News Focus
- Australian VAR official Shaun Evans displayed a controversial hand sign before Germany’s match against Curaçao.
- The gesture resembles a white supremacist symbol used by far-right groups worldwide.
- Fare network, Fifa’s discrimination monitor, says the official must leave the tournament immediately.
- The sign could also relate to a children’s game, though the exact context remains unclear.
- Television directors appear to have stopped showing VAR teams on camera after this incident.
Football’s main anti-racism group has asked Fifa to sack a Video Assistant Referee from the World Cup. The Australian official Shaun Evans showed a hand sign that looks like a white power symbol on live TV.
Cameras filmed the VAR team before Germany played Curaçao in Houston. Evans held his right hand in an “OK” sign turned upside down. The 37-year-old was working at the broadcast centre in Dallas rather than the stadium.
The Fare network, which helps Fifa and Uefa fight racism, released a statement. Their experts say the sign matches the “white power” gesture used by far-right groups. The network said clearly that this official should leave the tournament immediately.
This hand sign became a hate symbol in 2019. The Anti-Defamation League in New York put it on their list after white supremacist groups started using it. But the sign also appears in the “circle game,” a playground joke where players hit anyone who looks at the sign.
Evans is one of thirty VAR officials picked for the tournament across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Fare questioned why a referee would use this sign when he knew cameras were on him. After this event, TV directors seem to have stopped showing VAR teams to the audience.
Fifa and Football Australia have received requests for comments. Nobody has confirmed if Evans made a racist gesture or was simply playing the children’s game.