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“Re: Uefa’s statement – did they not just forbid the Allianz Arena being lit up like a rainbow because that would be political?” howls James Humphries. “What a bunch of spineless hypocrites.” The logic they used in the Allianz case was that local authorities had said lighting up the stadium would be a direct response to an oppressive new law in Hungary and, as such, that would be political. It’s a contortion that, yes indeed, exposes Uefa’s spinelessness.
Our man in Budapest, Andy Hunter, has been in touch with Uefa following the reports of Hungarian police taking rainbow flags off fans. Here is a statement from Uefa: “Uefa had earlier today informed the Hungarian Football Federation that that rainbow-coloured symbols are not political and that in line with Uefa’s Equal Game campaign which aims at fighting against any type of discrimination, including against the LGBTQI+ community, such flags will be allowed into the stadium. Contrary to some reports in Dutch media, Uefa would like to clarify that it has not banned any rainbow-coloured symbols from the fan zone in Budapest and that the fan zone is under the responsibility of the local authorities. Uefa on the contrary would very much welcome any such symbol into the fan zone.”
