We were somewhere around Patcham, only five minutes out of the Park and Ride, when the rumours began to fly. Roger Wade, founder of fashion label Boxfresh and a 10-year Brighton & Hove Albion season ticket holder, had, it seemed, been denied access to his seat by security staff at the Fulham game on 16 August, for wearing a Palestine t-shirt.
It was quiet again for a week but then the socials were suddenly ablaze with claim and counterclaim and my editor was calling to remind me that, as a ‘citizen journalist’, I had an obligation to cover the story for good or ill.
I had a brief email exchange with Roger. He’s a media-savvy guy and he had an information pack ready to go. By now he was all over Reddit and Insta and Linked-in, riling up all the keyboard warriors who struggle to write 50 words if 5000 will do (or, alternative strategy, a few choice drops of cruelty and poison). He’s even got into the New York Times. He does have an interesting story though.
The gist of it is that Roger arrived at the match wearing the aforesaid shirt – a football strip in Palestine colours with the single word ‘Palestine’ across the chest, but with a jacket covering it. On the way to his seat, he removed the jacket and had a photo taken. He watched the first half without issue, then, at the interval, he went to the bar, jacket on, and was approached by a security officer who asked him to step outside for a quiet word.
When Roger asked why, no explanation was forthcoming and he was told he would not be allowed to return to his seat. Eventually, after some (apparently polite) back and forth, he put his jacket back on and was allowed to return to his seat from where he watched the rest of the match.
Mixed messages and further confusion
The next day Roger wrote to the club to complain, saying ‘the actions of your security staff were unfair, discriminatory, and wholly unjustified’ and pointing out that ‘UEFA guidance is that football shirts are not banned unless they contain political messaging’. He added that ‘at the recent UEFA Super Cup, both UEFA signage and social media messages called for an end to the killing of civilians and children in Palestine’.
Instead of the requested apology, however, Roger received a note from the club saying it had put all the available evidence to ‘the Club’s investigation and complaints meeting’ which had deemed he failed ‘to comply with reasonable requests of a steward which is a Category 3 Offence’ and that he was ‘excluded from attending the next five Premier League matches at the Amex’ and that ‘if he was seen in or around’ the property during this time he would be ‘asked to leave and further legal action may be sought’.
Brighton and Hove Albion have now released a statement of their own on the matter. It doesn’t directly reference Roger’s complaints but does say “The Premier League is clear on guidance to all its clubs in that flags, banners or other materials (including replica shirts and t-shirts) that display potential inflammatory content, which could include flags of countries in conflict, or content considered discriminatory, offensive or politically motivated, should not be permitted.”
The statement goes on ‘despite some media reports and social media comment to the contrary, to date no supporter has been sanctioned for failing to comply with the Premier League rules on displaying flags or other materials representing countries in conflict.’
This is a bit perplexing when we know that Roger, with or without his Palestine shirt, has been ‘excluded’ and the fog only thickens when the link the club provides to the ‘Premier League principles’ throws up nothing about flags, banners, or inflammatory content or indeed anything about ‘countries in conflict’.
Freedom of expression or what?
Roger Wade is not giving in. He has appealed to the club, saying ‘I can find no restriction on wearing international football shirts at matches. I can therefore only conclude that your stewards singled me out because of the shirt I was wearing. This, in my view, is discriminatory.’
He goes on: ‘This is not about football anymore, it’s about freedom of expression and discrimination. UEFA themselves displayed a banner in support of Palestine … Yet a fan has been banned for peacefully acknowledging the 50,000 plus civilians, mostly women and children, killed in Gaza.’
As of mid-week, Roger was posting that Brighton and Hove Albion have threatened to sue him because he shared a video of a club steward ordering him out of the hospitality area. He maintains that he shared the video openly and transparently as evidence of what happened and that he is not in breach of any UK law.
We’re going to have to wait and see where this ends. Obviously the football club is nervous. All football clubs are nervous. Every sentient person is nervous. What if everybody came wearing a Palestinian shirt? Maybe, one day, they will.
The online chatter around this is ratty and febrile. Some have pointed out that the dress code for the bar where all this happened is clearly ‘smart casual’, with ‘replica shirts’ specifically forbidden and that, as a season ticket holder, Roger must’ve known this. Others have applauded Roger’s protest, drawing attention to objections last year about the extremely offensive anti-Palestine social media posts of one of the club’s Academy Mentors. A letter of complaint was submitted, with some 800 signatures but, it seems, there was next to no response.
Apathy for the devil
All this feeds into the underlying mood of unease, a mood partly derived from the impression that the authorities are barely in control, reinforced by the disbelief we all wrestle with as to why this dreadful war can be allowed to go on and on.
No one seems to be doing anything. The traditional establishment has nothing to say. But certainly the rough beast seems to be waking from its slumber again, even as half the population stares fixedly at their shoelaces. You sometimes hear that old adage about ‘keeping politics out of sport’.
It’s probably a bit late for that.
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