When is a football chant unacceptable?

We all go to a football game for many different reasons; of course the main reason is to support our team. Now I like to sing at a game; to me it’s part of a match day experience.

Now we all know about the recent court case involving a couple of players and it involved racism. Racism is not acceptable in any shape or form in society or at a football ground.

But what about homophobia and homophobic chants?

On average one in five people are gay in this country; now think about that when the twenty five man squad is announced. There will probably be two or three gay players in your squad.

As fans we seem to accept that it’s a bit of banter; but is it really?

Racism and homophobic chants and songs are not acceptable it’s as simple as that.

The big question is what are the football chiefs and police going to do about it?

I’m lucky enough to sit in a section where there isn’t racist chanting; but I know it goes on in grounds. As for homophobic chanting; that seems to be acceptable and I hear most fans chanting it including my own.

The idea of singing and chanting is simple; to show both support for your team and try and get a psychological advantage over the other team. But do we really need to sing about the colour of skin or if a player or players prefer men to women?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to sing and chant about football? After all that’s the game we both love and adore.

I think a lot of it has to do with peer pressure, ‘Well he’s singing so why not?’ I think both are as bad as each other and both should be treated the same; it’s ruining what I’m sure we’ll all agree is a great game.

It’s a problem that won’t go away quickly; but if you’re reading this then maybe you could pass the message on, ‘Stop homophobic and racist chanting!’ and our game will be so much better!

It doesn’t matter if it’s a Welsh player for Manchester United; a black player for Liverpool or a gay player for Chelsea, they are footballers and that’s what the chants and songs should be about.

image: © ajenks