Homophobia in football

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Homophobia in football is the rejection and devaluation of homosexuality by teammates, officials or spectators. It can lead to gamblers who are homosexual or considered to be homosexual being marginalized or excluded, or to hiding their homosexuality or pretending to be heterosexual as a preventive measure. A number of amateur players are now openly gay, and there are gay sports clubs with soccer teams. Despite the assured support from sports officials and politicians, there are men in professional football so far only in isolated cases to recognize players as homosexual.

General

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In sport, homophobia only occurs in a few team sports among men, while this is hardly noticeable / present in team sports among women. Football is particularly striking , with various media reporting increasingly on the topic over the past decade. In individual sports such as tennis , golf , athletics , swimming and other individual sports , homophobia does not exist or hardly exists.

Homophobic expressions

An example of open homophobia in professional football was the statements made by the former coach of the Austrian national football team Otto Barić in an interview with the Swiss newspaper “ Blick ” in 2004 : “My players have to be real guys. So homosexuals can't play with me, at most against me. ”In another conversation he made a similar statement to the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list :“ I know that there are no homosexuals in my team. I know a gay man in ten minutes and I don't want her on my team. ”In 2007, Barić was fined € 1,825 by UEFA for repeating homophobic statements in Jutarnji List .

There is a long tradition of homophobic statements made by football players. For example, the former Fortuna Düsseldorf player Michael Schütz said in an interview: "You wouldn't really tackle someone like that because there would be a certain fear of AIDS ." Paul Steiner , a former defender of 1. FC Köln , said at a television discussion on the subject of homosexuality in football: "I cannot imagine that gays can play football."

At the end of May 2008 , when asked about youth work in the club, football coach Christoph Daum said in a broadcast on German sports television that one was called upon to “take action against any aspirations that are common to the same sex”. So he put homosexuality and pedophilia in a context, for which he later apologized publicly.

Shortly after the women's soccer World Cup began in 2011 , it became known that Nigerian coach Ngozi Uche had banned all lesbian players from the Nigerian national team in the run-up to the World Cup . Uche explained, “Yes, the lesbians on our team were really a big problem. But since I've been the Falcons trainer, that's all gone . There is no longer a lesbian player on my team. We need divine intervention to control and limit homosexuality. It worked for us. I cannot tolerate this dirty way of life. "

Mohamadou Idrissou complained at the end of April 2013 after the defeat of his club 1. FC Kaiserslautern at Energie Cottbus about referee Wolfgang Stark , who did not like his body language, with the words: “I am not gay. I have male body language and I won't be a gay either. That's his problem. ”In a statement, Idrissou apologized for his statements and emphasized that he did not mean“ being gay ”in a derogatory way, but again indicated a separation and opposition between“ being gay ”and masculinity.

The Austrian coach Werner Gregoritsch said in 2011 that gay footballers would be “unthinkable” for him and added: “For me it is something unnatural, I prefer the word macho to the word gay. I know that now there are e-mails from the gay commission, but I stand by it. ”Gregoritsch was soon appointed coach of the Austrian U-21 national soccer team .

spectator

Fan choirs are occasionally charged with homophobia, so they address the opposing teams and their players.

Several football clubs in Germany now have gay and lesbian fan clubs. Hertha BSC's “Hertha-Junxx” fan club , which was founded in August 2001, is considered the first official club of this kind . Further foundings in other cities with Bundesliga football followed. With the Queer Football Fan Club (QFF) network, there is a common platform for exchanging experiences. The German Football Association sponsored the Christopher Street Day in Cologne in 2008 for the first time a float of QFF under the slogan "Football is everything ... even gay." There are still no gay and lesbian fan clubs in Austria, but the fan clubs of the Wiener Sportklub and Wiener Vienna are liberal and also support campaigns against homophobia in sport.

Gay players

Heinz Bonn , HSV player , kept his homosexuality a secret in the 1970s for fear of career damage.

Justin Fashanu , the first professional football player, who outed himself in 1990 during his sporting career as a homosexual, hanged himself in 1998. Shortly before, he was in the United States because of sexual assault charged. He is said to have had sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old soccer student who said he wanted to blackmail him.

Without considering himself homosexual, the Brazilian soccer player Pelé reports that, like most of his teammates at the time, he had his first sexual experiences with older men as a young player.

