The World Cup VAR official at the centre of a racism storm has broken his silence just before FIFA cleared him of accusations he made a hand gesture that resembles a white supremacist sign.

Australia’s Shaun Evans was filmed making the upside down ‘OK’ symbol when he and the other officials were shown on screen before Germany’s opening match against Curacao on Sunday.

The gesture is used in a relatively harmless playground ‘Circle Game’ in which players attempt to trick friends into looking at the circle. If they do so, then the person who made the sign gets to punch them in the arm.

It has also been used by far-right groups and the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added it to a list of hate symbols in 2019.

FIFA launched a probe into the matter and spoke to the 38-year-old to understand his reason for making the symbol, with the governing body ruling that he did not breach its disciplinary code.

On Monday night, Evans released a statement where he attempted to explain what had happened.

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Referee Shaun Evans was ‘support VAR’ for Germany’s victory over Curacao when he was shown staring into the camera before kick-off, as has become customary at World Cup matches

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The Australian A-League official appeared to make an upside-down ‘OK’ hand gesture, which can be interpreted as a symbol linked to white supremacy

He said: ‘I would like to clarify that I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind.

‘The only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch and I was unaware I had done it at the time.

‘Images taken later during the match showed that I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers.

‘The coverage following this incident simply does not reflect who I am. Of course, I understand how the gesture has been interpreted and I regret this, however I want to be very clear and categorically say that I did not knowingly or deliberately make the hand symbol suggested.

‘Officiating at the World Cup is the biggest honour of my career and I look forward to supporting my colleagues for the rest of the tournament.’

However, despite his statement, the governing body’s discrimination monitor called for Evans to be sent home.

‘Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,’ the Fare network, a global organisation that that fights against discrimination and promotes social inclusion in football, said in a statement in which they described the gesture as ‘neo-nazi’.

‘Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,’ they added.

The anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out is also understood to have written to FIFA to request an explanation.

Nevertheless, later on Monday night, a FIFA Disciplinary Committee statement confirmed that following the aforementioned probe, no action would be taken against Evans.

It read: ‘FIFA’s independent Disciplinary Committee can confirm that, after looking into the matter involving support video assistant referee Shaun Evans, it has found no evidence of breaches of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

‘The Disciplinary Committee has also taken note of Mr Evans’ statement.’

Evans has been on the FIFA referee list since 2017 and worked on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He has worked in Australia’s A League since 2012 and took control of the 2019 Grand Final.

Ahead of matches at the World Cup, FIFA has introduced officials on its world feed. The referee and their assistants have been displayed with their names and roles on a graphic before the VAR team, based in Dallas, have also been shown.

When footage cut to the VAR room on Sunday, Evans stood with his arm by his side and made the fingers of his right hand into the symbol.

Following the furore, in subsequent matches officials in the VAR room were already facing the monitors when shown and have no longer looked at the camera.

FIFA and Football Australia were contacted for comment.

The hand shape appeared similar to the incident surrounding a Paris 2024 official, who had his accreditation removed for appearing to make the gesture during a women’s skateboarding final.

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The hand shape appeared similar to the incident surrounding a Paris 2024 official, who had his accreditation removed for appearing to make the gesture during a skateboarding final

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The ‘OK’ symbol (seen bottom left) can be interpreted as an ‘expression of white supremacy’

In that case, the man in question, who was wearing Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) kit but was later identified as a subcontractor, appeared to make the hand sign twice during event footage while standing behind athletes.

The ADL maintains that the ‘overwhelming usage’ of the hand gesture today is still to show approval, or that someone is all right.

Therefore ‘particular care must be taken not to jump to conclusions about the intent behind someone who has used the gesture’.

However, it can be used as a ‘sincere expression of white supremacy’.

The discriminatory use of the symbol started out as an online joke on 4Chan – taking an innocent gesture and pretending there was a hidden meaning behind it, hoping to trick the media and left-leaning individuals into anger.

The footage in question was screened live before Germany began their World Cup campaign with a thumping 7-1 victory over debutants Curacao on Sunday.

SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-15901457/world-cup-referee-shaun-evans-neo-nazi-gesture.html