Football goes gay(ish)

[meegbear]

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 brought 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.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/29/gayrights

Too bad we don't have the drive in the US to do such things.

[sui generis]

1. aaaah if only

Graeme can bat for our team any time he wants!



Cristiano too:

[HillWilliam]

3. Dayum! n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Soccer fans are far more violent that US football fans

There is a reason why the FA and other national and international soccer orgs have had to implement such policies. Looking on the bright side, things in the US are not so bad (at least, not in the stands.)