked again, he wouldn't have been on the pitch to take the penalty, for instance, so you can see the impact it would have had. But, FIFA, it was just absolutely outrageous. It would have been such a simple but powerful statement, I think. And you're quite right, we saw one of our own ambassadors, Laura McAllister, being asked to take off her hat. I know somebody in Qatar last night who was asked to take their rainbow laces out of their trainers. It's completely and utterly unacceptable, and I know we have been in dialogue with the embassy in Doha, trying to seek some urgent clarification that rainbow bucket hats, laces or T-shirts are not banned from stadia, and I very much hope we won't see a repeat of that. I absolutely take on board what you're saying about the Wales-England match next week and how we can make that powerful statement that, for us, this is a really, really important matter. I just think FIFA missed such an opportunity and they've caused so much hurt and distress to so many people.