Paris (AFP)

If France fights against homophobia in the stadiums, the Europe of football suffers from discriminations of all kinds and the answers given by the four big leagues of the continent (Spain, England, Germany and Italy) testify to a level of disparate and selective engagement.

. Spain

In Spain, the third country in the world to have allowed gay marriage (2005), openness to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender), tolerance seems to stop at the gates of stadiums.

In the rostrum, homophobic insults fuse at the opponent regardless of his actual or perceived sexual orientation. Several generations of players have been treated, from former Spanish midfielder Guti to former Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, to Catalan coach Pep Guardiola.

In its latest report on the year 2017, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior has counted 77 "hate crimes" in a sports venue. Acts against LGBT are not counted separately.

Since 2016, the Spanish League (LaLiga) has published a guide to "good practices" recommending "zero tolerance" towards discrimination, with a direct line to denounce assaults and insults.

LaLiga also sends a report every week to the Disciplinary Commission of the Spanish Federation and the Anti-Violence Commission (under the authority of the State Sports Secretariat), which transcribes insults from stadiums and suggests sanctions. Recommendations rarely followed by effect.

Finally, recent initiatives have had relative success: in 2015, players laced their crampons with rainbow cords, symbol of the LGBT cause. Rayo Vallecano, Madrid club today in the second division, has adopted a jersey crossed by a broad band rainbow. And the first division club of Eibar has put on sale a patch of rainbow colors to sew on his jersey.

. England

In England, homophobia is not perceived as a problem in stadiums, unlike racism against which the authorities are ready to crack down heavily (until the stadium ban for life).

Ultras structures, many in France, do not exist across the Channel and songs and banners prepared in advance are infrequent. British football is still very "macho". A study by the Kick It Out association in 2018 showed that discrimination was on the rise, in particular homophobia-like cases (+ 9% between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018) for a total of 111 incidents of a serious nature. homophobic in 2017-2018.

As for the Scottish neighbor, it offers a peculiarity: songs offensive to other religions, including anti-Catholic songs sung by Protestant fans of Glasgow Rangers. They have imposed sanctions on UEFA (3,000 places left empty in the next European match), but not on the part of the Scottish authorities.

. Germany

Homophobia in stadiums in Germany is not a controversial subject. It is the far-right demonstrations, even neo-Nazis, that make us react. The German society being quite ahead of the question of homosexuality, this state of mind is reflected in the stadiums.

The former international Thomas Hitzlsperger, who came out and works as a consultant for public TV, said at the beginning of the year: "The popular turns are definitely not a problem (...). Progress in professional sport in discrimination, prejudice and tolerance Homosexuality is no longer a taboo like it could be five years ago. "

Declaring one's homosexuality for a player is still a taboo: nobody does it.

. Italy

The question of homophobia is not very present, at least in the stands. The few cases are rather off-road, including Maurizio Sarri, suspended for two matches in the Italian Cup after qualifying Roberto Mancini (then coach of Inter) 'fagot'. "It came out like that, I might as well have treated him as Christian Democrat," said Sarri, new coach of Juventus in Turin.

In 2012, former international Antonio Cassano had to apologize after saying "Homosexuals in selection? I hope there is none, but that's their problem."

Italy, on the other hand, is struggling with omnipresent racism, as the incident with the Inter Romeu Lukaku striker in Cagliari has again shown, and the surrealist reaction of its own supporters. They explained that the cries of monkey were not racist.

CPB-jed-STT-as / ole-fbr / dla / sg

© 2019 AFP