An England fan has apologised after he was detained for taking off his shirt during England’s match against Wales in the World Cup.
England Fan Apologises For Going Topless At The World Cup In Qatar-‘I Didn’t Mean To Show Disrespect’
A security official confronted Paul Gregory, 60, and forced him to put his shirt back on, or else he would be ejected. Because of his chubby proportions, Gregory, who weighs almost 19 stones, is known as ‘Tango Man’.
Qatar, a Muslim country though, has strict cultural norms against showing any body parts. Showing any body parts can lead to arrest. And yet, some security personnel wanted to take selfies with him at halftime, according to Mr Gregory, who now apologises for his actions.
In his comments, he said: “I didn’t mean to show disrespect to anybody. I have realised that taking my shirt off, and showing my body in public, might be offensive to local rules, so I had no intention of doing that. I’m really sorry if it offended any Qataris.”
Nevertheless, there is more to this story than meets the eye. Gregory alleged that before the match kicked off, a photographer approached him with his mobile phone. The photographer had shown a picture of Gregory attending the 2018 World Cup in Russia and wanted to do the same this time.
But when he did so, it appeared that things got out of hand as it did attract a large crowd. His following comments confirmed as much: “But then he was joined by many other photographers. They were like ants gathered around me.
“This brought me to the attention of the security officials , and I was asked to put my shirt back on. There was never any problem.” Thankfully, everything turned out fine in the end.
After all, who knows what could have happened on any other given day if this was deemed to be an actionable offence. And now this will teach other fans about the customs that they may not be aware of when coming to Qatar.
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