Ukrainian and British journalist Andrew Todes shared details about a scandalous situation that occurred yesterday before the match of the 36th round of the English Premier League between “Ipswich” and “Brentford,” when his Ukrainian flag was confiscated at the entrance to the stadium.
Andrew Todes“At the entrance to the away sector, the stewards were searching bags. I had, among other things, a Ukrainian flag in my small bag. The staff member looked at it and asked if it had a tag regarding fire safety — they have some protocol about this.
When she saw that it was a Ukrainian flag, she called the head steward. She came over, clarified that it was a Ukrainian flag, and asked if anything was written on it. I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘It’s political.’ I said, ‘How is it political? “Brentford” has a player from Ukraine in its squad.’ She replied that someone (didn’t name who) said it could be political.
They continued talking about that tag. If they had only mentioned that it couldn’t be brought in without it, then I wouldn’t have even mentioned this. There wouldn’t have been a problem. But because they said it was ‘political,’ I have to remember it, as it’s very unpleasant.
I didn’t want to argue because I didn’t have the energy for it, to start a fight with the stewards who themselves don’t know what’s what and are talking nonsense.
Then she said, ‘You can take it, just don’t hang it anywhere.’ I replied, ‘Listen, I can’t even hang it because there’s nowhere to hang it. I would just hang it around my neck after the match.’ But ten seconds later she said, ‘I thought, I’ve already taken another flag, so I’ll take this one too — come to me after the match, I’ll be standing here, and take yours.’
After the match, I took the flag from her without problems, then went back to the lower sector, took a photo and left.
But I saw that after the match, some other man in the lower sector had a Ukrainian flag. Others had flags, the flag of the Netherlands, the flag of Ireland. I don’t know if they had those tags. From what I saw, there were no tags. They could have been small, but still, I didn’t see anything there,” said Todes.
