Homophobia is the tough challenge to beat, warns Ouseley
Problem is now ‘harder to tackle’ than racism Kick It Out’s anniversary honoured by England
Homophobia in football is now “harder to tackle” than racism, the founder of Kick It Out said last night as the England team prepared to pay tribute to the charity’s pioneering work.
Lord Ouseley told The Daily Telegraph he knew of Premier League players terrified of the potential cost of declaring their sexuality.
He said “we all have to work harder” before we will see an openly gay top-flight footballer, but that he hoped next month’s England friendly against Switzerland, dedicated by the FA to the charity’s 25th birthday, would help.
“It’s not as simple as racism,” he said. “In some ways, it is harder to tackle. Racism is one of those things that is right in your face. It’s easy to identify, as abuse is so evident.”
It is 20 years since the suicide of Justin Fashanu, still the only topflight British footballer to come out as gay while still playing in the United Kingdom.
“With other types of discrimination, a lot of the transgressors are abusing without even realising it. The abuse is generic rather than direct, and that’s part of the reason why progress has been slow. Players are so scared, no matter how much you try to persuade them. The main thing we can do is make sure sexuality is respected, but it’s easier said than done. The leadership in football at the present time is very good, but I think on this issue and the whole of the equality agenda, they are not as coherent as they should be if we are going to see real progress. While the growth of LGBT supporters’ groups is a sign of positive progress, we have still not created an environment where LGBT fans and players feel completely welcome in football.”
Ouseley, who founded his campaign group in 1993, described the death of Cyrille Regis as a landmark moment for the movement. He said tributes across the footballing world to the striker was the moment it hit home how far football had progressed on the issue of racism. He added: “From a diversity perspective, these are potentially exciting times in football with greater visibility of black, mixedrace and mixed-heritage players on the pitch, although less so in other spheres of the sport.”
Ouseley remains deeply frustrated by the lack of black and ethnic-minority coaches and executives in positions of power. The Premier League has two black managers – Chris Hughton at Brighton and Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolverhampton Wanderers – but there are just a handful of ethnic-minority managers in the lower divisions.
“I have always taken the view that people with power, resources and decision-making capacity could end racism and institutional discrimination, if they genuinely and sincerely want to,” he said.
The atmosphere at matches is nowhere near as toxic as 25 years ago, but players still face a mountain of racist abuse on the internet. In the first half of last season alone, reported incidents of discriminatory abuse in the game rose 60 per cent to 282. There were 109 incidents on social media.
He said: “We are try- ing to get all different mediums to recognise the responsibility they have for contributing to an environment free from harassment. We’ve got meetings. It’s got to be tackled. It’s got to be tackled at the government level.”
Born in Guyana, Ouseley moved to Peckham, south-east London, aged 11. A “bottle would come through the window” every night from hostile neighbours, he said. He encountered further abuse when he first started watching Millwall and then other clubs.
“London – the most diverse, multi-cultural city in the world – saw some of the worst racially abusive conduct, involving both players and fans,” he said. “I was among a Manchester United fan contingent in a match against QPR at Loftus Road when I got covered in spit and had to leave early.
“Ironically, at another game involving Manchester United, I was spat at by United fans. At Chelsea, National Front extremists used to meet before each game at Stamford Bridge to organise how best to discharge their bile and hatred.”
Ouseley’s big breakthrough came when he was appointed to be the executive chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. The Professional Footballers’ Association soon leant its backing and, with more than 50 clubs quickly signing up, his campaign group was launched in August 1993, with Gordon Taylor (of the PFA), Richard Faulkner (Football Trust) and footballers Paul Elliott and John Fashanu, Justin’s brother. Kick Racism out of Football became the more wide-ranging anti-discrimination body Kick It Out in 1997.
“Twenty-five years ago football was not a nice place if you belonged to a minority group. Bringing about change has been a long haul.
“It’s players who deserve most appreciation because they have had to cope with – and overcome – abuse to become role models and persuade fans to accept diversity.”