10 signatures reached
To: The English FA
Stricter sanctions on homophobic abuse in football grounds.
Please impose stronger punishments on fans caught committing homophobic actions.
Why is this important?
In 2009, a survey suggested that most fans felt that the F.A were not doing enough to tackle homophobia in football. Six years on and this is still the case. In 2012, the F.A released a video of premier league players discussing the topic, this is simply not enough.In a Wikipedia post, it states that'The Guardian's Secret Footballer columnist said that a gay player would be accepted in a typical dressing room instead said that the worry for any would-be gay player would be the abuse from the terraces.' From this quote you can infer that the football governing body is simply not doing enough to tackle the issue. To exacerbate this an Integrated Household Survey estimated 1.5% people in the UK identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. From these statistics it is clear to see that the amount of open LGBTs in football is far below the national average ; from previous information, it is apparent more needs to be done in the terraces rather than within the club. By treating Homophobia the same as other discrimination types such as racism (by creating harsher punishments on those convicted) we will see a dramatic decline in homophobic abuse and football will move on and will catch up with the modern society where everyone is accepted for who they are.