A British football fan was initially denied entry to a World Cup match in Qatar because he was wearing a T-shirt depicting a naked man.
Simon Sewell was attempting to get into the Education City Stadium for South Korea's match against Ghana on Monday when he was prevented from entering. The 33-year-old British expat, who lives in Dubai, says he was asked to remove his T-shirt, which had a picture of Michelangelo's David on it, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed in.
"They were all looking at my T-shirt," Sewell told inews. "They said, 'This isn't OK'’ They said we had to wait. I pointed out it's a statue!
"But everyone kept saying 'No' and wouldn't take a position on it. Fortunately, once the main security manager came up to us he said it's a statue and they let me through. It was ridiculous."
"We missed kick-off. It's quite an expensive T-shirt. I wasn't willing to hand it over. They weren't going to let me in with the T-shirt, but I didn't want to lose it."
Sewell was eventually allowed to keep his Burberry T-shirt on and enter the stadium, but only after several officials had spoken to him. Michelangelo’s David is one of the most famous artworks on the planet and depicts a naked man posing.
This is far from the first story of a supporter being denied entry to a stadium in Qatar due to what they are wearing. The tournament began with a row over the OneLove armbands, with seven nations backing down from wearing them after being threatened with yellow cards.
Nevertheless, there were incidents of fans being denied entry to stadiums with OneLove armbands, or rainbow-coloured clothing.
FIFA has been cracking down on certain types of banners, clothing and accessories, with Qatar keen to clamp down on political statements. However, some have managed to slip through the net, with Portugal's 2-0 win over Uruguay interrupted on Monday night by a pitch invader who was carrying a rainbow flag.
Italian Mario Ferri, nicknamed "Il Falco" (The Falcon), was wearing a Superman T-shirt with slogans saying 'Save Ukraine' on the front and 'Respect For Iranian Women' on the back.
Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of the supreme World Cup committee for delivery and legacy, criticised western nations for wanting to promote a "divisive" message.
"This is not Qatar I'm talking about, it's the Arab world," he said. "For the teams to come and preach or make statements, that's fine. But what you're essentially saying is you're protesting an Islamic country hosting an event. Where does that end? Does that mean no Islamic country can never be able to participate in anything?
"There's going to be different values and different views coming in. So, for me, if you're going to come specifically to make a statement here in Qatar – or specifically addressed to Qatar and by extension, the Islamic world – it leaves a very divisive message."
