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couldnt agree more…
whats worse is, as the lads being interviewed presumably theres a game going on in the background…yknow…the thing we are paying good money to watch…
fucking pisstake
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you know i always thought football was missing something…
its all great having jumpers for goalposts in the park, but it really detracts from the spectacle
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Football becoming more dead to me every year.
The whole thing has become a complete shit show
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even grass roots football, which keeps itself in reality, sucumbs in its own way…
no longer good enough to just kick the ball with your mates in the park, you need a structured program, social media full videos like; ‘wingers?, want to know how the pros beat a player’
you have to be in an academy or ‘pathway club’, parents being sold (literally) dreams, kids hoping from one club to another to see which one ‘best services thier needs’…
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Agreed, some of the attitude of our 5th team was a joke at times.
Effectively we are a team of guys that aren’t good enough or just arrived at the club and yet there was this idea we were playing football manager weekly.
I’ve even seen people take 5 aside seriously. The game is in danger of losing its fun element.
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The BBC story about it is here:
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Not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, it is absolutely performative and insincere, sports leagues really only do this stuff for the PR. On the other hand, I’m curious as to how much actual good was being realised through programs like this, and if making this change will remove some of that good being done. Tough call.
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It rather depends on what the FA propose instead. I certainly noticed that the “Chelsea Rent Boys” chant seemed to die down after Klopp intervened. The fact that he, and high profile players like Henderson, have thrown their weight behind the rainbow laces campaign does reinforce it.
My observations are that this is purely a problem with the men’s game. There are plenty of openly out players in the women’s game and no one seems to mind.
My other observation is that when seeing inclusive postings from the club on Facebook (anti-racism, LGBT inclusivity, celebrating religious communities etc) the bulk of the negative comments come from outside the UK.
You do see the occasional knuckle-dragger saying that they should “keep out of politics” but essentially being non-discriminatory should be the default position. Being racist, for example, is a political position, and one that those who adopt it are usually not very proud of when called out.
I take the view that everyone should be welcome at the match, and if they aren’t, the club should be doing something about it. That’s not even telling people that they can’t have discriminatory views, but they do have to leave them at the turnstile.
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I’m glad your fragile ego is happy, I assume you don’t much care why a sport doesn’t seem to have a single gay or bisexual player even though the general population is seen as being around 7%?
Why did wearing rainbow laces every November for one weekend really upset you?
As the BBC article states as hate crime reports in football and in grounds increase could this end up being an own goal.
But at least we have ref cam lolz.
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I hope you are right about it only being an issue with the men’s game, but after the WNBA issue with a dildo being thrown at a player a few days ago I have a gut feeling that it could slowly start to creep into the women’s game - although I hope I am wrong
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At face value this seems a bad move. Given the numbers Matty cites, the game clearly has a long way to go just to be on a par with wider society, which itself has work to do in terms of recognizing and including the LGBT community.
So I hope this doesn’t represent a backwards step in the ongoing work.
The Beeb article said that the Premier League will do its own inclusion campaign in February, so I suppose we will see what that brings.
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Yeah I think the main crux of this is that it’s just some lads wearing rainbow laces/armbands for a week or a month or whatever - not really a big deal and doesn’t harm anyone.
That said, It feels a bit forced and insincere if footballers/coaches etc. can’t opt out.
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This has happened four times in the last week, by the way, although I’m not sure if it’s intended as homophobic as much as purely misogynistic. The amount of vitriol towards women’s sports (especially the WNBA - we can probably all draw our own conclusions on why that might be) in the US is shocking. Sick of listening to it.
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The stats compiled by Kick It Out are here:
The number of reported incidents are going up, but this could be that people are more prepared to report things rather than simply put up with it, which is actually a positive.
However, I do observe that people in positions of power are increasingly using discriminatory language in routine discourse which is normalising that kind of behaviour.
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I saw 1 video, I didn’t realise it had happened at other games as well 
You do raise a fair point regardingthe intent and if it is misogynistic or homophobic, but in a highly competitive female sport, how quickly can 1 slide into the other? - I think you possibly might need to treat them as both to ensure you stamp it out before it becomes a regular thing that is seen as acceptable either way
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Players don’t actually need to wear the rainbow laces and many don’t on that one weekend. However much some people believe the gays are forcing it down their throats.
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You can assume that every Premier League team has at least one gay player. (Not to mention the many fans around the world who may now feel excluded). What message is this supposed to send to these players? I don’t know what to say right now. Sad imo
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