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M00R5
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Homophobic chanting
I've thought long and hard on the way back from Notts County about whether or not to bother posting this. I could do without the hassle, the anxiety about how people might respond; all of it. I decided, in the end, that I would rather just make my feelings clear, as I couldn't do so during the game.
I don't talk about sexuality much. Why should I? I don't have a label or a box that I'm comfortable putting myself in just to appease other people. It's complicated. To steal a joke from my pal Steve, "I'm a trisexual: I'll try anything sexual!" !@#$ stupid binaries. I'm a human being.
I think we can all agree that sometimes opposition fans are pricks and invite ridicule. We've all seen that a million times before. With the pink-shirted bloke tonight, the whole 'does your boyfriend know you're here' was sort of... ha-ha, childish but whatever. It made me a bit uncomfortable, but not so much other people who would also have had a reason to care, so fine.
A line was crossed - repeatedly - when that moved on to throwing around offensive slurs about gay men. Let's not be in any doubt: using that sort of language is exactly the same as throwing around racist terminology. Which I'm sure very few of the people chanting similar slurs used about gay men would think of doing to an opposition fan or player based on their (presumed) ethnicity. Those words are dehumanising. They exist to be used in exactly the manner they were used tonight: to assert that someone is wrong and lesser in some way, because of their sexuality - especially when thrown so casually around in the same breath as the word 'nonce'.
I wish I'd said something at the ground. But part of me thinks why should I? Another part thinks it wouldn't have made any difference. But another part of me feels guilty about not challenging it; about waiting to be at home behind a keyboard where not everyone will know who M00R5 is; about letting a load of rowdy teenagers eagerly follow the lead of people who really, really should know better. And also, in the moment, I just felt hollow; frozen to the spot. I was surrounded by people using aspects of sexuality, some of which apply to me, but which I never really speak to any of these people about (the ones I know, at least), as a means of abusing some bloke who happened to be wearing a pink shirt and acting like a bit of a cock. What was I supposed to do?
It shouldn't matter whether people realised they were hurting some of their own or not. It shouldn't matter if it's in the context of football. If you shout 'fa....' at someone in a public place, it's a hate crime. If going to an away game makes you incapable of containing that sort of bigotry, maybe think about powdering your nose slightly less or having four or five fewer beers.
I've been fascinated by willies since I was six or seven years old. That ain't gonna change. What might change is how regularly I follow the Moors away if I keep being made to feel this way on a regular basis.
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4/Sep/2019, 12:09 am
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dezmondo
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Re: Homophobic chanting
Seconded. The chants you mention were very disheartening to hear.
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4/Sep/2019, 12:37 am
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Tr0tsky
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Re: Homophobic chanting
I agree wholeheartedly with this.
While I found the "Does your boyfriend know your here" funny, i draw a line at a chant including the term "!@#$ faggot".
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Previous: Founder and leader of the Kingston upon Hull Solihull Moors Supporters Club
Current: Founder and leader of the Leeds Solihull Moors Supporters Club
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4/Sep/2019, 12:50 am
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SolihullMatt
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Re: Homophobic chanting
Yes, as my first away game I did question whether this was normal behavior from our fans.
I can probably handle the "does your boyfriend know your here", but it soon started moving on to "faggot" etc which I really do not like at all, and is completely unacceptable.
It was mainly coming from the young lads stood at the back, who looked like they were doing a dress rehearsal for Green Street than coming to enjoy watching their local club on a Tuesday night under the lights.
Sad to see.
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4/Sep/2019, 9:54 am
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RoJ
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Re: Homophobic chanting
Once again I am glad I was not feeling well enough to go, coach, train or car whichever. These sort of incidents are not acceptable and diminish my wish to support Moors. In this I am presuming that the singing and chanting was coming from our away supporters. Bigotry of any kind is not welcome, or shouldn't be. If it is just the youngster who are probably uncertain about their own sexuality as yet, then we wait for them to grow up, find Jack or Jill (or both) and learn how to behave with respect to others.
Sorry you were offended M00R5, and well done for highlighting this incident.
Last edited by RoJ, 4/Sep/2019, 10:21 am
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4/Sep/2019, 10:19 am
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Psycho Mouse
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Re: Homophobic chanting
I'm trying to get the rational behind the need to chant such things as a line was clearly crossed last night.
