The National LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Sports Network, an association of UK based lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans sports groups expressed its concern over the current media debate sparked by the FA’s anti-homophobia viral film.

Lindsay England, member of the Network Steering Group, said:
“The film is a complete disappointment to those of us who have been working in an advisory capacity with the FA over the last three years. In 2007 we were proud to be thought of as the nation leading the campaign against homophobia in Football globally. ”

Prior to the postponement of the film’s launch, the Network had been working on a survey of fan’s blogs in which homophobic abuse occurred.  In a 7-day period, the group undertook a snapshot survey of a range of online fans’ forums and found significant abuse had been posted on blogs of supporters of at least seven professional clubs.

Lou Englefield of Pride Sports, the UK’s LGBT sports development organisation and member of the Network, said:
“The abuse we observed ranged from the incidental use of terms such as ‘faggot’ to deride professional players to statements like ‘All gays are fucking arseholes’ and ‘Gays are rubbish at football, everyone knows that’.  Not only are these statements highly offensive in themselves, but they had been left on the internet and had not been removed by moderators. In one thread where a fan had posted the comment ‘the only good gay is a dead gay’, the moderator had intervened but then repeated the comment in his own moderation post."

The Network is concerned that the current media debate takes the focus of responsibility for challenging homophobia away from the FA and places it on individual players. The Network argues that this is not the case and that the FA has the first obligation as the sport’s National Governing Body to create an inclusive, anti-discriminatory football community. In the current environment, the Network says, individual footballers’ reticence to come out or even support an anti-homophobia campaign in such a hostile environment is not surprising.

Lindsay England said:
“Of course we would welcome an endorsement of any anti-homophobia campaign by football superstars! That would have a huge impact, particularly on young people, who are so influenced by their role models. Some of the posts this debate has generated amongst fans in online forums shows that the FA has a long way to go to create an environment in which players feel their livelihood and reputation is not at stake for even saying ‘homophobic abuse is wrong’ .”

The Network will welcome a comprehensive FA strategy to challenge homophobia that begins with the grass roots game, initiating a change of attitude amongst junior football clubs and Sunday league teams as well as targeting those in the top flight.