Posted on 07/18/2026 9:49:00 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The White House has defended the Argentina’s football team’s right to free speech after waving of a Falklands banner in the wake of their semi-final win over England.
The sign, originally held by fans but taken onto the pitch during the full-time celebrations, supported the country’s territorial claim to the islands. The flag read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates to “The Falklands are Argentine”.
It risked being in breach of the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) rules on political flags.
A number of politicians condemned the team for displaying the message in the following days, including Ed Davey — leader of the UK political party the Liberal Democrats —who suggested the players involved should be suspended from Sunday’s final against Spain.
Governing body FIFA said it was “assessing match reports” before deciding whether to punish Argentina over the incident.
Once FIFA has received those reports, it will make an assessment and decide on what the next steps should be. There is no set timeframe for any decisions to be made. FIFA has been approached for comment.
On Friday, however, executive director of the World Cup task force Andrew Giuliani defended the celebrations. When asked if he thought the players were wrong to wave the banner, he said they had the “ability” to do so.
“We believe in our First Amendment rights here in the United States of America,” Giuliani said, after being asked on his thoughts by Sky News. “In terms of the ability and opportunity to be able to make those statements, they have the ability to do that in the United States.”
The first amendment of the U.S. constitution defends the right to free speech and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wish Trump would tell Britain to get their domestic house in order and start supporting their own native citizens or he will turn Argentina loose to recapture the Falkland Islands.
They’ll rather lose the Falklands.
Likely.
because they’re FIFA’s boss
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body responsible for managing the Laws of the Game in football, established in 1886 to standardize the rules for international competition. It consists of representatives from the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and FIFA, which holds significant voting power.
**Argentina does not have the naval and marine capabilities to seize the islands and the UK does not have the ability to defend them.**
People. You’re missing something. It’s Trump. Think real estate. It’s uncomfortable for both nations but they’re now capitalist democracies. That means no war motive-work things out. In steps dealmaker Trump. The US takes over for 99 years and then turns it over to the Argentines. Everyone saves face. In those 99 years any oil revenue is shared. The 2k Falklanders will have those 99 years to leave. The younger ones need to see the outside world. We’ll be doing them a favor as they are not entitled to an expensive opinion on what the Brits owe them.
“Hawaii should never have become a State.”
But it did.
And the Falklands became park of the U.K.
Argentina did not give a damn about the Falklands since Britain settled it. It was barren land of little value. What changed is oil. The Islands have a very large continental shelf and now deep sea drilling can exploit this bounty. It is all about oil.
“The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body responsible for managing the Laws of the Game in football, established in 1886 to standardize the rules for international competition. It consists of representatives from the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and FIFA, which holds significant voting power.”
FIFA has directed that, in all FIFA events, IFAB rules be followed.
Bottom line,though: It doesn’t matter whether it’s FIFA or IFAB. Neither FIFA nor IFAB is subject to the First Amendment. So, yes, Andrew Giuliani is an idiot.
You said it.
More fake news. It translates to "The Malvinas are Argentine".
“In terms of the ability and opportunity to be able to make those statements, they have the ability to do that in the United States.”
Seems to me Andrew is bragging about free speech "in the United States".
He didn't say anything about free speech "on the field after a FIFA World Cup match".
Both of you should not take the bait from a misleading NY Times headline and call Andrew an "idiot".
At least not until you see full context instead of some hack job headline and article from the NY Slimes!
Geez!
But how is that a comparison? The Falklands were never a part of Argentina. Ever.
Which is also fake news on their part - they are not, and never were, part of Argentina.
And how does that make them not a part of the United States? Native Hawaiians could at least make the claim they once were not part of the United States. The same cannot be said for Argentina and the Falklands. They *never* belonged to Argentina at any time in history. They have no claim to it.
They have as much claim to say the Falklands belong to Argentina as they do to claim Hawaii does, or any other land mass that has never been a part of their country.
There’s much disinformation. British, French and Spanish explorers all made claims on the Falklands. When Argentina became independent from Spain it laid claim to the islands. They were attacked by a US (!) frigate in reprisal for some maritime dispute, and shortly afterwards the British drove out the remaining Argentines and took control of the islands. So yes, at one point the Falklands were Argentinian. We forget how mercenary and expansionist Britain once was.
We overthrew their legitimate government.
There’s no reason we couldn’t have made a deal with the Kingdom of Hawaii to have all our bases there.
The Union Jack is still a part of the Hawaiian Flag.
The Malvinas were part of Argentina until the Brits expelled the Argentinians and colonized it in 1833. It's time for the colonizers to leave.
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