Former Wales captain Laura McAllister has detailed the moment she was forced out of the ground to remove her rainbow-coloured bucket hat ahead of the game with the USA because it was deemed a "banned symbol".
FIFA has been at pains to insist this tournament will be used to promote equality for all, however several incidents have already reared their head which have caused concern.
Wales, England and five other nations were threatened with sanctions if they wore their 'OneLove' rainbow-coloured arm bands, while one American journalist was detained for wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow on it ahead of the USA-Wales clash, which you can read about here.
And, in a similar vein to the problems encountered by US reporter Grant Wahl, Laura McAllister, a former Wales Women's skipper, revealed she was told to remove her iconic bucket hat, emblazoned with the LGBT+ rainbow symbol, and put it in lost property.
She believes she had the last laugh, however, because she managed to sneak it in.
"We were aware while we were queuing up that people wearing a rainbow bucket hat, which is a symbol of the LGBT Rainbow Wall in Wales, had had their hats taken off them," McAllister told ITV.
"So, clearly, I wasn't going to take my hat off. But some of the other fans were aware that was likely to happen. Then when we got through security, some of the security guards said we had to take the hat off. When I asked them why, they said because it was a banned symbol and we weren't allowed to wear it in the stadium.
"I pointed out that FIFA had made lots of comments about supporting LGBT rights in this tournament. Coming from a nation where we are passionate about ensuring there is quality for all, I wasn't going to take my hat off.
"I know some of the other fans filmed parts of that. They were insistent that unless I took the hat off, we weren't allowed to come into the stadium. We had to leave it in a lost property area. We were forced to go back out of the stadium and take it to a lost property area.
"I think I had a little moral victory in that I managed to sneak it in."
Upon hearing the news, The Rainbow Wall, Wales' official LGBTQ+ supporters' group, wrote on Twitter: "Our rainbow bucket hat. We are so proud of them, BUT news on the ground tonight is our welsh female supporters wearing them in #Qatar are having them taken off them, Not the men, just Women.
"@FIFAcom ARE YOU SERIOUS !!"
They later added: "We have an update that in the end the Rainbow Hats had been taken from the men also but it didn’t start out that way. A reminder to our Red Wall out in Qatar please stay safe. We can not trust @FIFAcom at all and nothing they have said has been true."
Later in the evening, they wrote: "This would cup is a shambles. BUT, we love our @Cymru we want our Team to win and do well.
"@FIFAcom your disgusting behaviour will not shake our Welsh Pride."
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