Huge protests after the TV framed the VAR assistant of Germany-Curaçao with his thumb and forefinger forming an upside down circle, symbol of the extreme right, as reported by Fare Network: “The World Cup cannot continue”. The Australian race director justifies himself and the federation does not intervene
His name is Shaun Evans and for a few hours he was the protagonist of the World Cup. It happened when the Fare Network, which collaborates with FIFA to report discriminatory behaviour, considered the gesture that the Australian referee made just as he was being framed by the cameras before the start of Germany-Curaçao to be neo-Nazi and supremacist. He, VAR assistant for the occasion in Dallas (the match was played in Houston), was immortalized while joining his thumb and forefinger in a circle with his hand upside down, a symbol of suprematism and which refers to the extreme right-wing world. The frame begins to go around the web, then the very serious complaint from the Fare network: “The tournament cannot continue, it must be stopped”.
FIFA doesn’t punish Evans
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Immediately afterwards comes the note from Evans himself: “I did not make that gesture intentionally and I did not want to communicate any message. The only explanation I can give is that it was an involuntary gesture”. FIFA believes him and “saves” him. The Disciplinary in a note: “There is no evidence that he violated the Fifa code”. Perhaps, a storm in a teacup.