Can you imagine travelling all the way to Qatar from Malaysia to watch the 2022 World Cup, only to be turned away at the entrance of the stadium because of the jersey you’re wearing?
That’s exactly what ALMOST happened to a Malaysian man.
The Dari Tepi Padang YouTube channel shared how the man from Johor, Zulfadli, was stopped at the stadium doors as security personnel had assumed that the Kedah football team jersey he was wearing had something to do with LGBT elements.
The channel’s host, Dato’ Jasni Shafie explained, “According to brother Zul, he was stopped from entering the stadium for wearing this jersey, under the suspicion that it has LGBT elements.”
As seen in the video, the jersey is made up of red, yellow and green squares, and has ‘Chenang Bay’ written on it.
“Maybe they saw ‘Chenang Gay‘,” joked Dato’ Jasni.
This incident took place on the day of Germany’s final match at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar.
“I was stopped by the security personnel of the stadium for about 30 minutes for their investigation process. At first I didn’t understand what the issue was as they stopped me. According to them, they were confused with this jersey I was wearing because they said I was supporting the LGBT community,”
“So, I had to wait at the investigation room for 30 minutes, they took pictures and sent them to the stadium’s management for the interrogation process,” he said, adding that the jersey was, in fact, Kedah’s 2020 3rd kit.
In order to set the record straight (pun absolutely not intended), he had to use Google to show that the jersey was merely a football team jersey.
“Even after seeing this, they didn’t believe it. They waited for the management on whether they’ll allow me to watch the Germany match or not. But Alhamdulillah thankfully, they allowed me to watch the match that night,” he added.
Both he and Dato’ Jasni then went on to praise the management and security team for their efforts to prevent LGBT messaging from being seen during the World Cup matches in Qatar.
You can check out the episode of Dari Tepi Padang here:
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share in the comment section.
Also read: Johor Police Busts World Cup 2022 Gambling Syndicate With Bets Of Up To RM6.3 Million
