OUT OF PLAY
Kicking homophobia out of the beautiful game
From unprecedented participation amongst professional football clubs in England, to projects tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia across Europe, to England women’s captain Casey Stoney’s decision to publicly come out as gay, the 2014 annual Football v Homophobia (FvH) month of action was the most successful—and eventful—yet.
For the past five years, Football v Homophobia has campaigned for diversity, inclusion, and equality in football (their tagline, “Football for Everyone” sums up their position). The group’s month of action takes place each February — the late, great gay footballer Justin Fashanu’s birth month — when fans, athletes, clubs, and organisations are encouraged to participate in actions against homophobia and transphobia in the game.
Although momentum has built over the previous four years, this past February saw unprecedented support. The month kicked off with representatives from the FA, the Football League, and the Professional Footballers’ Association joining supporters at the Crystal Palace FC for the kick-off. Then, on 10 February, England women’s captain Casey Stoney came out in the press, noting that “…[coming out as gay is] about making sure we live in a world where it’s accepted,” adding, “I feel it’s really important for me to speak out as a gay player…”
Throughout the month of action many clubs dedicated matches to FvH by displaying banners, putting articles in match day programmes, postering the grounds, or having their players wear campaign shirts onto the pitch. Midmonth, a media training session was held at the BBC Broadcasting House in London, where journalists took part in an interactive workshop around diversity issues. By month’s end, more than half of the 92 professional clubs — including 15 of the 20 Premier League clubs — in
England and Wales had actively participated in campaign actions.
“This was a brilliant response to an important campaign. We’ve worked extremely hard to build partnerships with the key stakeholders in football, and it’s heartening to see our message getting out,” said Lou Englefield, Director of Pride Sports, the body that oversees Football v Homophobia. “Next year, we’re hoping to engage even more of the game in taking visible action to make football a place where the LGBT community feels safe and included.”
For more information on the Football v Homophobia campaign, or to see if your club is a supporter, visit footballvhomophobia.com, like on their Facebook page bit.ly/fvhpage or follow them on Twitter @fvhtweets
“By month’s end, more than half of the 92 professional clubs in England and Wales had actively participated in
campaign actions”