Just because you're with a group of your mates separated by a group of opposition supporters by some netting and about 100 yards of empty stand it does not make it acceptable to say some of the things which were said last night. If the people who were on the receiving end of those songs were normal people in the street youd be carted off in the back of a police car.
I know those who were in the group yesterday probably dont mean what they said, they're all a sound bunch individually, but there's certainly something to be said of what people think is acceptable when hidden in a group of their pals.
A moment to think about whether you actually mean what you're saying and whether you might be upsetting some of your friends or fellow Moors fans would be appreciated next time.
Hopefully this gets through to everyone and we don't hear it again. I look forward to seeing everybody in Scotland at the weekend 👍
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4/Sep/2019, 11:20 am
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M00R5
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Re: Homophobic chanting
I've just said this on a WhatsApp group so thought I may as well share the same idea here, since it's pertinent.
My dad made the point when I said that people (in general - there have been a few high-profile incidents creeping back into UK football) wouldn't throw the N-word or other racist terms around in the same way, that people use homophobia exactly because they can't use racism anymore. It's the same pack mentality; people reach for the 'worst' insult they can get away with, try to one-up each other, and it goes from there.
A bit like the reports of Inter ultras trying to convince Lukaku that racism in Italian football isn't really racism because it's not meant personally.
I don't think for a second any of the people I saw/heard using some of those slurs yesterday actively hate people who are different. But it's just as bad to be unthinkingly, passively upholding the ingrained idea that people who aren't straight white men are somehow lesser.
Over the last 18 months, I've had a lot of !@#$ to deal with because of my sexuality. A woman actively tried to unravel my entire life because I told her I was feeling more into males after we'd had a stupid, drunken night together. This !@#$ is real. It's not some joke to fling around because you've had a few beers and the game's still 0-0.
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4/Sep/2019, 2:26 pm
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Ojiveojive
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Re: Homophobic chanting
You've hit the nail on the head there: pack mentality is the worst aspect of human behaviour as the pack, to remain a pack, has to justify it's actions by abhorring difference, whether it be real or imaginary, and verbal and/or physical violence is the currency that emboldens the pack against the individual, even against individuals within the pack that question the actions of the pack or act in a manner that isn't in accordance with pack mentality. As John Barnes remarked in regard to racism in football, "it's not football's problem, it's society's problem because these people are racist first, football followers second". Football's tribalism lends itself to the pack mentality and the pack will always pick on those perceived to be different or weak.
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What a looooooooooong strange trip it's been
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5/Sep/2019, 2:33 pm
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RoJ
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Re: Homophobic chanting
Well said Ojivex2
It is interesting that the immature still can't find a way past their racism or homophobia. Prime Minister' Questions this week found Boris floundering around when confronted about his article labelling muslim women as letterboxes or worse terrorist. I am old enough to appreciate that embedded in British society is a bogus felling of superiority over different cultures, beliefs or sexual inclinations. I know it takes work to reset how we respond and I know that there have been times when I have stood the wrong side of a line dividing right thinking from wrong. I have felt in the past proud of the young people who seem to individually stand up for equality, and now hope Moors supporters don't make me ashamed of them and prove me wrong.
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6/Sep/2019, 8:27 am
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Statto
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Re: Homophobic chanting
Can't really argue with what has been said so far, however I did not find the chant of "does your boyfriend know your here" amusing at all. It is a homophobic chant and once that is accepted, the rest just followers.
I too was disappointed by the chants by others. Some made by some who had a few to drink, some by those who followed others and felt safe as they were part of a group.
The longer we stay in this division (as opposed to the National North), the more I am getting used to being segregated, however what I dont like about it, is the fact that some people get braver when they know it is difficult for opposition fans to get at them. How many of those chanting this rubbish on Tuesday night would have sang it outside the ground if they saw the lad in pink with his mates? Not many I suppose.
This for me was not the only unfortunate chanting on Tuesday night as there was a group behind me in the first half singing about the IRA and the Pope. Yeh, well done fellas.
There will always be stupid chants where people show their levels of brain cells. I still chuckle at one of our fans at Chorley who called the referee racist as Blissett was not given a free kick - this the same person who called Matt Kosylo a Polish #### last season at Halifax last season.
For me this nonsense has to stop and it stops now. I do not care which side people bat for, or even if they bat for more than one, but when we are at the games, we are Moors people, and that is it end of story.
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Living The Dream
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6/Sep/2019, 7:47 pm
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