New Zealand captain Ali Riley celebrates the team's 1-0 victory after the World Cup opener against Norway at Eden Park. Photo / Hannah Peters, Getty Images
New Zealand captain Ali Riley celebrates the team's 1-0 victory after the World Cup opener against Norway at Eden Park. Photo / Hannah Peters, Getty Images
Captain Ali Riley has become one of the biggest talking points for a multitude of reasons after the Football Fern’s historic win against Norway in their Fifa Women’s World Cup opener.
Firstly she led the team to a 1-0 upset over the Scandinavians and played one of the best gamesNew Zealand fans have seen in a while. She delivered an emotional speech post-game that captured the hearts of her New Zealand and Californian-based fans of her club Angel City.
And now she has gone viral on social media for her subtle protest against Fifa’s rainbow armband ruling.
Before the tournament, Fifa ruled - like they did in the men’s World Cup - that players would not be allowed to wear rainbow armbands during matches, and that teams would face sanctions, including yellow cards, if they did.
The armbands, worn by male and female players in competitions around the globe, are a sign of support from professional athletes for the LGBTQ+ community.
After the governing body disallowed the bands for this year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup, they offered players an option to wear any of their eight new Fifa-sanctioned armbands that recognise social causes including “peace”, “zero hunger” and “inclusion”.
New Zealand skipper Riley was clearly not happy about the ruling so got creative in showing other support - painting her fingernails rainbow colours for the tournament.
Ali Riley celebrating with her mum after the game. Photo / Hannah Peters, Getty Images
The football community has given the Californian-Kiwi a big round of applause, as one hand is the colour of the Trans pride movement and the other is rainbow.
