Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi has avoided a charge by the Football Association after wearing a captain’s rainbow armband bearing the message “I love Jesus” in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United.
Premier League captains were asked to wear the multicoloured armband this weekend as part of the Rainbow Laces campaign, an initiative which aims to show support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport. However, Ipswich Town’s Sam Morsy, a practicing Muslim, chose not to wear the armband for religious reasons, while Guehi decided to wear it with a penned statement written on the fabric.
The Football Association’s rulebook allows “initiative slogans/emblems” such as Rainbow Laces, but prohibits “political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images”. It adds that captains must “wear an armband which is simple and conforms to the requirements … relating to slogans, statements, images and advertising”.
The global game’s lawmaker, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), also states: “Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
The FA opted to remind Palace and Guehi of the rules, rather than pursue disciplinary proceedings.
Guehi, who scored an own goal in the match at Selhurst Park, is the son of a church minister. “I’ve grown up loving God and when I have had the chance I still go to church with my family, and my faith is definitely a big part of my life,” he told The Athletic in an interview in 2021. “Faith is everything that I’m involved with, really; even in football, where I’m trying to be a role model and show God’s graciousness and God’s glory through my life.”
In 2018, the FA fined Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola £20,000 for “wearing a political message” after he pinned a yellow ribbon to his jacket during a Premier League match in support of Catalonian pro-independence politicians arrested by Spanish police.