Indonesia Is Not Alone, These 5 Teams Also Choose Not To Use Rainbow Tires In The 2020 AFF Cup

Indonesian National Team/DOK via pssi.org

JAKARTA - Indonesia is not the only one who refuses to use the rainbow colored captain's armband in the AFF 2020 competition in Singapore. There are five other countries that also choose not to use it.

Previously, it was known that the AFF 2020 organizers allowed the use of the rainbow captain's armband as a form of support for the LGBT (Lesby, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) movement as a form of equality.

But that was not done by all the teams participating in the 2020 AFF Cup. A total of six countries refused. This was seen when these countries played their inaugural group stage match which took place from Sunday, December 5 last.

The first country that was seen not wearing the pelagic captain's armband was Timor Leste. In his first match against Thailand at the National Stadium, Singapore, the captain of the Timor Leste team, Armindo De Almeida chose to wear the white captain's armband.

While the Thai captain appeared with rainbow tires as a form of support.

The next team that did not follow the AFF's recommendation in using the rainbow armband was the host, Singapore. This can be seen in the second match when Singapore underwent a match against Myanmar.

In that match, the Myanmar captain appeared wearing the rainbow captain's armband. While Singapore as the host chose to appear with the white captain's armband.

A third country that is reluctant to use the rainbow captain's armband was seen during the Group B match between Cambodia and Malaysia. The neighboring country team clearly chose the light colored captain's armband instead of the rainbow color.

In the next match between Laos and Vietnam, an interesting moment can be seen in this match. The reason is, both countries do not wear the rainbow captain's armband. This makes Laos and Vietnam the fourth and fifth countries that do not follow the AFF recommendations.

Furthermore, there are only two more countries that have not yet started their first match in this competition, namely Indonesia and the Philippines. Even though Indonesia has not played the first match yet, Indonesia firmly rejects the use of the rainbow captain's armband.

This was conveyed by the General Chairperson (Ketum) of PSSI, Mochammad Iriawan who was met in Jakarta. He said the Garuda squad would appear neutral without the rainbow captain's armband.

"(The Indonesian National Team) will not use it. I will call Indra Sjafri later. We have decided not to use it and will contact him there. If other countries are welcome, the culture is different," said the man who is familiarly called Iwan Bule.