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The Football Association has reportedly approved a new policy which will see the organisation only light the Wembley arch for football and entertainment events.
The governing body faced criticism for its decision not to light the arch in the colours of Israel as a show of support after the attacks by Hamas last month, which killed an estimated 1,400 people.
A minute’s silence was observed to ‘remember the innocent victims’ on both sides of the conflict between Israel and Palestine during the recent friendly versus Australia.
It is understood senior FA officials were wary of a perception that they might be taking sides in the Middle East conflict.
The FA faced a backlash for refusing to light the Wembley arch in Israel’s colours last month
A minute’s silence was held for victims on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East
The organisation had been weighing up a watertight set of guidelines for when they light up the arch for matches in the future.
According to the Telegraph, the FA board has now approved a policy which will see the lighting of the arch focused on football and entertainment events.
The FA will reportedly no longer light the arch for global disasters, terrorism and tragedies, as well as equality and diversity campaigns. The organisation had reportedly stressed this will not lead to a reduction in their support of the campaigns.
Wembley’s arch has long been used to mark tragedies, causes and institutions. It was lit up when Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine.
In 2015 it wore the familiar colours of the French Tricolore as a sign of solidarity with all the victims of the Bataclan attack in Paris where extremists killed 130 people.
A year after Bataclan, it was turned red as a mark of respect and sympathy following attacks in Turkey.
And at the end of 2022, when the pioneer of modern football Pele died, the arch was lit up in the colours of Brazil with Pele’s name in bright lights.
Weeks earlier rainbow colours in support of the LGBTQ + community shone out amid the ‘OneLove’ armband saga at the Qatar World Cup.
The arch had previously been lit as a show of support to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion
The FA will now reportedly stop lighting the arch for campaigns such as rainbow laces
Support for the Alzheimer’s Society also led to the arch changing colour. There has also been support on International Women’s Day last year, for the NHS in 2021 and International Day of Persons with Disability in 2020.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer had been among those to criticise the FA for deciding against lighting the arch to show support to Israel.
Frazer had called the FA’s decision ‘especially disappointing in light of the FA’s bold stance on other terrorist attacks in the recent past.’
Chelsea’s Israeli former manager Avram Grant claimed the FA had let themselves down with the decision.
England boss Gareth Southgate said the FA ‘tried to make the best decision with good intentions’ when discussing the issue in the build-up to the game.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham last month acknowledged that the decision ’caused hurt in the Jewish community’.
‘We felt we should show compassion for all innocent victims,’ Bullingham said at the Leaders Week conference at Twickenham.
‘This was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make, and the last thing we ever wanted to do in this situation was to add to the hurt.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham (pictured) apologised last month for hurt caused to the Jewish community after the governing body’s decision
‘We aren’t asking for everyone to agree with our decision, but to understand how we reached it.
‘It would be easy for football to ask why we’re the only sport being talked about in this way, particularly when rugby and cricket are in the middle of their World Cups.
‘However, you have got to understand, and we understand, that the power of football means it will always be in the spotlight. And that’s just something we we have to accept.’
Bullingham added that the FA contacted its counterparts in Israel to ‘communicate our horror at what was taking place’ – and stressed that the Australians had a ‘desire for neutrality’ as they had upcoming games against Palestine and Lebanon.
