Sour and dispiriting is not how a World Cup should feel

In the end, the prospect of distorting their games for the sake of a multi-coloured One Love captain’s armband proved too much for the governing bodies of football in England, Wales, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Harry Kane and his counterparts couldn’t risk a statutory yellow card for the sake of a political gesture, and an alternative, Fifa-approved replacement is being used instead. Obviously, the Qataris overreacted, as if an armband was about to unleash moral turpitude across their land and lead to the overthrow of the al-Thani dynasty. Absurd.

The OneLove gesture was well-intentioned, and suggested originally by a Fifa working group in support of inclusion and diversity. Harsher critics derided it, and other initiates such as taking the knee, as purely “performative”, with little actual impact on the conduct of the tournament, let alone the domestic policies of the Emirate – an absolute monarchy where the ban on same-sex relationships is not about to be rescinded because some footballers find it offensive.