Many things are associated with a rainbow and its colours, even Roy G. Biv, an imaginary man created because his name is a mnemonic device for remembering the hues and their order by wavelength. Red, orange, ….

All over the world, the translucent band of colour in the sky is a symbol of diversity, hope and tolerance. The Teutons revered it as a bridge between humans and their gods, it has long been a sign of renewal and the end of the darkness, and in the US, “Find a Rainbow Day” is celebrated each year on 3 April. Unproven, however, is the legend that a leprechaun’s pot of gold can be found at its end.

The refraction of sunlight through water droplets can therefore literally and figuratively be seen from a variety of angles. However, it seems rather questionable to interpret the use of a symbol as a political statement. European football association UEFA seemed to be saying the same thing when officials halted their investigation into why German national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer wears a rainbow-striped captain’s armband, deciding it was “a team symbol for diversity and thus for a ‘good cause.’”

Then again, UEFA said Munich’s Olympic Stadium is not allowed to glow in the same colours. Maybe size matters: 88,000 square meters of luminous PMMA roof versus 0.0315 square meters of coloured fabric with polyamide hooks.

If UEFA regulations can do anything, it’s regulate the dimensions of the game and anything connected to it, from the width of a shirt’s collar in millimetres, to the diameter of the stars denoting tournament victories, to the square centimetres for the national mascot – there are standard measures for everything in the world of European football.

Apparently symbols for inclusivity are OK too, as long as they fit around an upper arm.