“We want to make homophobic chants in the stands outdated. » On May 18, the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Philippe Diallo hammers home his point of view, on the sidelines of the first pride tournament organized in Clairefontaine between eight gay-friendly teams. And announces an experiment, that of setting up observers responsible for listening and reporting these possible songs in the stands. For the first time, the system will be deployed during the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France.
Three people will follow in the stands the meeting between Grenoble and Nancy, two Ligue 2 teams, Saturday December 20 (6 p.m.). A match considered potentially sensitive by the FFF services. In 2019, a group of ultras from GF 38, the Red Kaos, deployed a banner reading “Happy Birthday PD” for the attention of the Red Tigers, the ultras from Lens. A message accompanied by another banner where we could read: “homophobia is a scourge which deserves better than shameful controversies”.
The referee may interrupt the match
The people of Isère presented it as a text of support after an investigation targeting support from the Pas-de-Calais club for “Oh VA bunch of fags!” » launched against Valenciennes the previous week.
The trio will be made up of a representative of the federation, a person from the commission of national delegates, as well as a member of an association committed to the fight against homophobia. Note that there will be a rotation in the associative representations, and that it is generally a question of listening to listen for any discriminatory chant, and not just homophobic.
Concretely, the trio will be responsible for reporting possible problematic behavior from the public, and reporting it, if necessary, to the match delegate. He can then in turn transmit the information to the fourth referee, who is responsible for discussing this subject with the official on the field. In the event of homophobic singing, the speaker of the meeting can take the microphone to ask the public to put an end to it. If this does not work, the referee can then interrupt the match, as was the case in September during the Ligue 1 match between Nice and Paris FC.
The FFF will raise awareness among broadcasters
Referees have already been made aware of this issue this summer. For the FFF and Philippe Diallo, it is a question of continuing to gain momentum on the front of the fight against homophobia after years where the subject was not on the radar of the former boss of French football, Noël Le Graët.
The federation has set up an engagement department, headed by the former advisor to the Ministry of Sports Amel Bouzoura, but also Cleved, the committee to combat violence and discrimination, entrusted to the ex-journalist Jean-Bernard Moles and the president of the Ligue Center Val de Loire, Antonio Teixeira.
The FFF is also due to meet broadcasters in the coming weeks. The idea is to discuss with them a way of presenting the fight against homophobia in stadiums, with a message to put forward in the event of interruption of matches.
A new experiment with the trio of observers is likely to be carried out at other matches organized by the French Football Federation. But these will only be deployed on meetings deemed sensitive by the federal services.
Worth a look
