An anti-discrimination group working with FIFA is accusing an Australian referee of making a “white power” hand gesture before the start of a World Cup match.
The referee, Shaun Evans, made the gesture when cameras cut to the officiating room in Dallas just before kickoff at Sunday’s match between Germany and and Curaçao in Houston. Evans was working in the booth as a video assistant referee, or VAR, for the match, and made the gesture with his right hand by his hip as the VAR crew was introduced.
Fare network, a U.K.-based watchdog group and FIFA partner dedicated to fighting discrimination in soccer, noted that the upside-down “OK” gesture is often used by far-right white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys. In that interpretation of the widely known and long-used gesture, the three fingers form a “W” for white while the thumb and index finger make a “P” for power.
Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant was also seen making the gesture in court in 2019 after he killed 50 people in a shooting at a New Zealand mosque.