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 was serving as support VAR for Germany's 7-1 victory against Curacao in Group E on Sunday.
When the broadcast cut to the match officials in the VAR room before kick-off, a customary feature at the World Cup, the 38-year-old Evans appeared to make an upside down 'OK' signal with his right hand on his thigh. The gesture has been linked to the 'white power' movement.
The Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant made the same symbol when he appeared in court following his 2019 arrest for murdering 50 people in a shooting at two mosques in New Zealand. That same year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that the OK symbol had become a 'popular trolling tactic' from 'right-leaning individuals'.
However, the gesture is also associated with a playground game where a person makes the symbol below their waist, and anyone who looks gets punched.
The ADL also notes that the 'overwhelming usage' of the hand gesture remains to show approval or to signal that someone is OK. They added: 'Particular care must be taken not to jump to conclusions about the intent behind someone who has used the gesture.'
Nevertheless, it can be a 'sincere expression of white supremacy'. The BBC confirmed in 2019 that the 'OK' hand gesture had been added to its list of hate symbols.
At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, a man had his accreditation removed for seemingly making the gesture during a women's skateboarding final. The man was later identified as a subcontractor who appeared to make the hand signal twice while standing behind athletes during the event.
Mirror Football has contacted FIFA for comment and extended the right of reply to Evans via football's global governing body.
Evans started out as a part-time match official while working as a bricklayer. The Melbourne native began officiating in Australia's A-League as an assistant referee in 2008 before being promoted to referee four years later. In 2017, Evans was named on the FIFA International Referees List.
Fare, the anti-discrimination network that aims to tackle inequality in football, released a statement on Sunday saying: 'Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down OK hand symbol used as a white power symbol in global far-right circles.'
'Why is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him? It can only be that he is intentionally transmitting a far-right neo-Nazi symbol. We note that in the two subsequent games it appears TV directors have stopped introducing the VAR panel to the TV audience.'
'A global television audience should not be subjected to extremist far right individuals using neo-Nazi symbols as they prepare to watch a match. Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup.'
