Argentina players display political Falklands banner after England victory, risking Fifa action
Argentina
players held up a political banner declaring "Las Malvinas Son
Argentinas" ("The Falklands are Argentine") after their 2-1 World
Cup semi-final victory over England on Wednesday, in apparent contravention of
FIFA rules.
FIFA's
Stadium Code of Conduct bans "banners, flags, flyers, apparel and other
paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature"
inside stadiums.
World
soccer's ruling body did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The question of sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic known to the
British as the Falklands and the Argentines as the Malvinas has been a long-running
sore in relations between the countries.
They
fought a short conflict over the islands in 1982, in which 649 Argentine
soldiers and 255 British combatants died. Britain ultimately won and the vast
majority of residents of the islands have said they wish to remain part of
Britain.
But
Argentina has long claimed it inherited the islands from Spain after its
independence in 1816 and that Britain took control in 1833 through an illegal
colonial act.
Lisandro
Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans
in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.
It is
not the first time the question of political banners has come up during the
World Cup. Last month in Los Angeles, Iranian Americans waved pre-revolutionary
flags that are symbols of protest against the Tehran government when Iran
played. Those matches proceeded without incident.
