2023-05-14 20:46:18
Published on : Modified :
Several players from Toulouse, Nantes or even Guingamp refused to play with the rainbow flocked jersey during this weekend of the fight against homophobia in football, rekindling the controversy already sparked last year by Idrissa Gana Gueye.
New year of fight against homophobia and new controversies around the refusal to wear the flocked rainbow jersey. During the weekend, players from Toulouse, Nantes or even Guingamp refused to wear the tunic while the Brest coach castigated a day of action which would distort the fight for maintenance.
“We must not give too much importance to these individual choices and do not forget that more than 400 players have played the game without any problem”, explains to AFP Bertrand Lambert, member of Panamboyz and Girlz United, one of the associations with which the Professional Football League (LFP) works all year round.
“It’s an ultra-minority reaction, I would like to welcome the fact that many Toulouse supporters have clearly condemned this attitude on Twitter,” he insists.
The vast majority of L1 and L2 players have played with the numbers in the colors of the LGBT+ pride flag for this annual campaign “Gays or straights, we all wear the same shirt”.
The Montpellier club even inserted the rainbow into its crest for the occasion, replacing its traditional blue and white stripes.
But in Toulouse, explained the management of the club in a press release, “players from the professional workforce expressed their disagreement” and did not want to be associated with this operation, including Zakaria Aboukhlal.
“My Own Beliefs”
The Moroccan international explained in English on Instagram that he “respects all individuals, regardless of their preferences, gender, religion”, but, he adds, “respect also contains that for my own beliefs. I don’t think I’m the best person to participate in this campaign, I hope my decision will be respected”.
On the Nantes side, Mostafa Mohamed also marked his refusal to participate in the operation, we learned from a source close to the “canary” club. The Egyptian, explained his coach Pierre Aristouy, “was torn between his desire to play and more distant issues. It’s a sensitive issue”.
On Saturday, the Senegalese defender of Guingamp Donatien Gomis also preferred to forfeit the Ligue 2 match at Sochaux.
“I expected worse,” Yoann Lemaire, of the Foot Ensemble association, told AFP. “We underestimated the problem, a large number of players do not want to wear the jersey.”
For several years, he has gone “to meet a large number of pro players and training centers to raise their awareness. But at least they are interested in talking about it, they explain why they do not want to, for various reasons, it can be also so as not to feel forced to defend a cause. But the discussion often ends with: ‘We are going to wear it, the jersey'”, continues Yoann Lemaire.
“Things have changed”
These tunics must then be auctioned off for the benefit of the Foot Ensemble, Panamboyz & Girlz United and SOS Homophobia associations.
Brest coach Éric Roy lamented a “catastrophic” timing. “Don’t do it in the last four matches” when the clubs are playing their “survival”, he said after Brest’s victory against Auxerre on Sunday afternoon.
“There are players for whom that is a problem. Everyone is free to have their own opinions, personally, that is not a problem for me,” added the Brest technician. “It’s very good that the League is committed, but personally, I’m not happy that there are five players who are not playing in Toulouse, who are playing against Nantes, who are fighting with us to maintain themselves. Is that fair? No.”
Last year, the Senegalese international Idrissa Gana Gueye, then at PSG, had already been strongly suspected of having withdrawn for not wearing this jersey. He had been summoned to explain himself by the national ethics council of the French Football Federation (FFF), but had received a flood of support in Senegal.
Bertrand Lambert, of Panamboyz and Girlz United, recalls that this operation “is not intended to promote homosexuality but to promote football open to all, and to fight against homophobia, which is not an opinion in France. but an offence. You have to understand that these people are not being asked to become homosexuals!”
He underlines that his association like others intervene “all year round with players and in training centers” and “welcomes the work of the LFP”.
The head of the association “still feels that things have gradually evolved. Before, we were a little alone in sounding the alarm, until the day when matches were stopped, the problem which was put under the carpet has become public”. “The ‘football planet’ has nevertheless evolved a lot,” concludes Lambert. “Before it was abnormal to talk about it, today it is abnormal not to wear this shirt.”
With AFP
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