THIS column has tried hard to represent the views of ordinary fans but there are times when “ordinary” fans really let themselves down.
It happens most when young men – and they are mostly young and mostly male – try to outdo each other in proving their tribal loyalty. Be the most aggressive, sing the loudest, and you gain acceptance from your peers – the mentality of members of the mob and the gang down the ages. As individuals, there are many thousands of Rangers and Celtic fans who would not contemplate singing their sectarian ditties outside of a football stadium or a supporters’ bus. Put them in their tribe, however, and sense tends to take a back seat.
It’s not just the big clubs that attract a nasty element. Fans of all clubs and countries at some time or another have concocted disgusting chants, often puerile ditties like the old one that cast aspersions on the sexuality of the late Jimmy Hill – a favourite of the Tartan Army in the 1980s.
Football says it has moved on from those days, and fortunately the bigots and the racists are no longer allowed to chant their miserable songs with impunity everywhere they go – except of course when there are tens of thousands of them gathered together at say, Ibrox or Celtic Park, when they know Police Scotland are powerless to act against the mob.
There is one area of football where attitudes are changing only very slowly, if at all. Though clearly there must be tens of thousands of gay players and fans across the globe, football remains hugely homophobic.
That’s why such a fuss was made last week when Ryan Atkin, a professional referee, came out as gay.
As he said: “Clearly, this is a step into the unknown – in our UK pro game, it’s widely known that there are currently no openly gay footballers, nor have there been any openly gay referees until now.
“I hope that my action, however small, will help give others in a similar situation the confidence to be themselves.”
Brave man, but I have to say it will make little difference to the problem of homophobia in football because it is so widespread and ingrained. It’s sadly become part of the football tribe’s mindset and once again the problem is this – ask individual fans or players if they are homophobic and they’ll deny it to your face. Put them in among a load of their own tribe and they will at least stay silent and acquiesce to expressions of homophobia, if not actively join in. And what do you think the lifespan would be of an individual standing up to a football crowd intent on displaying its macho hatred of gays?
That’s why Atkin made a very telling point: “You can change the game and culture when you change your mind – and those who do need education generally change their ways once they’ve been made aware that their behaviour is unacceptable in society.”
If football is serious about tackling homophobia, fans have to be educated individually and as a mob that their culture is wrong. It will take courage, but it needs to be done.
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