Blackpool's Jake Daniels hits out at England's U-turn over 'One Love' armband at the World Cup
Blackpool’s Jake Daniels has hit out at England’s decision not to wear a ‘One Love’ captain’s armband in support of LGBT+ rights.
The Three Lions, along with six other nations, had planned for captain Harry Kane to wear the symbolic gesture on his arm during today’s tournament opener against Iran.
The English FA were willing to accept a possible fine but once FIFA made it clear the player would be booked, they decided to drop the idea.
Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have also followed suit.
"FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play," read a joint statement from the Football Associations.
"As national federations, we can't put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.”
"We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented,” the statement added.
“We wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response.”
After hearing the news, Daniels – who, in May, became the first publicly gay footballer in English football since Justin Fashanu in 1990 – took to social media to vent his frustration.
“Pathetic,” he wrote on his Instagram stories, accompanied by an ‘eye roll’ emoji.
In an interview with Vogue magazine last week, the 17-year-old discussed the World Cup being held in Qatar, a country where homosexuality is illegal.
“I’m not the happiest,” he admitted.
“I know [some] people wanted to boycott it, which would have been good, but the World Cup’s massive
“If you’re comfortable to go and do it, you do it.”
When asked if he would feel comfortable playing in a country like Qatar, Daniels concluded: “No, in my opinion, I wouldn’t.
“It would frustrate me, because why am I trying to hide my personal life for other people?
“I’m going to play football for you and you can’t respect how I want to be, so it’s just not what I want to do.”