{"id":46621,"date":"2023-07-12T05:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/12\/fifa-backflips-on-sydney-stadium-statue-cover-up-amid-outrage-from-legends-families\/"},"modified":"2023-07-12T05:23:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T05:23:00","slug":"fifa-backflips-on-sydney-stadium-statue-cover-up-amid-outrage-from-legends-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/12\/fifa-backflips-on-sydney-stadium-statue-cover-up-amid-outrage-from-legends-families\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA backflips on Sydney stadium statue cover-up amid outrage from legends\u2019 families"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FIFA has been forced to backflip after outrage over its move to protect its sponsors from the families of Australian sporting legends, The Daily Telegraph reports. <\/a><\/p>\n

Football\u2019s governing body ordered the plaques on the statues outside Allianz Stadium in Sydney to be covered up under its \u201cclean stadium policy\u201d to protect the global sponsors. <\/p>\n

Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? <\/b>Start your free trial now ><\/b><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

While there was no issue per se with the plaques themselves, most of the statues have some form of commercial sponsorship or involvement reflected on the plaques. <\/p>\n

Some of the statues affected by the cover-up included those of footballing legend Johnny Warren (for whom the award for best men\u2019s domestic player is named) and pioneering sprinter Betty Cuthbert. <\/p>\n

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Covered up plaques at Sydney Football Stadium in preparation for the 2023 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup. Photo-Jeremy Piper<\/span>Source: News Corp Australia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Warren\u2019s daughter Shannon said she was \u201cdumbfounded\u201d by the covering up of her father\u2019s statue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just cannot understand the reasoning behind it,\u201d Warren said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would you try and cover up a sporting great in the country where the Women\u2019s World Cup is being held?<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, this is beyond stupid but it is not the first thing that FIFA has done that is really dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warren holds a special status as a giant of the game and a pioneer of football in Australia, and his nephew Jamie compared him to international greats of the sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is ridiculous. They are not covering the names of sponsors but of sporting greats,\u201d Warren said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy the same token would they cover up the plaques of Pele in Brazil or Bobby Charlton in London?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disrespectful to the host nation and its supporters who are coming to watch the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the covering was reported on, FIFA officials ordered that they be removed, only for plaques to be seen with glue residue and damage on the plaques. <\/p>\n

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Plaques on statues at Moore Park appeared to be damaged by the coverings. Picture: Julian Andrews<\/span>Source: News Corp Australia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FIFA Chief Women\u2019s Football Officer Sarai Bareman declined to comment, while a FIFA spokesman said while rebranding of stadiums was part of the \u201cclean site concept\u201d, the plaques should not have been covered. <\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA has today reconfirmed with all venues that the names on any statues or plaques at FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup sites should not be covered,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Despite this, a Venues NSW spokesman said that FIFA had gone ahead with covering the plaques despite being advised against it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe plaques were covered at the direction of FIFA,\u201d the Venues NSW spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA were advised against covering the names and it is pleasing they have changed their position.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFA has been forced to backflip after outrage over its move to protect its sponsors from the families of Australian sporting legends, The Daily Telegraph reports. Football\u2019s governing body ordered the plaques on the statues outside Allianz Stadium in Sydney to be covered up under its \u201cclean stadium policy\u201d to protect the global sponsors. Stream […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[1800,83,1736,22354,22351,22347,333,22350,22352,22353,1429,3147,18535,22346,20050,22343,3272,862,167,1427,1728,22345,22344,22256,5429,22349,22355,22348,1856,1465],"class_list":{"0":"post-46621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-australian-sporting-legends","12":"tag-betty-cuthbert","13":"tag-bobby-charlton","14":"tag-brazil","15":"tag-clean-site-concept","16":"tag-clean-stadium-policy","17":"tag-commercial-sponsorship","18":"tag-europe","19":"tag-fifa","20":"tag-host-nation","21":"tag-jamie","22":"tag-johnny-warren","23":"tag-julian-andrews","24":"tag-london","25":"tag-melbourne","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-northern-europe","28":"tag-oceania","29":"tag-sarai-bareman","30":"tag-shannon","31":"tag-soccer-ashes","32":"tag-south-america","33":"tag-special-status","34":"tag-stadium-statue-cover-up","35":"tag-statue-backflip","36":"tag-united-kingdom","37":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}