In German women's football , which is not so much in the public eye, some players are openly lesbian. This is not the only reason why homophobic statements are less common. Martina Voss , one of the exceptional players in German football over the past ten years, was not nominated for the 2000 Olympic Games after 125 international matches because she had canceled an international match due to private problems with her then friend and teammate Inka Grings . Tina Theune-Meyer believes that the proportion of lesbian players in the German national team is between 60 and 70 percent. The statements and reactions of players, coaches and officials show a completely different picture for the male ball sport in this respect. While in other sports lesbian, gay and bisexual top athletes such as Martina Navrátilová (tennis), Mark Tewksbury (swimming), Greg Louganis ( diving ) or Judith Arndt ( cycling ) are open to their homosexuality, the players currently active with Anton Hysén and Marcus Urban have so far primarily outed those who have dropped out of professional football. The Major League Soccer poker players Collin Martin outed himself on June 29, 2018 as probably the first active player a national top league.

Assumed number

If one follows statistics on the demographic frequency of homosexuality in the male population, several gay players would have to play in the national leagues. In December 2006, the football magazine Rund even assumed during a theme week that at least three gay teams would have to play in the national leagues. In 2005, the Financial Times reported that one player from the Bundesliga and two others from the lower leagues would be ready to come out if eight other players are ready to face the public. In the spring of 2006, the announcement by the tabloids News of the World and The Sun that they would be outing several gay professionals caused a great deal of public discussion.

The Austrian betting company Gamebookers announced in June 2005 that with 800 football professionals it was statistically impossible that there were no gay footballers. The company therefore offered to bet on whether homosexual players from the highest European leagues will come out. For the outing of a gay professional soccer couple, the offered quota was 51, for the outing of a single player 1.5, and for the outing of several soccer professionals 2.25.

The player's agent Michael Becker described the German national soccer team before the soccer world cup 2010 as a "gay combo".

Possible outing

The subject of homosexuality is either heavily emotionalized or taboo in professional football. This is not a specifically German, but a general phenomenon within this sport. A written request from the broadcaster BBC Radio 5 Live to 20 clubs in the British Premier League with three questions on the subject of “homophobia in football” went unanswered 20 times. Responses from officials clearly show how high the potential for conflict is on this issue. Jürgen Rollmann , ex-professional from Werder Bremen , once commented on this question: "There must be gay players, but I don't know where". With over 800 active players in German professional football, there is not a single person who lives openly outed.

Henning Bürger , professional from FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt , commented on the situation in Germany : “If a player were to come out, the hype would be great. An avowed homosexual would have to endure a lot of pressure, especially when it comes to away games. At some point it happens, but the fear is still too great. ” Yves Eigenrauch , ex-professional at FC Schalke 04 , also takes a position that underlines this:“ There must be homosexual players in professional football. As conservative as the sport is, the person in question will certainly experience a great deal of rejection. "

“I've never seen a homosexual player in the league. And so far nobody has come out to me. But there are definitely some, even if I can't imagine it. If someone wants to come out, he should do so. That's up to you. "

- Rudi Assauer , manager of Schalke 04 : quoted. according to Bödeker 2004

St. Pauli President Corny Littmann has repeatedly come out with the statement that he has already had intimate contacts with several players. Nevertheless, in contrast to Assauer, he comes to the conclusion:

“I wouldn't advise a professional to come out. The social pressure would be unbearable. In a heterosexual team structure, you are directly the outsider, vulnerable to teammates, opponents and the media. "

- Corny Littmann, President of FC St. Pauli : quoted. according to Bödeker 2004

Mehmet Scholl replied on the Harald Schmidt Show to the question of whether there were gay players at FC Bayern with: "Kiss me and I'll tell you."

Günter Netzer confirmed in 2004 in the television program “ Menschen bei Maischberger ” that an outing for prominent players would be fatal. When you first come out in the professional league, it is foreseeable that it will cause a lot of media hype. From various requests to speak it appears that it seems most practicable that the first outing should be done by several players at the same time, which would split the burden. An important prerequisite for surviving the whole thing unscathed is support from your teammates, coaches, officials from your own club to the national association and UEFA, as well as support from a relevant number of fans. Not only does it have to be irrelevant to the individual personally, but in the event of discriminatory reactions, active counter-reactions should take place. Various largely independent initiatives are involved in the field of education. Openly gay amateur clubs should show that gays can play football and raise awareness of what homophobia is and where it prevails. The aim is to reduce homophobia and win supporters against homophobia in all associations and hierarchies. In some cases, cooperation with initiatives against racism is sought. In addition to the general social dismantling of homophobia, this also creates an environment in which the trust of the individual players in the football community is ultimately great enough to dare to go out or to switch to the professional league openly gay.

