many poses, few results – Libération

2024-10-24 16:33:00

The Minister of the Interior will receive football leaders on Thursday in the presence of Sports Minister Gil Avérous and the Secretary of State responsible for the fight against discrimination Othman Nasrou. A new line in the history of ineffectiveness in the face of a plague that the authorities do not seem to want to address.

Bruno Retailleau as a knight of LGBT+ rights? The Beauvau resident, known for having voted against the ban on conversion therapies, is still responsible for the fight against discrimination related to sexual orientation or gender. He would therefore have decided to face this battle by tackling the nebulous but practical – in particular it regularly acts as a test for all new liberticidal legislative measures – community of football ultras. The complex issue comes back to the fore every two or three years, after homophobic acts in the stands capture the attention of the media and politicians, players refuse to take part in an awareness day or a minister decides to demonstrate that he is taking action.

On Thursday, Vendée received football leaders to discuss and possibly find solutions to fight against this plague still present in the stands. Upon leaving, his colleague from Sport, Gil Avérous, assured that he wanted to avoid it “collective sanctions” and promoted the “nominal tickets”. Today no active player in Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 came out.

August 2019: Professional matches stopped due to homophobic chants

History will record that AS Nancy Lorraine and Le Mans Foot Club, in Ligue 2, were the first French clubs to have their match stopped due to homophobic chants. In the 26th minute, the referee stopped the match after the Nancy fans had insulted their neighbors and rivals Metz, although they were not worried about this match. While the stadium announcer, informed in advance by a representative of the Professional Football League (LFP), asked the fans to stop the homophobic chants, those involved responded: “The League, fuck you!” The match then resumed a few minutes later.

The next week, repeated again. In Ligue 1 this time, the match between Brest and Reims was also interrupted for a few moments – a minute – at the start of the second half. At the time, Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State responsible for gender equality, and Roxana Maracineanu, Minister of Sport, welcomed this decision.

The referees then refer to law 5 of the Laws of the Game which provides, in the part dedicated to the “responsibilities of the referees”, that the latter can “whether or not to interrupt the match due to the intervention of the spectators or due to any problem that occurred in the spectator areas”. On the part of UEFA, a resolution was adopted in 2013 “with the aim of combating racism and discrimination in football”. But this appears to only target racist incidents and not homophobic ones.

9 September 2019: “Considering that football is homophobic is still a bit strong”

A few days after these controversies, Noël Le Graët, then president of the French Football Federation, asked referees to no longer interrupt matches in case of homophobic chants or slogans in the stands. “The methods of constant punishment are accentuated [les comportements problématiques]»then he justifies the one who will be ousted a few months later for his sexist behavior. And develop, without providing justification: “Considering that football is homophobic, and perhaps the image of homophobia in France, it is still a bit strong. I don’t accept. That some spectators have exaggerated… Yes! We will make sure it disappears, but stopping games is another thing. The game is something complicated, beautiful to look at and for those few people I don’t like we will make sure there are no more banners. But stopping the game? NO.”

November 16, 2023: “These idiots must no longer have a place in our enclosures”

Listened to by the deputies of the commission of inquiry into operational shortcomings in the sporting world, the Minister of Sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, announces that “it isThese idiots should no longer have space in our speakers» and calls for an increase in judicial bans on stadiums. A few months earlier he had presented in the columns of Liberation. “Federations need to take greater account of the issues and rights of LGBT+ people, as some are already starting to do. We will ask them to provide training to judges and referees so that whenever anti-LGBT discrimination occurs, it is systematically identified in match reports, reported and counted. We must also raise awareness among disciplinary commissions so that these acts are sanctioned more systematically. Overall, we will strengthen the disciplinary power of the federations.” Without concrete results to date.

May 2024: Hide this homophobia that I can’t see

Idrissa Gueye at PSG, Mohamed Camara at Monaco, Zakaria Abouklhal at Toulouse… Every year, the homophobia awareness day organized by the LFP – organized around May 17, the international day against homophobia – has been the scene of controversy, the players they hid the rainbow logo on their jerseys. t-shirts or faking an injury to avoid showing up in a tunic they consider a “support for homosexuality”. Faced with this problem, the LFP finally found the solution in 2024: remove the rainbow from the shirts and replace it with the word “homophobia” crossed out with a line of red paint and under which we find the word “football”. This way, no more problems.

October 24, 2024: The cessation of matches and the appearance of name tickets return

“I would be in favor of stopping the matches as soon as possible” what is there “homophobic songs”. Guest on FranceInter a few days after the new homophobic chants at the Parc des Princes, Bruno Retailleau put the option of suspended matches back on the table. “It became unbearable. We can no longer tolerate homophobic chants. I can’t stand it anymore.” In the afternoon, after a meeting with football officials in Beauvau, the Minister of Sport, Gil Avérous, assured that he wanted to avoid “collective sanctions” and promoted the “name tickets”. An innovative measure in football, tested with Olympique Lyonnais, PSG and OM. The minister also put the issue of match interruptions back on the table. “if necessary”. Less innovative and not appreciated by Bruno Retailleau who felt that it was not “It’s not the right solution” in the evening.

Updated at 7.46pm with Bruno Retailleau’s opinion on the interruption of matches.