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

[tabaqui]

Yay, Portugal!

I'm glad they're speaking up - i hope it makes a difference.

[mephisto5]

Good on Germany for explicitly including sexual orientation.

[so_bambiesque]

This is excellent, although I'd like it more if I believed that every "team mate" believed the same thing.

Can you even imagine what England's would have been if they'd reached the semi?
"We're totally against racism, except when it's one of our best players, in which case we'll all defend him and let him stay on the team and even as captain. And homophobia is rubbish, except for the fans that constantly shout homophobic abuse at players and linesman and ew, what do you mean there are probably some footballers who are secretly gay?"

Terry wasn't the captain

[jazzypom]

I think that's the reason why Capello resigned, because he wanted John Terry to remain captain, but the English FA said no, and appointed Gerrard instead. But yeah, I was having all sorts of conflicting feelings with regards to cheering for England. On one hand, the stink of John Terry's actions, and then Rio Ferdinand being chosen over John Terry, made it a hardship to cheer for England.

On the other hand, Oxlade, Walcott and Wellbeck did their jerseys and country proud, half of England's starting XI were players of colour, and you'd never hear of an English coach saying stuff along the lines of Laurent Blanc, that there should be a quota on players of colour wearing the jersey, and being supported by the press and the politicians because their national side was too black/arab.

Re: Terry wasn't the captain

[so_bambiesque]

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear- I knew Terry was captain at the time. I didn't like the way that Capello jumped to his defence, and the players didn't speak out against it. I always used to be a fan of Gerrard, but I lost a lot of respect for him when he supported Suarez, and the same really goes for all of Liverpool. tl;dr I'll believe footballers in England are actually against racism when they start speaking out against it because it's the right thing to do, and not because it's called for in a statement.

Although I'm only a half-hearted football fan, I jut haven't been able to bring myself to even pretend to cheer for England this time around because of the Terry inclusion/leaving Ferdinand out. Germany's probably my spiritual home so I've been supporting them.

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.

[atomic_joe2]

Its been an incredibly interesting tournament so far, one in which England went at least some way to restoring their reputation as a half decent footballing nation thankfully.

But there are real issues within the game still, issues that come with a vast influx of money. And the fact that it is still taboo for a player to come out presumably for fear of what the fans and / or his team mates will say is a massive issue.