Football associations and social discussion

Until the 1990s, homosexuality among football players was considered nonexistent or undesirable, even among association officials. As a result of social change, most football associations officially positioned themselves as gay-friendly and encourage the players to come out.

In 1981, FIFA announced that in some countries kisses of players during matches were "unmanly, overly emotional and therefore inappropriate".

In 2004, the American Sherry Horman produced the comedy Men Like Us , in which she placed homophobic beliefs in this sport at the center of the plot.

The English Football Association (FA) held a summit on homophobia in football in November 2005. In the spring of 2006, the announcement by the tabloids News of the World and The Sun that they would be outing several gay professionals caused a great deal of public debate. In 2005, the Football Association announced that it would remove fans from the stadium who insult opposing fans, players or referees as "poofs" ( fagots ). Finally, in early August 2006, two English fans were convicted of anti-gay abuse.

As a result of own-goal death (S01E03, November 26, 2007) in the series Elvis and the Commissioner , a soccer star is abandoned by his fiancée and dies after being mistaken for a jealousy with his secret friend.

Discussion 2011

In the plot of the crime scene broadcast on March 20, 2011 : Murder in the first division , the homosexuality of a Bundesliga professional is revealed in the course of the investigation into the murder of a teammate, who at the end openly comes out, which is welcomed by the fans. The broadcast of the episode was criticized by DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff : “I think it's a shame and annoying that the celebrities of the national team are abused to develop any topic or to make a joke. This sentence in the 'crime scene' had no substantive relevance. I always see that as an attack on my family - the family of the national team. And that annoys me. ”A number of national players then denied being homosexual. The national coach Joachim Loew said it was not true that he was homosexual, which his wife could confirm. The player Philipp Lahm used almost an entire chapter of his book Der feingewinn , published in August 2011 . How to become a top footballer to demonstrate not being gay. The player's friend Arne Friedrich announced in an open letter to the Bild newspaper: "No, Arne is not gay, and I am sure that he would be the last one who would not stand by it!"

Discussion 2012

With regard to football in Germany, the cultural scientist Gabriele Dietze says that “a modernization of masculinity is conceivable and even necessary in some areas of society. On the other hand, masculinity itself must not be challenged. But that is precisely what the suspicion of same-sex affinity does. Homosexuality is understood as feminization. Ethnic difference, on the other hand, challenges notions of citizenship as a community of descent, but not masculinity. ”In addition to the systemic reasons for homophobia,“ a performative self-contradiction should also be taken into account, which is in the game or rather in the rituals that accompany the game. "

On September 11, 2012, the youth magazine of the Federal Agency for Civic Education Fluter published an anonymous interview with a homosexual player in the Bundesliga, who reported, among other things, of "constant pressure between the heterosexual model player and the possible discovery". The authenticity of the interview was questioned by the football magazine 11 Freunde . After the interview, the President of the German Football Association (DFB) Wolfgang Niersbach offered all amateur and professional players who want to come out as homosexual "any help" from the association. At a press conference at which an integration match of the Bundesliga, initiated by the Stiftung Deutschlandstiftung Integration at the start of their campaign “Go on your way” to promote a cosmopolitan and tolerant Germany , was presented, Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the anonymous player: “He lives in a country in which he does not have to fear an outing. We can only give the signal that he does not have to be afraid ”. The president of the Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich Ulrich Hoeneß said that players who came out did not need to worry about their physical integrity. Hoeneß announced that the fans of FC Bayern would have "no major problems" and that the club would "act accordingly and protect those exactly as necessary". In contrast, the President of the German Football League, Reinhard Rauball , spoke of an “unsolved problem” for which a “social consensus” had to be found, and pointed out the incalculable disadvantages for outgoing football players.

The former national player and world footballer Lothar Matthäus said in an interview on October 26, 2012 that he did not know whether there were any homosexual professional footballers. Matthäus considers an outing to be "wrong because the fans are very venomous".

A group of fans of the Russian soccer champions Zenit Saint Petersburg published a manifesto on December 17, 2012, demanding that black, homosexual or non-European players not be accepted.

Discussion 2013

In 2013, the American Robbie Rogers announced his homosexuality.

On July 17, 2013, the German Football Association (DFB) and the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation agreed the “ Berlin Declaration ” with the motto “Together against homophobia. For diversity, respect and acceptance in sport ”. At the same time, a brochure was created to send 26,000 copies to associations and clubs. In it u. a. homosexual amateur and professional players are encouraged to come out in a well-prepared manner and support is offered. The homosexual activist and former president of the FC St. Pauli club, Corny Littmann, criticizes the brochure for the professional sector as a mistake, as there could be problems in international teams and he considers at least half of all coaches in the national leagues to be homophobic.

