The Football Association is planning a new campaign to show homophobia the red card
The Guardian – Comment is Free – London – 29 December 2008
Homophobia has replaced racism as the taunt of choice among bigoted football fans. Now that overt racism is, thankfully, unacceptable and a disciplinary offence, head-bangers on the terraces have turned their perverted minds to homophobic chants instead.
Even players who are not gay get baited as queers. Justin Fashanu, Graeme Le Saux and, more recently, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole, have all been victims of homophobic slurs from hateful fans.
Throughout 2006, Arsenal supporters taunted Ashley Cole about his sexuality, chanting ‘Ashley Cole is a rent boy’ and other homophobic insults. They also printed fake £20 notes, which replaced the image of HM The Queen with an image of a tiara-wearing Cole in drag.
But what really bought the issue to a head was a spate of vile anti-gay insults against Sol Campbell this year. In particular, Spurs’ fans at the Tottenham v Portsmouth match on 28 September 2008 subjected Campbell to a torrent of homophobic abuse, which included:
“Sol, Sol, wherever you may be / You’re on the verge of lunacy / And we don’t give a f*ck if you’re hanging from a tree / You Judas c*nt with HIV.”
“He’s big, he’s black. He takes it up his crack. Sol Campbell, Sol Campbell.”
Now, after years of inaction and of dismissing protests against similar outrageous homophobia, the Football Association (FA) has agreed to treat it with the same zero tolerance that it has long shown racism. As well as making anti-gay abuse a punishable offence under football ground rules, the FA has agreed to help fund an MTV-style video against homophobia, hopefully featuring top premier league players.
This follows the proposal that I put to the FA several months ago, on behalf of the gay rights group OutRage!. Our suggestion was to get top players, especially straight ones, to give a lead to fans and fellow footballers that no prejudice of any kind has any place in any sport.
At a high level meeting at the FA offices in Soho Square in November, our proposal was discussed and agreed by the FA and its partner diversity organisation, Kick It Out, with the backing of the Professional Footballers’ Association PFA), which represents Britain’s top players.
Kick It Out, which began as a campaign against racism in football, has now widened its agenda to promote all strands of equal rights and non-discrimination, including challenging homophobia. Its wholehearted support has been key to getting the video proposal agreed and funded.
The plan is to feature big-name football stars speaking out against homophobia in a hip, fun video designed to make anti-gay chants look as stupid, ignorant and uncool as racist ones.
Our wish-list of participating players includes David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, Freddie Ljungberg, David James, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Theo Walcott, Frank Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard.
We’re pressing the FA to get the video broadcast on TV and at matches on the giant stadium screens. We also want the FA to put it on YouTube and to distribute copies to every school in the country.
The video idea is a ground-breaking initiative that will have a huge, positive impact in football circles in Britain. It will also be a world first, since no other football governing body has even attempted anything as upfront and bold.
We expect the video to have a global impact and reach football fans all over the world; helping break down prejudice and thereby make the game a more welcoming and safe sport for gay players and spectators – not just in Britain but internationally.
Although it is only a minority of homophobic fans who are creating problems, they are quite sizeable and vociferous. Many gay spectators currently feel threatened and excluded. It is also a turn off for straight families to be surrounded by aggressive, homophobic hooligans.
Delighted as we are by this video initiative, OutRage! is pressing the FA for additional action to stamp out anti-gay prejudice. We believe it should tackle homophobia with the same vigour that it now tackles racism.
The FA should impose big fines and match suspensions on players and managers who use anti-gay insults. Stewards should be required to identify fans who shout homophobic abuse and the FA should secure the agreement of the police to arrest and evict them – in the same way that they arrest and evict racist fans.
Education against homophobia is, of course, even more important, in order to overturn bigoted attitudes and make the game more friendly and secure for gay players and spectators. OutRage! would like the FA to secure the agreement of all clubs to feature anti-homophobia messages in their match programmes, on tickets and on billboards inside and outside football grounds.
Proof that some clubs still seem insensitive to equality issues was the unquestioned appointment of Phil Scolari to manage Chelsea. It should have been vetoed by FA and Chelsea bosses. He had been previously reported as saying that he would refuse to have a gay player in his team. The FA and Chelsea should have not allowed him to take up his post until he renounced discrimination and gave an undertaking to abide by the FA’s equality policies. If Scolari had said that black players were banned from his team, there would have been uproar. He would have been immediately ruled out of the running for the Chelsea managership. Why the double standards?
Sport is one the last great bastions of homophobia, and football (together with boxing) is the least gay-friendly of all sports. Even though there are plenty of gay and bisexual players, they all feel the need to hide their sexual orientation because they fear prejudiced reactions and consequences. Not a single one, out of several hundred senior league players, is openly gay.
By statistical averages, there must be around 50 national league footballers who are gay or bisexual. Some have told me privately that because of homophobic attitudes in the ‘beautiful game’ they don’t feel able to live open, relaxed lives. Always looking over their shoulder, they fear exposure. It is not a pleasant way to live.
That’s why, for their sake, the FA’s new commitment to tackling homophobia on the pitch, in the locker room and at the club boardroom level is so important and welcome.
We need much tougher official action to root out bigotry. Thanks to the FA, Kick It Out and the PFA we are finally getting it.
Give homophobia the boot. Kick it off the pitch and out of the terraces. Together, we can do it.