Homophobia in football

[Dan_F]

Nah, that's an oversimplification. Most of the time in those footie crowd situations it's to do with group think/herd mentality imo. People see others doing it and join in, wanting to be part of something. The fact that they're doing it as part of a bigger crowd also makes them feel safer and makes them feel legitimized in doing it

I also think the vast majority of people aren’t what they themselves would consider homophobic. The issue is a refusal to change language that’s been used for so long in football.

 

[SilentWitness]

I also think the vast majority of people aren’t what they themselves would consider homophobic. The issue is a refusal to change language that’s been used for so long in football.

Yep and it's obvious when you see the response to people saying we shouldn't sing the rent boy chant any longer.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yep and it's obvious when you see the response to people saying we shouldn't sing the rent boy chant any longer.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s part of the culture war now. At least some of them probably have no strong feelings about gay people at all but continue with these chants because they enjoy being offensive towards people they perceive as too easily offended.

 

[DRJosh]

Is homophobia also an issue in women's football? Seems it is less of a systemic problem in the women's game. Perhaps there should be a united campaign from both the womens and mens teams...maybe there already is.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Is homophobia also an issue in women's football? Seems it is less of a systemic problem in the women's game. Perhaps there should be a united campaign from both the womens and mens teams...maybe there already is.

A high proportion of women footballers (and women’s team sports in general) are out as being gay. I don’t follow woman’s football closely but I know that two of the GB women’s hockey team are married to each other. Men’s football seems a very long way from something like that happening!

So it’s a completely different environment to the men’s game where being gay is either incredibly rare or almost never admitted to. I think it’s probably a combination of both. Gay women tend to skew towards being good at team sports, gay men not so much. Although that’s probably massively influenced by the environment they would be thrust into if they tried to excel as an athlete. I don’t know if this is true or not but it feels as though being a gay man in team sports is much harder than in individual sports.

 

[top1whoisman]

Is homophobia also an issue in women's football? Seems it is less of a systemic problem in the women's game. Perhaps there should be a united campaign from both the womens and mens teams...maybe there already is.

There’s generally less tribalism in the stands in women’s football. The atmosphere is much more friendly than in men’s games. While there’s some chanting towards opponents, genuine abuse is frowned upon within supporters and supporter groups.

Having said that, there are some cases of transphobia and misogyny every now and then.

Regarding the last point, there absolutely should be more done than rainbow armbands once a season.