11 Oct 2023 at 23:39
The John Blankenstein Foundation is disappointed in the KNVB because of a decision about the OneLove band. The Dutch Football Association will no longer instruct captains of professional football clubs to wear the band this season.
“The responsibility to wear the bracelet now lies with the clubs themselves,” Houssin Bezzai, program manager for racism and discrimination at the KNVB, said on Wednesday during an online symposium in honor of Coming Out Day.
Thomas Pruijsen of the John Blankenstein Foundation, which aims to promote social acceptance of gays and lesbians in the sports world, responded with disappointment. “I would like to call on the clubs to still wear the band.”
“It now seems as if people have listened to the critics who didn’t think the band was a good idea last season,” Pruijsen continued. “While we think the message behind the band is super important.”
Last year there was a fuss when the captains of Feyenoord and Excelsior, Orkun Kökçü and Redouan El Yaakoubi, did not want to wear the OneLove band on Coming Out Day. Interest group COC Netherlands called this attitude “incomprehensible and disappointing” and “a slap in the face for LGBTI fans and players”.
Bezzai said that the message behind the bracelet remains. In March, the Day against Racism and Discrimination can be a reason for the captains to wear the band.
Image: ANP
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2023-10-11 21:39:30
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