The Czechs grossly violated the rules of the World Cup. Another provocation against Russia

Our team does not take part in the World Ice Hockey Championship in Finland, but they still remember it almost every day. This time the Czechs excelled. Their fans decided that the ice palace tribune is a great place for political statements.

However, the perpetrators are unlikely to be punished. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has again shown its weakness and inconsistency in the role of the controlling body.

It looks like another provocation against Russia will remain unnoticed…

“Only the flags of participating countries”

The IIHF is always careful to emphasize its apolitical nature. In words, the organization expressed support for Ukraine, but forbade the display of the country’s flag during matches.

“During the tournament, only the flags of the participating countries are allowed,” iDNES quotes the words from the official statement of the IIHF.

Rene Fasel / Photo: © Tomi Hänninen / Newspix24 / Global Look Press

But fans of the Czech national team have found a way around the ban. During the match with the Norwegians (4:1) they showed their creativity to the world. Instead of the blue and yellow flag, the fans displayed a white banner divided in half by a horizontal line. At the top was written “blue”, at the bottom – “yellow”, and in the middle – the word “imagine”. Thus, the flag did not break any rules.

In addition, the fans made an attack towards Russia. On the sides of an imaginary Ukrainian flag, they hung banners with references to the Prague Spring in 1968, when Soviet tanks entered the Czech capital to stop a coup d’état. Provocation in its purest form!

Where is the logic?

So, political flags were hung out at the Ice Hockey World Championship. The situation is very clear. But, of course, one should not expect any sanctions against the Czechs. As you may have guessed, this is different.

Here, in all its glory, the incomprehensible attitude of the IIHF to world events is manifested. The organization tries to appear apolitical, but excludes the teams of Russia and Belarus from the competition. Then he forbids the demonstration of the Ukrainian flag, but quietly skips actions in the spirit of the one that the Czechs staged. In the end, there is no fundamental difference between a flag and an imaginary flag. Both are quite political statements. Yes, and with specific historical dates.

Sports officials are well aware of the trends of the time. Their selective apoliticality shows that, in fact, there are no rules for a long time. Decisions are made intuitively, perhaps on the basis of image considerations, rather than official prescriptions. Alas, it seems that this reality is with us for a long time.