Football fans chanting homophobic abuse should be banned for 'one to two years', says parliamentary report

Ben Rumsby
Updated

A ban of between one and two years should be issued to any football fan who chants homophobic abuse, a has recommended.

A House of Commons inquiry into homophobia in sport also condemned the BBC for shortlisting Tyson Fury for its Sports Personality of the Year award, accusing it of not taking his “violently homophobic” views seriously enough.

Published this weekend, the report by the Culture, Media & Sport select committee focused mainly on football, which it accused of failing to reflect “the significant change in society’s attitudes to homosexuality in the last 30 years”.

It added: “Football clubs should take a tougher approach to incidents of homophobic abuse, issuing immediate bans. We are not advocating immediate lifetime bans. Instead, issuing bans of one to two years in the first instance would indicate clearly that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.” 

Evidence from the chairman of the Football Association, Greg Clarke, that the sport may not be a safe environment for gay players to come out was branded “particularly troubling”.

Pointing out Justin Fashanu – who committed suicide in 1998 – was still the only professional to have done so before retirement, the report said: “We warmly support and encourage the first player, or group of players, who feel they are comfortable and confident enough to come out as we believe that they will make a valuable and significant contribution to football.” The report was scathing about the inclusion of Fury on the 2015 SPOTY shortlist, the outcry over which prompted the committee’s inquiry.

“The inclusion of Tyson, despite a series of violently homophobic remarks, is symptomatic of homophobia not being taken seriously enough in sport, or the media that shows it,” the report said. “The committee has queried the judgment of BBC executives in including Fury on the shortlist, and was very dissatisfied with BBC director-general Lord Hall’s response to the controversy.” 

Hall had declined to condemn Fury’s inclusion when he appeared before the committee days before the SPOTY ceremony, declaring he “believed in the process” of selection.