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Why homophobia must be stamped out of football

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Kick It Out

Peter Tatchell

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Tottenham FC has taken no effective action to discourage its fans from chanting homophobic abuse against Sol Campbell. When will the FA get tough with this rogue club? There was a wave of anti-gay chants by Spurs fans at the Tottenham Vs. Portsmouth match on 28 September, which included "Sol, Sol, wherever you may be / You're on the verge of lunacy / And we don't give a f**k if you're hanging from a tree / You Judas c**t with HIV." And "He's big, he's black. He takes it up his crack. Sol Campbell, Sol Campbell."

These homophobic jibes go way beyond legitimate ribbing and mockery.

I’ve written to the Football Association, urging "prompt disciplinary action against the club and its fans to deter any repeat of the abuse at future matches." This clampdown could include fining Spurs for failing to make any serious effort to control its fans and banning Tottenham fans from attending their team's next match. Given the large number of supporters who homophobically abused Campbell, and the difficulty in identifying them, a one-match ban on all Spurs fans might be justified. Although I don't want to penalize the innocent, it could usefully prompt a bit of peer pressure on the terraces to halt anti-gay abuse. Empty stands would also send a clear, strong message of zero tolerance towards prejudice.

Punishing offenders is not the ideal or only action required. Persuading them to ditch their bigotry is a better long-term solution.The FA should organise the mass distribution of anti-homophobia leaflets to Spurs fans at the club's next few matches, and make a PA announcement at the start of the next Spurs kick-off, warning that homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic insults of any kind are unacceptable and that offending clubs and fans will be penalised.

The FA could insist that there are anti-homophobia messages printed on tickets, in match programmes and displayed on the giant screens inside stadiums. There needs be a high-level meeting between the FA and the Spurs management, with Tottenham being required to draw up a plan of action to educate their fans in tolerance. All clubs should agree to introduce a five-year ban on players and fans who indulge in racist or homophobic insults. For seven years, Tottenham FC and the FA have allowed Campbell to be abused. They let fans get away with their homophobia.

The FA would not have sat on its hands if the abuse had been of a racist nature. Thanks to the pioneering Kick It Out anti-racist campaign, which is backed by the FA, individual clubs and the FA now take a much tougher stance against racial abuse. Why isn't there the same robust response when it comes to homophobic taunts? As the Gay Football Supporters Network has pointed out, Tottenham's management has done very little to inform its fans about the ground regulations prohibiting homophobic chants. It has not devised a policy on how to deal with anti-gay abuse and has not held any meeting to discuss the recent intolerable insults against Campbell.

Homophobic abuse on the terraces is one of the main reasons why there are no openly gay professional footballers.

They fear the abuse that Campbell has suffered and know that the clubs and the FA will do little to protect and support them. After the sustained anti-gay abuse against Campbell at Fratton Park, when Tottenham played Portsmouth nine days ago, the police announced an investigation and urged the FA to take action. Portsmouth have complained to the FA about the behaviour of the Spurs' fans.

www.kickitout.org

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