Euro '12 "Respct Diversity" statement by 4 captains....

[blackjedii]

The Euros have been a hot mess but I thought I'd share the statements made by the four semifinalist captains in relation to UEFA's "Respect Diversity" campagain (hint: they do it better)

Here is Gianluigi Buffon, captain of Italy:"I am proud to lead my country in this important match of UEFA EURO 2012," said Buffon. "My team-mates and I stand

Comments

I'm glad that this is happening, despite things

[jazzypom]

FIFA's leaders aren't exactly the most progressive people around. For instance, Seth Blatter, upon hearing that Quatar was against homosexuality, he said that homosexuals should take care not to 'engage'. Or in Platini's case, when Mario Balotelli said that he'd walk off the pitch if he heard monkey noises or got bananas thrown at him, Platini said that if any player exercised their right to protest against such things, they'd be yellow carded. So way to punish the victim instead of the bully, you guys.

But I'm heartened by the little things. The fact that Cassanno apologised for his remarks re: homosexuality in football, and that the Italian team have expressed their support for Mario Balotelli in terms of his actions if he got banana'd and monkey booed.

I'm also liking one or two members of the Spanish team having the discussion at their tables in terms of plotting out what they'd do if the fans attending were racist towards other players of colour on the pitch.

Re: I'm glad that this is happening, despite things

[blackjedii]

I think the players are light years ahead of UEFA and the fans sometimes (barring people like Busquets) and that's incredibly sad but I'm glad that these players have given statements and more importantly, are the type of guys to stand by it too.

Lahm, man - can't say enough. I can even imagine Platini choking on his own tongue "DID HE JUST IMPLY THAT THERE ARE NON-STRAIGHT PEOPLE AT THIS TOURNAMENT?!"

Hmm yeah

[jazzypom]

I think a Swedish football player came out as homosexual relatively recently. He's in a second division team right now (his dad used to be a goal keeper for a top side in the English Premiere leagues), and it's not an issue right now. But if he gets into the big leagues, it will be interesting to see how he gets around it.

Considering that John Fashnu - the only gay footballer on record came out in the 1990s and was driven to commit suicide because his prospects dried up, I'm glad to see that the culture on the field by the younger players (those twenty five and under don't seem to really care) has changed a lot.

Man, I don't know. On one hand, I'm kinda fuming that they give football tourneys to really shady countries to host, but on the other hand, some people just wouldn't get exposed to alternative viewpoints and life existence any other way.

Re: Hmm yeah

[jenny_jenkins]

The Fashanu case was sad and an amazing documentary was done recently by his niece.

The Swedish footballer in question - Anton Hysén - looks a very average player, actually. So I doubt he'll ever play for an important team.

But what makes the Fashanu case interesting is that his niece points out that there is not a single "out" footballer in any league in England. Of 10,000 football professionals in England in every league not one.

Re: I'm glad that this is happening, despite things

[nycscribbler]

(da fuh is this comment page?)

Sepp Blatter is a failing piece of sexist, homophobic, shit. He'd probably be a few more kinds of bigoted if he had room in his head for all of them, too. I'm not even that big a soccer fan, and I wish stabbity death upon him.