Professional players across Britain will be asked to wear rainbow-colored laces in their boots this weekend in support of a campaign to tackle homophobia in soccer.
Of the 5,000 or so players across the top leagues in England, Scotland and Wales none are openly gay, leading gay rights charity Stonewall to suggest that players are afraid to “come out” because of the impact it could have on their careers.
Bookmakers Paddy Power are supporting the campaign, which has the slogan “Right Behind Gay Footballers.”
Sets of rainbow-colored laces will be distributed to the 134 professional clubs in Britain.
Attitudes in British soccer, whether it be at elite level or in Sunday morning park leagues, are notoriously slow to change and Stonewall deputy chief executive Laura Doughty said it was time the game was “dragged into the 21st century.”
“It’s time for football clubs and players to step up and make a visible stand against homophobia in our national game,” she said in a statement. “By wearing rainbow laces players will send a message of support to gay players.”
Homophobia is still rife, according to a report compiled earlier this year by the Brighton and Hove Albion Supporters’ Club and the Gay Football Supporters’ Network.
The coastal city of Brighton has one of Britain’s largest gay communities, leading to regular homophobic abuse from opposing fans during matches. The report said Brighton fans had been subjected to homophobic abuse at 70 percent of away fixtures.
“Brighton fans have been the subject of ‘banter’ about the city’s gay community for as long as many of our fans can remember,” a Brighton supporters’ club statement said in April. “It wouldn’t be described as ‘banter’ if the taunts and chants were about skin color and something would have been done by now to stop it.”
In March, former Leeds United player Robbie Rogers said he was stepping back from the game after coming out as gay. Three months later, Rogers became the first openly gay athlete to compete in a major US professional team when he played for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS