By Nelson Dafe on March 6, 2018

English FA chief Martin Glenn has sought to clearly state why Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola is violating the rules of the game by wearing the yellow ribbon which signifies a support for detained Catalonia politicians in Spain.

Glen says Pep’s wearing of the yellow ribbon has angered many non-Catalonians and dismissed Guardiola’s argument comparing wearing a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians  to the English governing body’s defiance over FIFA’s poppy ban. The English FA won the argument with FIFA eventually over the poppy ban after arguing successfully that the poppy was an act of remembrance for fallen soldiers and not a political emblem.

“We have rewritten Law 4 of the game so that things like a poppy are OK but things that are going to be highly divisive are not,” Glenn said. “That could be strong religious symbols, it could be the Star of David, it could the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like Robert Mugabe on your shirt – these are the things we don’t want.

“To be honest, and to be very clear, Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon is a political symbol, it’s a symbol of Catalan independence and I can tell you there are many more Spaniards, non‑Catalans, who are pissed off by it. All we are doing is even-handedly applying the laws of the game.

“Poppies are not political symbols; that yellow ribbon is. Where do you draw the line, should we have someone with a Ukip badge? Someone with an Isis badge? That’s why you have to be pretty tough that local, regional, national party organisations cannot use football shirts to represent them.”

Guardiola has until 6pm on Monday to respond to a charge for wearing what the FA considers to be a political symbol, during the 1-0 FA Cup defeat by Wigan last month.

•Photo shows Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 6, 2018

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