UPDATE — June 16, 01:24 am PT: FIFA’s disciplinary committee has cleared Australian video referee Shaun Evans of any wrongdoing after he was accused of making a hand gesture associated with white supremacists during a broadcast.
An investigation published yesterday by football’s governing body said it had found no evidence that Evans had breached FIFA’s disciplinary Code and the hand gesture was innocuous. Evans also later published a statement denying all allegations.
“I would like to clarify that I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind,” Evans said in his statement. “The only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch and I was unaware I had done it at the time. Images taken later during the match showed that I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers.”
He added: “The coverage following this incident simply does not reflect who I am. Of course, I understand how the gesture has been interpreted, and I regret this; however, I want to be very clear and categorically say that I did not knowingly or deliberately make the hand symbol suggested. Officiating at the World Cup is the biggest honour of my career, and I look forward to supporting my colleagues for the rest of the tournament.”
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PREVIOUS STORY — June 15, 8:10 am PT: Shaun Evans, an Australian referee at this year’s World Cup, has been accused of making a white supremacist hand gesture during an official broadcast on Sunday night.
Evans was captured placing his index finger and thumb together to create an “O” figure with his right hand in front of his right leg during Sunday night’s broadcast of Germany’s opening game against Curaçao. Evans was in an off-site booth for video referees.
The Fare network, a long-time partner of FIFA that monitors racist and discriminatory chants and symbols at international games, said the gesture was “clearly” used to resemble white supremacist ideology.
“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,” the Fare network said in their statement.
“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.”
The statement continued: “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.”
FIFA has yet to make a public statement about the incident, but BBC Sport reported that the organization is investigating what happened. The hand gesture has been used by members of white supremacist movements since 2017 and originates from a series of conspiracy theories from the message board 4chan.
During Sunday’s game, Germany beat Curaçao by seven goals to one.