Discussion 2014

In January 2014, Thomas Hitzlsperger spoke in an interview with the newspaper Die Zeit as one of the first players in German professional football about his homosexuality . The coming-out attracted international attention, for example in France Football .

During the 2014 World Cup , Mexican and Brazilian fans shouted "Puto" (derogatory for "male prostitute") at the goalkeepers of opposing teams. FIFA launched an investigation into Mexico following public complaints from Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). Mexican coach Miguel Herrera defended the shouts of the fans, saying there were "more important things to solve than those things that have been said a lot to goalkeepers in Mexico for a while". On June 23, 2014, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided not to take action against Mexico and Brazil on the grounds that the "incident in question was not considered offensive in this particular context". In November 2014, the film Two Faces about homophobia in youth football, financed by the DFB's cultural foundation, premiered in Cologne's German Sport & Olympia Museum .

Discussion 2016

In May 2016 Christian Schäfer and Glenn Büsing, directors and writers of the film Two Faces , and CTC initiator Andreas Stiene were guests in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia to openly discuss homosexuality in football with the members of the sports committee. The discussion revealed that the topic of homophobia still exists, but is little present in the football associations in particular, let alone topical: the topic of homosexuality and football is currently mainly being dealt with in Berlin, through a collaboration between the Berlin Football Association , the LSVD Berlin -Brandenburg and the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. On the other hand, neither in the football stronghold of North Rhine-Westphalia nor at the DFB can find well-developed projects or offers for the year 2016 to deal with the matter realistically. Dealing with homosexuality or outed homosexuals is still not an integral part of education and training for coaches or supervisors, despite advice to the contrary from the association representatives. A big problem is especially the care of young, homosexual players with questions and problems, both in the professional, but especially in the amateur area. The DFB has only carried out a few good lighthouse campaigns in recent years. The brochure Football and Homosexuality and the film Two Faces remain the only flagship products with which the German Football Association is publicly advertising.

