This afternoon football has taken another step towards the gutter after Wycombe keeper Ryan Allsop reported homophobic abuse to the referee following their win at Tranmere.
Adebayo Akinfenwa and Joe Jacobson gave the visitors their victory, sending the Chairboys three points clear of Ipswich at the summit. The result has been overshadowed by the allegations made by Allsop that he was the victim of homophobic abuse from a section of supporters.
Like racism, homophobia is a problem in football and yet some of the response to Sky Sports’ tweet proves that it is further ingrained in some supporters than one might imagine. The modern-era is inclusive and being gay isn’t the stigma many considered it to be thirty years ago. Sadly, even though statistics suggest that there will be professional players who are homosexual, the ignorance and abuse on the thread underline exactly why they won’t come out.
There are accusations levelled at Allsop that he must be gay for reporting the abuse; there are bad jokes and so-called amusing wordplays on the situation. There are examples of being told to ‘man up’ essentially and those who have been abused for defending the player.
We’re football fans here at the Real EFL and we believe swearing at football and passion are all part of the game. We don’t seek to sanitise it or sugar-coat the experience, but some aspects of the game are best consigned to the past, just as they are in society. Racism is one and homophobia is another. Some of the replies to the tweet have proven to us and to everyone else that the narrow-minded and ancient beliefs of ignorant people still prevails in some corners of the terraces.
We’re not going to reprint those opinions though, instead, we’ve got a selection of responses that applaud Allsop for reporting the abuse and that express positive, forward-thinking attitudes towards dealing with it.
https://twitter.com/GKajro/status/1196089462125711365
https://twitter.com/Mattstevens044/status/1196090882086322178
If true, it's completely unacceptable. I'm sure the culprits will be found and banned for ever.
— Cheryl swanick (@Cheryl01375906) November 17, 2019
The way the minority of fans behave is atrocious. They will end up spoiling it for everyone as eventually fifa/uefa/FA will get fed up and ban fans from games
— Callum Richards (@calric1998) November 17, 2019
Footballers do get paid far too much but it doesn't give fans the right to racially abuse or give homophobic abuse. There is a line and the minority of fans always cross it. Some fans are complete pricks for the sake of it
— Callum Richards (@calric1998) November 17, 2019
Don't know why some football fans think it's acceptable to be a right knob
— Callum Richards (@calric1998) November 17, 2019
So true. His sexuality doesn’t matter in this case, either way no footballer or person should be targeted by abuse racial, homophobic it’s wrong
— Ashley (@Ashley941300) November 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/SturdyStuart/status/1196094755714818049
