French pro footballers lead the way

Fantastic news.

For the first time ever professional football players have publicly taken part in a video against homophobia in football.

But this was not in the UK, but in France, where there have been a number of high profile incidents of homophobia.

Past and present internationals joined club stalwarts and team presidents in the video which must be seen as a milestone by all in the game.

In the words of campaign group Paris Foot Gay: "This video is the proof that opinions are really changing for the better when it comes to homophobia.

"Since the foundation of Paris Foot Gay we have noticed the strong impact that these attitudes and declarations have brought to young players and supporters.

"We give thanks to League One clubs the Girondins of Bordeaux, the Montpellier Hérault sport club and Paris Saint-Germain for their support.

"It’s thanks to them that this video clip had been realised."

There have been a number of high profile incidents of homophobia around football in France in recent years.

For instance, earlier this year an abusive banner was unfurled at an Olympique Marseille game.

This is not forgetting in 2009 when Louis Nicollin, the president of Montpellier FC labelled Auxerre footballer Benoit Pedretti a "little queer" on television.

It says so much about the efforts of Paris Foot Gay that the volcanic Nicollin was persuaded to appear in this video.

The video was produced also with a petition launched by the French Football Professional League on May 8.

So far only the Evian Thonon Gaillard Football Club has signed it.

But organisers are hopeful the clubs whose players appear in the video, namely Olympique Lyonnais and Stade Rennais, will follow the same path.

The players who appeared (in order) are:
Frédéric Thiriez (Président of the Professional Football League), Nicolas Douchez (Rennes), Sonny Anderson (former Lyon player), Dimitri Szarzewski (rugby player, Stade Français), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Matthieu Chalmé (Bordeaux), Miralem Pjanic (Lyon), Romain Danzé (Rennes), Ludovic Giuly (Paris) and Louis Nicollin (President of Montpellier).

To see the video visit here.

Far from lost in translation

Homophobic abuse in sport can be in all forms.

The most familiar type people are subjected to is verbal shouting of all sorts of horrible, misguided and bigoted statements.

It is with great regret when the Justin Campaign learnt that this sort of language was on display in one of the biggest French league games this weekend.

A banner in the stands of the Stade Velodrome in Marseille read: "Band of faggots. Be men."

The huge poster was spotted by a member of the Paris Gay Football Association during the match between Olympique de Marseille and Avignon Arles.

A statement from the group said: "It is now more than three years we've alerted club Marseille, on the need to tackle the problem from recurring homophobia of some supporters."

They added that there had been a history of homophobia abuse from fans of the French team when, after one incident in 2008, the club's director of communications at that time, Nathalie Paoli, said: "Marseille is not sufficiently exemplary to rebel against such comments."

The story was originally reported in the French media here.

Of course these comments may be a little skewed to an internet translation package.

But there is no doubting that this banner was not lost in translation.

Many questions from the incident. How did the banner get into the ground in the first place? Why did club officials so nothing to take it down? What impact did it have on other fans?

What is clear is that this shows how far football must travel if homophobia is to be pushed out of the game.

But as long as there are groups such as the Paris Gay Football Association then people will see what is right and what is wrong.