Justin Campaign press statement: Hope Akpan tweet

Earlier this week it was brought to our attention that the FA were investigating a tweet that appeared on a Crawley Town player's Twitter account.

According to a national newspaper, Hope Akpan's Twitter account read: "Gays all over the tele what’s wrong with Britain! Sorry I’m #FullyHomophobic."

The 20-year-old midfielder, who signed from Everton in the summer, has since deleted the comment from the social networking site.

A statement issued by the League Two club, on behalf of manager Steve Evans, said: "Having spoken to Hope at length, I accept that the comments were added to his Twitter account by a young member of his family without Hope’s knowledge.

"The view expressed on Hope’s Twitter account are not shared by any member of the staff of Crawley Town FC. As a club we do not condone discrimination of any kind."

A Justin Campaign spokesman said: "Homophobic comments, whether in football or not, are wrong.

"Even with the support of some clubs and footballing authorities, homophobia remains entrenched in football and it will take strong leadership for attitudes to change.

"The Justin Campaign is one of a number of volunteer groups that is leading the cause towards real change in the world's game.

"In this instance there could be a reasonable explanation but the Justin Campaign hopes the FA will look into this with immediate urgency and deal with any wrongdoing with utmost seriousness."

Is this really the message we want to be putting across to children?

Don't ask me how but our attention has been drawn to the children's TV programme Peppa Pig.

Apparently this is one of the most popular shows for pre-school children (and their stay-at-home parents) and now shown in 180 countries.

This episode, posted below in full, took on the challenge of washing a dirty white football shirt.



When a red dress ends up in the machine, it turns the rest of the clothes pink.

The dialogue is a clear indication of the simple attitudes towards football.

"Pink is not a very good colour for a football shirt", says Mummy Pig.

Why not? - take a quick look at the kit of the Justin Fashanu Allstars and tell me that does not belong on the football field.

I'm sure fans of Everton and Palermo agree with us.

But it gets worse.

When the father returns home he is handed the shirt and says: "That's not mine, that is one of mummy's dresses."

Sure this is a children's TV show aimed at the mass market and trying to get across simple messages about how the world works.

But have we not outgrown these traditional outdated dividing lines between the sexes which is more akin to the 1950s?

If the above messages are put in front of children at a young age, they very quickly become embedded as fact.

This makes change all the more difficult in the long run.