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Sol Campbell Abuse: FA Urged To Get Tough After Anti-Gay Chanting at Portsmouth

Tatchell and England vice-captain Rio Ferdinand call for FA action
 

■ Portsmouth Sol Campbell who was subjected to homophobic and racist chants by visiting Tottenham fans. photo: Portsmouth FC

LONDON, October 9, 2008  –  Premiership Tottenham  has been attacked by gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell for not taking effective action to discourage its fans from chanting homophobic – and racist – abuse against Sol Campbell a former Tottenham player now with Portsmouth.

And defender Rio Ferdinand, the England vice-captain was also joined in demanding action.

“When will the [Football Association] get tough with this rogue club,” asks Mr Tatchell in a press statement?

He was responding to the wave of anti-gay chants by Spurs’ fans at the Portsmouth – Tottenham match on September 28, which included:

“Sol, Sol, wherever you may be / You're on the verge of lunacy / And we don’t give a f**k if you're hanging from a tree / You Judas c**t with HIV.”

“He’s big, he’s black. He takes it up his crack. Sol Campbell, Sol Campbell.”

“These homophobic jibes go way beyond legitimate ribbing and mockery,” said Mr Tatchell.

He has written to the Football Association, urging “prompt disciplinary action against the club and its fans to deter any repeat of the abuse at future matches”.

“This clampdown could include fining Spurs for failing to make any serious effort to control its fans and banning Tottenham fans from attending their team’s next match,” said Mr Tatchell.

“Given the large number of supporters who homophobically abused Campbell, and the difficulty in identifying them, a one-match ban on all Spurs fans might be justified,” he suggested.

“Although I don’t want to penalise the innocent, it could usefully prompt a bit of peer pressure on the terraces to halt anti-gay abuse.  Empty stands would also send a clear, strong message of zero tolerance towards prejudice.

“Punishing offenders is not the ideal or only action required.  Persuading them to ditch their bigotry is a better long-term solution.

“The FA should organise the mass distribution of anti-homophobia leaflets to Spurs fans at the club’s next few matches, and make a PA announcement at the start of the next Spurs kick-off, warning that homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic insults of any kind are unacceptable and that offending clubs and fans will be penalised.

“The FA could insist that there are anti-homophobia messages printed on tickets, in match programmes and displayed on the giant screens inside stadiums.

“There needs be a high-level meeting between the FA and the Spurs management, with Tottenham being required to draw up a plan of action to educate their fans in tolerance.

“All clubs should agree to introduce a five-year ban on players and fans who indulge in racist or homophobic insults,” said Mr Tatchell.

"For seven years, Tottenham FC and the FA have allowed Campbell to be abused.  They let fans get away with their homophobia.

“The FA would not have sat on its hands if the abuse had been of a racist nature.

“Thanks to the pioneering Kick It Out anti-racist campaign, which is backed by the FA, individual clubs and the FA now take a much tougher stance against racial abuse.  Why isn’t there the same robust response when it comes to homophobic taunts,” he questioned?

“As the Gay Football Supporters Network has pointed out, Tottenham’s management has done very little to inform its fans about the ground regulations prohibiting homophobic chants.  It has not devised a policy on how to deal with anti-gay abuse and has not held any meeting to discuss the recent intolerable insults against Campbell.

“Homophobic abuse on the terraces is one of the main reasons why there are no openly gay professional footballers,” Mr. Tatchell insisted.

“They fear the abuse that Campbell has suffered and know that the clubs and the FA will do little to protect and support them,” he concluded.

After the sustained anti-gay abuse against Campbell at Fratton Park, when Tottenham played Portsmouth nine days ago, the police announced an investigation and urged the FA to take action.

Portsmouth has complained to the FA about the behaviour of the Spurs’ fans.

Also calling for action against homophobia on “the terraces” is England vice-captain and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.

“The high-tech cameras should be able to pick up the people who are doing that kind of stuff and eject them from the ground,” Mr. Ferdinand suggested.

“That is the only way I can see to stop it happening.  We are talking about a football match.  There are young kids present who want to be entertained, not hear someone a couple of rows back slagging players off.”

He included the call for something to be done in the sport to combat homophobia following the chanting against Sol Campbell at Portsmouth in a call to the world governing body of football, Fifa, to take more drastic action that a £15,000 fine handed out to Croatia for racism aimed at English players at a recent game in Zagreb.

“Croatia were fined a few thousand quid.  What’s that going to do?  That is not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic abuse,” he said.

“Sepp Blatter likes to speak up about things that are good for Fifa’s image but I would love to see them stand up and dish out the right punishments for these incidents.  If things like this keep happening you have to take points off them.  Then the punters will realise the team is going to be punished,” Mr. Ferdinand said.

He was speaking on BBC Radio’s news and sports station, 5 Live.

Last week, Portsmouth Football Club released a statement regarding the homophobic abuse chanted at their player by Tottenham fans:

“After discussion with Sol Campbell, Portsmouth Football Club will be making an official complaint to the Football Association concerning the verbal abuse aimed at him during last Sunday’s match against Tottenham.

“Both Sol and the club feel no player should be subjected to personal abuse of this nature and that it has no place in football.

“The club will be urging the FA to look into this as a matter of urgency and will co-operate fully in any investigations that take place either by the FA or the Hampshire Police who are also conducting their own investigation.”

In May, when the Cup Final (which Portsmouth won) was on International Day Against Homophobia, the FA’s Equality Manager, Lucy Faulkner said in a statement: “ … we also recognise that football has a duty to challenge all discrimination within the game.  One of our key messages is football for all, and our aim is to confront aggressive issues such as homophobia and making the game family friendly.”

And Steve Powell of the Football Supporters Federation added: “Football has to be open to everyone irrespective of sexuality, race, colour and religion.

“We all love banter at football but this kind of abuse is laughing at people rather than with them.  We’ve got to the stage with racism where fans are beginning to police incidents themselves and confronting those who are shouting abuse.

“It would be great to get to that level with homophobic chanting,” he added.

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