The entire Iranian team risked reprisals by refusing to sing their own national anthem in solidarity for compatriots being killed for demanding freedoms in their own country.
Germans covered their mouths for an on-pitch team photograph to protest at being silenced by FIFA over human rights issues.
England’s captain Harry Kane walked out in front of the world’s media ahead of the Iran match wearing a £500,000 Rolex Rainbow Daytona; an apparent display of his displeasure at not being allowed to wear a OneLove armband supporting gay rights.
As protests go, it was very much in the style of a Premier League multimillionaire and, while some on social media called the gesture “stunning and brave”, others were less generous.
“Utterly ridiculous, a £500k watch while the rest of the UK is begging. He’s in cuckoo land,” said a tweet, striking the tone for many.
Making a point so subtly and ostentatiously may have worked to needle Fifa for its armband ban.
After all, the organisation is no stranger to arm twisting through the use of luxury watches.
Back in 2014, football’s governing body was rocked by scandal when goodie bags handed to all 28 members of Fifa’s executive committee at the Brazil World Cup contained £16,000 Parmigiani watches. They were later donated to charity.
Mr Kane’s choice of a Rolex Rainbow Daytona may simply have been made because he had it in his watch roll in Doha, but there are plenty of other watches he might have used to make the same statement.
Accurist makes a model with a similar rainbow bezel for £179, and it is a British business.
Or how about this Swatch? Normally £66, but available for £62 today because it’s Black Friday.
The golden Daytona with its rainbow coloured gem-set bezel is one of the most desirable watches in the current Rolex catalogue.
Only a handful are produced each year by Rolex because of the difficulty in sourcing perfectly calibrated sapphires of the right colour to construct the rainbow adorning the bezel.
The retail price is under £100,000, but demand exceeds supply by such a margin that they are advertised online with prices of £500,000 or more.
I thought this was a football tournament. The politics does my head in. The players are playing in Qatar and should respect the laws of the country when they are in it and the media should keep its effing nose out. Qatari Government will rightly be offended by foreigners trying to tell it how to behave, whether or not they’re right.
Every country has its culture and social norms and this must be respected. England and many European nations invaded Iraq and Afghanistan over lies. Many innocent people died including woman and children. Human rights abuses were committed on a large scale , but let’s not talk about that it , as it does not fit the narrative we want to present in the media. Its utter hypocrisy and duplicity and they have no grounds to be a moral judge on human rights abuses.
To all those retards . Do you actually think Harry Keane would of paid that amount of money on a watch , and taken it to qatar to leave it on is bedside table . Look at the bigger picture.
Kane do Idea cruising around with a half million pound watch while people in the UK are struggling to stay above water.
Can’t afford the Daytona, but even if I could, I wouldn’t buy one, it’s hideous! Sooo bling… Sooo pretentious… Ugh! Harry Kane is a…. Well, do the math, people!
Poor little bender ha ha ha