An under-8s football match was postponed on Sunday morning (10 March) after Wixams Wanderers walked away before facing Queens Park Crescents because of Palestinian corner flags.
A Jewish and Israeli parent of one of the opposition players said the flags made his child, a Wixams Wanderers player, and himself feel uncomfortable. Wixams Wanderers decided to walk away in ‘solidarity’ with their player
Queens Park Crescents wrote a Facebook post after the incident, claiming the Bedfordshire Football Association (FA) had given them permission to use the corner flags, a claim the FA has not confirmed.
A later post on ‘X’, formerly Twitter, from Queens Park Crescents said it gave them a chance to “to enlighten our followers about the gravity of the situation.”
Today, our U8s coach told us the opposing team forfeited the game over our Palestine corner flags. No issue with displaying them; confirmed with the FA. However, we view this incident as an opportunity to enlighten our followers about the gravity of the situation. pic.twitter.com/zu6YaiaLFa
— Queens Park Crescents FC (@QPCrescents) March 10, 2024
The Guardian later reported that antisemitism campaigners were made aware of the issue and the matter was investigated by the national FA and the club will be asked to remove the flags.
A figure involved in tackling antisemitism said Israel and Palestine flags have not been permitted to be used at any level of English football since the terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October.
The FA said: “We want children to be able to play football in a safe and welcoming environment. We have been made aware of the incident at the weekend and we will be contacting the club to ask them to remove these corner flags for future matches.”
