The camera panned to the VAR hub in Dallas before Germany’s 7-1 demolition of Curacao on Sunday. For a split second, the focus settled on Shaun Evans, the 38-year-old Australian video assistant referee, standing with his arm by his side. Then he curled his right thumb and forefinger into an upside-down ‘OK’ sign – a gesture the Anti-Defamation League added to its list of hate symbols in 2019, after far-right supporters adopted it as a white supremacist emblem.
Within hours, social media erupted. The anti-discrimination group Fare called for Evans to be removed from the tournament. But on Monday night, Fifa’s independent disciplinary committee cleared him, saying it found “no evidence of breaches of the Fifa disciplinary code”. Evans, who has been an international referee for nine years, finally broke his silence.
“Fifa clears VAR official Shaun Evans after he claims an upside-down ‘OK’ gesture was an involuntary twitch.”
“I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind,” he said in a statement issued by Fifa. “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.” He added that later images showed him repeating the same movement “many times while holding a pen between my fingers”.
“The coverage following this incident simply does not reflect who I am,” Evans insisted. “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.”
The incident prompted a noticeable change in Fifa’s pre-match broadcasts: when the VAR hub was shown in subsequent games, the officials were no longer posed for the camera. Evans, meanwhile, is available for selection for the rest of the World Cup. “Officiating at the World Cup is the biggest honour of my career,” he said, “and I look forward to supporting my colleagues for the rest of the tournament.”