The fight against homophobia in Football has taken a new turn in recent weeks. While strict measures were decided after the resurgence of homophobic chants in Ligue 1 stadiums, these seem to be applied at two speeds. Made guilty of having uttered it on October 19 at the end of PSG-Strasbourg (4-2), the Auteuil stand at the Parc des Princes was the first to be sanctioned, in a match behind partial closed doors.
The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP), however, was unable to take action after the repeated insults and homophobic chants at the Vélodrome stadium on the sidelines of the clasico won by PSG the following week (0-3). It was repeated at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium five days later, during a meeting between Saint-Étienne and Strasbourg: no stoppage of the match and no sanction. Shortcomings which pushed Rouge Direct to react this Thursday.
“The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League refused yesterday to sanction noisy, systematic, criminal demonstrations of homophobia. It's official: the fight against homophobia does not exist in French football. The LFP, which nevertheless acts by delegation of public service, openly defies its supervisory authority, the Minister of Sports,” the collective, one of the main actors in the fight against homophobia in sport, communicated this Thursday.
Asked on October 24 about the solutions to be found against these abuses, the Minister of Sports Gil Avérous had in fact announced that the matches would be “stopped” and “lost for the home team”. Comments that the collective took very seriously, despite the declarations of the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau who affirmed a few hours later that “stopping the matches” in the event of homophobic chants in the stadiums was “very complicated” and n was “not the right solution”.
“Through its policy of inaction and impunity, the LFP is more than ever one of the most powerful actors in the trivialization of homophobia and its consequences throughout society, namely a 19% increase in crimes and offenses against LGBT people according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior,” continues Rouge Direct.
The association, which had already filed complaints in the past, is not only targeting the French football body, but also “the absence of political reactions to this serious news”, which it considers “extremely worrying”. Rouge Direct notably accuses Anne Hidalgo and Benoît Payan, the mayors of Paris and Marseille, of inaction since they are both owners of the Parc des Princes and the Vélodrome stadium where homophobic chants were uttered.
“No reaction from Marseille deputies like Sébastien Delogu or Manuel Bompard (LFI), although they are very active in the media on other discriminations,” the collective also underlines.
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