FIFA is set to launch an investigation after Australian referee Shaun Evans was accused of making a gesture associated with white supremacy while on camera during Germany’s 7-1 World Cup victory over Curacao.
Australian official Shaun Evans is facing an inquiry (Image: Carmen Mandato - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA is preparing to begin an investigation following allegations that a match official made a hand signal linked to white supremacy during a World Cup fixture.
Australian referee Shaun Evans served as the assistant VAR for Germany's 7-1 triumph against Curacao in Group E on Sunday. As the broadcast cut to the officiating team in the VAR room ahead of kickoff, a standard practice at the World Cup, the 38-year-old Evans appeared to form an upside-down 'OK' sign with his right hand resting on his thigh. This gesture has been associated with the 'white power' movement.
Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant used this symbol when he appeared in court after his 2019 arrest for the murder of 50 people in a shooting at two mosques in New Zealand. That same year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted that the OK symbol had evolved into a 'popular trolling tactic' used by 'right-leaning individuals'.
The official was on VAR duty at the time of the alleged gesture
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However, the gesture is also tied to a playground game, where a person makes the sign below their waist and anyone who looks receives a punch.
The ADL also states that the 'overwhelming usage' of the hand gesture remains to indicate approval or to signal that someone is okay. "Particular care must be taken not to jump to conclusions about the intent behind someone who has used the gesture," they advise.
Nevertheless, it can also serve as a 'sincere expression of white supremacy'. The BBC confirmed in 2019 that the 'OK' hand gesture had been added to its list of hate symbols.
Reach Sport has contacted FIFA for comment.
During the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, a man had his accreditation revoked for apparently making the same gesture during a women's skateboarding final.
The individual was later identified as a subcontractor who appeared to make the hand signal twice while positioned behind athletes during the event.
Evans began his career as a part-time match official while working as a bricklayer. The Melbourne native started officiating in Australia's A-League as an assistant referee in 2008 before being promoted to referee four years later.
In 2017, Evans was added to the FIFA International Referees List. Fare, the anti-discrimination network dedicated to combating inequality in football, released a statement on Sunday saying: "Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down 'OK' hand symbol used as a 'white power' symbol in global far-right circles.
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"Why is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him? It can only be that he is intentionally transmitting a far-right neo-nazi symbol.
"We note that in the two subsequent games it appears TV directors have stopped introducing the VAR panel to the TV audience.
"A global television audience should not be subjected to extremist far right individuals using neo-Nazi symbols as they prepare to watch a match. Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup."