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Two-thirds of fans would feel comfortable if a player on their team came out, but "football is institutionally homophobic"
The beautiful game?
Stonewall's new report on homophobia in football
A new report from gay rights charity Stonewall says that football clubs and the FA are not doing enough to tackle homophobia in the game. 'Leagues Behind - Football's failure to tackle anti-gay abuse' features a YouGov survey of over 2,000 football fans from across Britain and interviews with top football insiders and lesbian and gay players. It found that:
- Three in five fans believe that anti-gay abuse from fans dissuades gay players from coming out
- Almost two-thirds of fans believe football would be a better sport if anti-gay abuse was eradicated
- Two-thirds of fans would feel comfortable if a player on their team came out
- Over half of fans think the FA, Premier League and Football League are not doing enough to tackle anti-gay abuse
Stonewall's Chief Executive, Ben Summerskill, said: "Sadly, this survey demonstrates that football is institutionally homophobic. Too little action has been taken about an issue which deters not just gay players and fans from enjoying our national game, but also thousands of other fans too.
"Football has a firm track record tackling problems such as hooliganism and racism. But anti-gay abuse still almost always goes unchallenged. When football is looking to host and win the 2018 World Cup, football cannot risk this loss of potential talent and supporters."
The research also found that seven in ten football fans who had attended a match in the last five years had heard or witnessed homophobic abuse. In October 2008, Hampshire Police charged fans with offences of both racist and homophobic abuse after chants directed at Portsmouth player Sol Campbell included the words: 'We don't care if you're hanging from a tree, cos you're a Judas c**t with HIV'. Eighty-five per cent of fans polled supported the police action.
