In a statement to Asian Voice, Jonathan Metliss, Chairman of Action Against Discrimination (AAD) said: Action Against Discrimination (AAD) abhors and is appalled by the overt display of the Palestinian flag at the FA Cup Final by Leicester City players, in particular Choudhury and Fofana.
Sport, and in this case football, is no place for political statements and gestures of this nature which can incite and inflame racial hatred, abuse and violence.
Moeen Ali, the England and Worcestershire cricketer, was reprimanded by the ICC in July 2014 for wearing pro Palestine wristbands in the third Test Match against India which the ICC ordered him to remove.
Formal complaints will be made to Leicester City Football Club, the Football Association and both the BBC and ITV who screened this, the latter in their news bulletins.
AAD calls on the Football Association and Leicester City Football Club to reprimand and discipline these players appropriately as in the Moeen Ali case.
Similar complaints have been made to Manchester United and Manchester City following the pro Palestinian political statements made by Paul Pogba and Riyad Mahrez respectively.
Leicester City may have won the FA Cup for the first time, but this behaviour by their players has taken the gloss off their triumph.
Sport, and in this case football, must never be used as a platform for either politics or racism.
For more info: Jonathan Metliss (chairman): [email protected]
Andrew Sherwood: [email protected]
