Albion commits to fight homophobia (From The Argus)
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Brighton and Hove Albion tackling homophobia
4:20pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News By Neil Vowles
Brighton and Hove Albion will confirm their commitment to stamp homophobic abuse out of football in writing today (February 14).
The club will join tonight’s opponents Millwall in signing the Government’s Sports Charter to confirm their position at the forefront of promoting equality in football.
The Seagulls will become one of the first clubs outside of the Premier League to officially sign the charter which aims to make sports more inclusive for the LGBT community.
The voluntary charter, launched by the Home Office in March last year, has been backed by high-profile supporters including Stephen Fry, David Furnish, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.
The charter is made up of four points that promote the idea that football should be for everyone regardless of sexual orientation.
Albion manager Gus Poyet has given his backing. He said: “We know the situation with the Brighton fans.
“I think we have been dealing with that fantastically and we keep supporting that, so the game is a great opportunity to show it again. We are all the same and that is clear at this club.
“It doesn’t matter, we treat everybody exactly the same regardless of religion, sex or skin colour and that is something we are proud of.”
Albion managing director Ken Brownsaid it was significant that the club would be signing the charter alongside their counterparts at Millwall recognising the work that their South London rivals had done to improve their image over recent years.
Sussex Police football liaison officer Darren Balkham said: “From our point of view, the club have been working on this since we have been at the Withdean.
“We have made it clear that where the level of homophobic abuse breaches the law we will not hesitate to prosecute and when it doesn’t meet that criteria we will eject [supporters from the ground].
“I think in terms of homophobia we are at the same stage that we were with racism in the 80s.”
A spokesman for the Justin Campaign, a Brighton-based group that campaigns to kick homophobia out of football, said: “Albion have been one of the most supportive clubs in the country in the fight against homophobia in football and we fully welcome their backing to this initiative.”
Comments(13)
Alan G Skinner
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5:12pm Tue 14 Feb 12
Claude Back
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6:09pm Tue 14 Feb 12
thewhitehawker
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6:19pm Tue 14 Feb 12
Claude Back wrote:THATS RIGHT NEIL , STOP PRETENDING YOUR A YANK !! THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF UNEMPLOYED CHASING YOUR JOB ! STEP UP OR STEP DOWN ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!
Neil, your third paragraph: the word should be 'sport' not 'sports'. Unless you are a Sun reader, American, or work for Sky, everyone knows that sport is a hermaphroditic word, it can be either singular or plural. It is the same as words like sheep or deer. You don't say 'sheeps' so don't say 'sports'. We are not uneducated Americans. Take a leaf out of the BBC's book or even ITV; they don't say 'sports' do they? If you have to say 'sports' then your sentence is constructed incorrectly. Does this matter? Yes. I am fed up of the Americanisation of this country.
Telscombe Cliffy
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6:53pm Tue 14 Feb 12
Nivek73
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7:29pm Tue 14 Feb 12
Maxwell's Ghost
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9:48pm Tue 14 Feb 12
He's a very cheeky boy.
sick of whingers
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12:12am Wed 15 Feb 12
Alan G Skinner
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7:56am Wed 15 Feb 12
Alan G Skinner wrote:What a surprise. I was absolutely correct. Millwall "sign up" to this anti homophobia charter and what happens. On the train vile homophobic and racist abuse in front of women and children, what did the Police do, absolutely nothing. In the ground, 2000 Millwall supporters singing vile homophobic chants and making anti gay statements, hate preaching and what did the Police do nothing. Last night there should have been thousands of Millwall ejected from the Stadium and hundreds of arrests, what did the Police do ?????? Anyone ???
"when the level of homophobic abuse breaches the law we will not hesitate to prosecute". So Sussex Police and the CPS accept that a level of homophobic abuse is quite acceptable, interesting, perhaps they could let us know which abusive words and connotations racist and homophobic supporters are permitted to use, without fear of prosecution! I'm afraid this is all smoke and mirrors, Millwall FC may sign up to it, but i cant imagine Millwall supporters will abide it. Actions speak louder than words, if you want to stop homophobia at football matches then you must be prepared to make hundreds of arrests if necessary, not "sign up" to worthless schemes like these. Im afraid the Police simply do not have the resources to deal with this, they are powerless.
Archie Bun
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8:58am Wed 15 Feb 12
Number Six
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10:08am Wed 15 Feb 12
sick of whingers wrote:Last time I looked being a blatant bigot wasn't actually illegal. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, even loathsome one like his.
When are The Argus going to stop the blatant bigotted "The Whitehawker" from taking every oppurtunity to make homophobic remarks on this website? It does not matter what the subject is he or she has to get some dig or remark it that is offensive to a significant majority of this town. Whether he or she was born here, if he or she does not like it move and keep your repugnant, offensive views to yourself. You ignorant, offensive law breaking piece of ....
Still, if you don't like his opinions you could always take your own advice and move
thewhitehawker
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7:17pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Archie Bun
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11:00pm Wed 15 Feb 12
thewhitehawker wrote:I'd have thought there would be a large number of homosexuals in football seeing as they all run around in shorts and spend an inordinate amount of time at hairdressers. Whithehawker i might also suspect you of being a bit gay seeing as you probably spend a lot of time going to see a load of men running around and getting sweaty.
THIS WHOLE MISSION TO GET HOMOSEXUALS TO COME OUT IN THE FOOTBALL PROFESSION IS A WASTE OF TIME. SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE ARE VERY FEW IF ANY HOMOSEXUAL MEN FOOTBALLERS OR SPORTSMEN . IF THE FOCUS WAS ON HOMOSEXUAL MEN COMING OUT IN THE FASHION OR HAIRDRESSING INDUSTRY THEN AT LEAST THERE WOULD BE SOME POINT!!!
footy35 says...
4:36pm Tue 14 Feb 12