Qatar World Cup gay rights storm intensifies over England 'blackmail' and 'LOVE' kit ban

The FIFA row over the OneLove armband continues as Qatar refused to allow rainbow merchandise at World Cup games as a Danish TV presenter was rapped live on air for the band

The storm at the World Cup over gay rights has intensified.

England were allegedly subjected to “extreme blackmail” to prevent captain Harry Kane playing in a OneLove armband.

And FIFA has also banned the word “love” from inside Belgium’s kit.

With anger growing at authorities in Qatar refusing to let fans wear official rainbow merchandise at World Cup games, the mess has been slammed as “shameful”.

It has also emerged a Danish TV presenter in the Middle East nation was rapped by police live on air for wearing a OneLove armband.

Meanwhile, it is claimed England were blackmailed into not wearing the armband, which contains rainbow colours and is meant to send a message to Qatar over its stance on gay rights.

And FIFA has banned the word “love” from the Belgium team’s kit.

Welsh FA chiefs have vowed to confront FIFA over Qatar’s refusal to let fans wear the rainbow merchandise at Monday night’s opening game.

Former Wales captain Laura McAllister was among those who fell foul of the ruling before the match.

Laura, now a professor at Cardiff University, was told her hat was a “banned symbol” by stadium security before hiding it in her handbag.

She said yesterday: “I explained that I came from a nation where we’re very passionate about equality for all people. I wasn’t going to take my hat off. They were insistent that unless I took it off we weren’t allowed to come into the stadium.”

The rainbow hats were created in partnership with the Football Association of Wales.

It said it is “extremely disappointed” by reports that fans were ordered to remove the headwear.

No10 last night said it would continue to “carefully” monitor the treatment of fans and members of the LGBT community visiting the host nation.

Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell said: “This latest fiasco is shameful. The World Cup should never have been given to Qatar. Instead of telling LGBT+ fans to get back in the closet our government should be telling FIFA to get its house in order.”

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly dodged questions on the issue. He said: “The rules as to what fans wear when they enter the stadia is ultimately for the football authorities.”

Danish journalist Jon Pagh was left shaken after being told by Qatari police to remove the OneLove armband while filming a World Cup segment in the capital Doha. He refused, and the officer eventually backed down.

England and other teams whose captains planned to wear the OneLove armbands were subjected to “extreme blackmail”, according to the German Football Association.

The organisation’s media director Steffen Simon said: “The tournament director went to the English team and talked about multiple rule violations and threatened massive sporting sanctions without specifying what these would be.” It has reported these potential sanctions included yellow cards to any player wearing the multi-coloured armband.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, which has been clamping down on any pro-LGBT support.

FIFA has made it clear that rainbows on clothing and flags are not prohibited in stadiums, but have acted to prevent protests on the pitch.

Belgium have been ordered by FIFA to remove the word ‘LOVE’ from inside the collar of their away shirt.

The message bares no relation to the OneLove campaign and was released in the summer as part of a collaboration with music festival Tomorrowland.

But Peter Bossaert, CEO of the Belgian Football Association, told Nieuwsblad: “The word love must disappear.

“It’s sad, but FIFA leaves us no choice. The rest of the equipment remains unchanged.”

Belgium will now wear their red kits for the group stages and will deal with the situation as the tournament progresses.

It is understood they may deal with the issue by putting a sticker over the word.

The decision to remove the One Love message from the Belgium shirt was announced late on Monday.

The detail on the white shirt was described as a “symbol for mutual values on diversity, equality and inclusivity” at the September launch by Belgium’s signature electronic music event Tomorrowland.

But FIFA rules on team uniforms and equipment forced Belgium to change its World Cup plans for its first alternate jersey to the traditional red.

“We had to skip it for commercial reasons because of referring to Tomorrowland,” the Belgian soccer federation said Monday.

FIFA declined to comment on its ruling regarding the second-choice jersey.

FIFA has also declined to comment further on the decision to warn teams about sanctions if they wore the Rainbow armband.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: ‘It’s absolutely appalling that the FIFA boss is giving cover to the dictatorship in Doha. Of course the West has some bad things, but that is no excuse for the bad things that Qatar is doing today. FIFA has form in colluding with tyrannies. It allowed the 2018 World Cup to go ahead in Russia despite that country’s invasion and annexation of Crimea.’