FIFA are set to investigate after an official was accused of making a gesture associated with white supremacy during a World Cup match.
Australian referee Shaun Evans, 38, was ‘support VAR’ for Germany’s 7-1 win against Curacao in Group E on Sunday.
When the broadcast cut to the match officials in the VAR room before kick-off, as has become customary at the World Cup, Evans appeared to make an upside down ‘OK’ signal with his right hand on his thigh.
The gesture has been associated with the ‘white power’ movement. The Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant made the symbol when he appeared in court following his 2019 arrest for murdering 50 people in a shooting at two mosques in New Zealand.
That year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said that the OK symbol had become a ‘popular trolling tactic’ from ‘right-leaning individuals’.
However, the gesture is also associated with a playground game. A person would make the symbol below their waist and anyone who looks is punched.
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