Washing-Up Brushes Banned From Tonight’s Iceland v. Turkey Match

If you were planning on attending the UEFA qualifier match between Iceland and Turkey tonight, be forewarned that your washing-up brushes are forbidden.

RÚV reports that Iceland fans hoping to taunt the Turkish team by brandishing washing-up brushes at them will have their efforts thwarted. Víðir Reynisson, the chief of security for the Icelandic Football Association (KSÍ), has announced that they will seize any washing-up brushes they find on people trying to smuggle them into Laugardalsvöllur, the stadium where tonight’s game will be held. He added that any sort of racist jeering at Turkish players will not be tolerated.

The specific reference to the washing-up brush comes from the Turkish team’s arrival in Iceland yesterday, wherein a man jokingly used such a brush, pretending it was a microphone, in a failed attempt to pass as a reporter asking questions of one of the Turkish players. While it was widely reported that the utensil in question was a toilet brush being held by an Icelander, it was in fact a brush for washing dishes, brandished by a Belgian.

This, on top of long waits for security clearance, sparked anger from not only the Turkish team, but also Turkey’s foreign minister. It further inspired a series of DDoS attacks from a Turkish hacker group against several Icelandic websites today.

The match starts tonight at 18:45, and it’s a match Iceland must win if they hope to regenerate the magic from Euro 2016.

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