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Video assistant referee Sean Evans has denied “deliberately” hand gestures “communicating any message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind” after being cleared by a FIFA investigation.
Evans said the gesture was “an involuntary, subconscious twitch” that he was “unaware of”.
The Australian was seen turning the fingers of his right hand into an upside-down ‘OK’ sign when VAR ruled out a shot by referees at the FIFA hub in Dallas ahead of Germany’s 7-1 win over Curacao on Sunday.
Such a gesture has two very distinct meanings – one innocent and the other connected to the manifestation of white supremacy.
World governing body FIFA investigated the matter and said it found “no evidence of a breach of FIFA’s disciplinary code”.
The incident immediately sparked widespread speculation on social media.
“The coverage that followed this incident simply does not reflect who I am,” Evans said in a statement issued by FIFA.
“Of course, I understand how the gesture has been interpreted and I am sorry for it, but I want to be very clear and categorical that I did not knowingly or intentionally suggest the hand symbol.”
More to follow.
