Last weekend, The Justin Fashanu All-Stars men's team were victorious in The FA-organised LGBT Champions League final, beating a strong London Titans side by a 4-3 margin.
The tournament was part of the UEFA Champions League festival, held at Hyde Park in London, in the run-up to the actual Champions League final on Saturday 29th May.
The finalists even had their picture taken alongside the Champions League trophy itself.
The London Lesbian Kickabouts won the women's trophy in a tournament which also saw The Justin Fashanu All-stars womens' side take part.
The event was superbly organised by The FA and highlighted how much more beautiful the beautiful game is when we are all included.
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Will The Justin Campaign take a stand on Nigeria's "purge" of its lesbian players? This wasn't a secret - the coach gave a talk at a conference, the subject of which was "how we got rid of lesbians from the team." (Players on the Nigerian team were out, loud and proud - and among the best in the world.)
ReplyDeleteAdd this to the homophobic harassment, and sexual abuse of women players on the South African National Team - and the horrific violence which took the life of Eudy Simelane (gang rape, murder), and you have a pretty dire situation for women footballers internationally. And no major footballing body has taken any sort of interest in this fact.
I've found the Justin Campaign's relative silence about this more than disappointing - it suggests that all it's about is making the game "safe" for men, which isn't much of an effort to change the culture of the game at all. I mean, a male coach says something homophobic and it makes headlines - but the HEAD COACH OF NIGERIA BANS LESBIANS FORM THE TEAM and not a peep? One of the great things about the women's game is that many women athletes are out - but the administrative structures that manage the game are not out about that fact. Until the Justin Campaign takes an active role in fighting homophobia in relation to lesbians, it isn't much of an anti-homophobic project in my book. Sorry this comment is so cranky, but this topic is just plain upsetting.