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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

World Cup rainbow flag hero should get same treatment that Qatar has given superstars

All along Doha's Corniche, which is the promenade which runs along from the bay area into the city, there are enormous buildings adorned with the superstars who are playing at this World Cup.

When you approach the area from Al Bidda Park, Gareth Bale is the one who stands out.

When you come out of Corniche Metro station right in front of where the main fan park is then it is the luckless and absent Sadio Mane whom you see, followed closely by Harry Kane and Virgil van Dijk, with Manuel Neuer and Neymar not far behind.

Then all along the walk you'll see more and more of these giants popping out from around buildings and overlooking roundabouts, parks and outdoor cafes.

You've never lived until you've had a coffee while being stared down by a 600ft Dusan Tadic, let me tell you.

Well after Monday night, maybe we should put Mario Ferri on the screens of Piccadilly Circus? Or project him onto Canary Wharf, Blackpool Tower or the Angel of the North?

Hey make it all of them, such was the bravery of what he did when running onto the pitch at the Lusail Stadium, the venue for the final of Qatar's World Cup, with a rainbow flag, the very thing that changed from being a symbol of pride, acceptance and tolerance to becoming a political and unwelcome slogan just because this World Cup is here.

Ferri ran onto the pitch with a rainbow flag to create one of this tournament's most powerful images (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

But it isn't political to be gay, and nor is it anything other than a person's right. A person's life.

It also isn't something that is only okay as long as it is hidden, as was put to me by an Uber driver here one evening when discussing the various issues with this country, how it got the World Cup, how it has built the infrastructure to host it and how it treats those of us who are here.

Of the latter point, the answer is fantastically well.

As media you are treated tremendously by the incredibly kind people around stadiums, metro stations and media centres, but then I haven't got to think about the fact that the way I live my life is illegal here, because it isn't.

For those that do the pain must be indescribable, and that is where heroes like Ferri come along, with the 35-year-old Italian possessing a history of interrupting global events to make a clear, crystallising point.

Ferri's pitch invasion was seen around the world (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Because it is ridiculous that being gay is illegal here, and that showing support for LGBTQ+ people should be controversial. We all know that.

Yes the argument for respecting the cultures of those who invite you in is a convincing one, but that shouldn't also stop you from pointing out where they've got it dreadfully, backwardly wrong.

With one sprint onto a pitch, Ferri did that.

Now let's treat him like the World Cup hero he is.

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