sport news Jack Grealish hits out at 'stupid' FIFA decision to stop One Love armband being ... trends now

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Jack Grealish has hit out at the decision by FIFA to threaten countries into abandoning their support for the OneLove armband.

England captain Harry Kane – along with six other European skippers – planned to wear the armbands  promoting inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar, a country which criminalises same-sex relationships. 

But all seven countries backed down once FIFA threatened to book players who wore it.

Grealish came off the bench to score England's final goal in their 6-2 thumping of Iran in their opening game of the 2022 World Cup on Monday.

After the match, Grealish said he felt it was 'stupid' why they couldn't wear the armband. 

He told ITV Sport: 'Obviously we wanted to wear it. I think it's a bit stupid why we couldn't. Harry himself wanted to wear it, we all wanted Harry to wear it but sometimes in life and in football things are out of your control and there's not much you can do about it.

'I'll be honest with you, I actually haven't been in no meetings or anything about it. But from my point of view and everybody else's in there, we all wanted Harry to wear it but I read before that he might get booked so there's stuff out of your control.

'But from me and all the lads we wanted Harry to wear it. We feel strongly about it, we're with them [LGBT+ fans], we wish they were here with us. All I can say is we wanted to wear it, we feel the same way they do.'

The FA could not risk Kane being booked as it would have put him at risk of being suspended for later stages of the tournament. 

Asked after the game, the Tottenham striker also insisted he was disappointed by the decision.

He said: 'Yeah, I think we’re disappointed.  I turned up to the stadium with the armband that I did wear and I was told I had to wear that.

‘Look, it’s out of our control as players. I’m sure

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