Last week, the boss of the English FA gave an interview about the One Love captain’s armband and confirmed that Harry Kane would wear it regardless.

‘I think there’s a possibility that we might be fined. And if we are, then we’ll pay the fine. We think it’s really important to show our values. And that’s what we’ll be doing.’

In other words, ‘up yours – this is a point of principle’.

Bravo, even if you’re not keen on blurred lines between activism and sport.

FIFA have now responded by stating that ‘sporting sanctions’ might apply to wearers of the armband – that’s pseudo-legalese for a booking, or possibly deducted points.

And now, all bets are off. England will have to see if there is “another way to show [their] values”.

Hmmm, when you look shifty and inconsistent in direct comparison to FIFA, you’re in a bad place.

No wonder the whole England set-up gets routinely slated for virtue-signalling claptrap. They’re a gang of rich, privileged blokes happy to chuck some guilt-absolving cash at an issue, but they’ll draw the line at making any real sacrifice in the fight against prejudice.

Welcome to the fundamentals of systemic inequality.

Harry has still been wearing the armband in training, though.

Yeah, that’ll show them.

I might have been more impressed, had they make some sort of point about women’s rights for the first game against Iran, but chicks don’t garner the same level of woke kudos as BLM and gays.

Putting the different slacktivist flavours to one side, this hissy armband strop does however rather exemplify why England cannot get a major trophy over the line.

They’re vacuous posers without the merest hint of a backbone.