Movies

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ compare this:
    Lattenknaller or is football gay? Homosexuality is one of the last taboos in football - but the walls are crumbling at chilli.cc ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
    Homophobic Austrians make headlines across Europe at hosiwien.at
    Just a game for real men? In: neon.de . Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Vorarlberger Nachrichten , July 31, 2007
  3. ^ Daniel Theweleit: trainer views - Daum statements annoy homosexuals . In: Spiegel Online . May 22, 2008, accessed October 24, 2019.
  4. ↑ Nigeria's trainer causes the first World Cup scandal , Fussball.de , June 28, 2011
  5. ↑ Idrissou is talking about head and neck - DFB determined , kicker.de , April 30, 2013
  6. ↑ Mo Idrissou: “I'm really sorry!” ( Memento from June 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), fck.de , May 2, 2013
  7. ↑ Gregoritsch prefers machos to gays
  8. ↑ Homophobia “Swabian Fags” and naked Schalke fans ( Memento from November 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), panel of the exhibition Tatort Stadium , 2001
  9. ↑ Gay footballers? , Brandenburg State Center for Political Education, June 26, 2008
  10. ↑ J. Mendrala: Einsame Spitze , TAZ of October 16, 2008: "Now he [Fashanu] is the first professional footballer who has ever openly acknowledged his homosexuality." (Accessed October 7, 2009)
  11. ↑ J. Tobin: Soccer. In: Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures , 2000
  12. ↑ Peter Ahrens: Football and homosexuality - The DFB thaws. In: Spiegel Online . October 13, 2007, accessed October 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Int. Football - bang: footballer comes out
  14. ↑ Queer: The first gay footballer breaks the silence
  15. ↑ Megan Ryan: Minnesota United player Collin Martin comes out publicly that he's gay , Star Tribune . June 29, 2018. 
  16. ↑ cf. Dembowski, Gerd: About Swabian fags and naked rascals. Hostility to gays in the football milieu . In the S.; Jürgen Scheidle (ed.): Tatort Stadium. Racism, Anti-Semitism and Sexism in Football. Cologne 2002, pp. 140-146.
  17. ↑ Patrick Hamm et al .: Moving Men. The gay book about sports. 1st edition. Jackwerth-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-932117-23-9 .
  18. ↑ Oliver Lück, Rainer Schäfer: Homosexuality in Football - Waiting for Coming Out. In: Spiegel Online . October 29, 2004, accessed October 24, 2019.
  19. ↑ Jan Feddersen : Outing would be suicide. the daily newspaper , August 11, 2006.
  20. ↑ Oliver Lück, Rainer Schäfer: An outing would be my death. RUND , December 17, 2006, p. 18 (PDF; 17.8 MB).
  21. ^ A b Simon Kuper: Gay players set to break team taboo. Financial Times , December 16, 2005 (English).
  22. ↑ a b Tabloids focus on gay footballer claims online at gay.com ( Memento from February 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ a b Anja Kühne: Masculinity is at stake , Zeit , July 6, 2012
  24. ↑ Why are there no openly gay footballers? , BBC News , Nov. 11, 2005
  25. ↑ a b Uwe Bödeker, Schwule Pros: Why nobody comes out. The movie "Men like us" caused a sensation in the football industry, in: Express , October 7, 2004
  26. ↑ Ricarda Schrader (dpa): Homosexuality meets soccer: "Men like us" ( Memento from February 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), Wiesbadener Kurier , October 8, 2004
  27. ↑ Dennis Klein: England prohibits homophobia in the stadium. queer.de , October 31, 2005.
  28. ↑ Homophobia: Football fans punished. queer.de , August 9, 2006.
  29. ↑ A photo model breaks the engagement with the soccer star Kurt Schowanitzki because of his secret homosexuality two weeks before the wedding. The investigating commissioner suspects this through an open picture book and is asked by the fiancé to treat it discreetly. Due to a mix-up, the footballer's jealous friend starts an argument in which the footballer dies.
  30. ↑ Ronny Blaschke: Bierhoff and the headlines from yesterday about gay footballers , Zeit Online , April 10, 2011
  31. ↑ Dagmar von Taube: Joachim Löw and the last question about the toupee , Interview, Welt , April 26, 2012
  32. ↑ Robert Matiebel: Here in black and white: Arne is not gay , BILD from October 26, 2011, accessed on June 17, 2016
  33. ↑ Gabriele Dietze: Intersectionality in the national penalty area: Race, gender and sexuality and the German national team, in: Feministische Studien , Issue 1, May 2012 ( Memento from October 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Download, 53 pages pdf)
  34. ↑ Adrian Bechthold: A man who doesn't really exist , interview with a homosexual player in the Bundesliga, Fluter , September 11, 2012
  35. ↑ Markus Völker: Skeptically eyed , Taz , September 2012
  36. ↑ Angela Merkel advises gay professionals to come out , Welt , September 13, 2012
  37. ↑ Lothar Matthäus in hr1-TALK: "Armin Veh does it really well". In: hr-online.de. October 29, 2012, archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on December 6, 2018 .
  38. ↑ Chris Kvesa: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Zenit supporters' group warns against buying black or gay players , December 17, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.goal.com
  39. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt : Homophobia: Coming out in Russian football? , Football against Nazis , January 4th, 2013
  40. ↑ Berlin Declaration , Berlin, July 17, 2013, Football for Diversity , Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation
  41. ↑ Football - DFB intensifies the fight against homophobia. In: zeit.de. July 17, 2013, archived from the original on July 18, 2013 ; accessed on April 19, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Football and homophobia. An information brochure from the DFB (28 pages pdf; 4.2 MB), German Football Association, 2013
  43. ↑ Lutz Wöckener: Littmann is DFB Guide "lukewarm and unreal" , interview with Cornelius Littmann, World , July 28, 2013
  44. ↑ zeit.de: Thomas Hitzlsperger is committed to his homosexuality , accessed on January 8, 2014
  45. ↑ see the article "Hitzlsperger fait son coming out" from January 8, 2014 at francefootball.fr
  46. ↑ Thomas Fatheuer: Kulturgut Homophobie , Taz , June 25, 2014
  47. ↑ "There are more important things to resolve than things that have been said to goalkeepers in Mexico for some time", quoted from AFP : "Homophobic chants not serious", says Mexico coach ( Memento from January 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Times of India , June 20, 2014
  48. ↑ "The disciplinary committee has decided that the incident in question is not considered insulting in this specific context", quoted from Ben Rumsby: World Cup 2014: Fifa say Brazil and Mexico fans' fagot chant is not considered homophobic , Telegraph , June 23 2014
  49. ↑ New funding project of the Kulturstiftung: “Zwei Faces” , dfb.de, November 21, 2014
  50. ↑ Agenda 16/1763 , landtag.nrw.de, from May 30, 2016
  51. ↑ Report from Düsseldorf No. 06/2016 ( Memento from June 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), ingrid-hack.de, accessed on June 20, 2016