A nice pavement in the pond: a few hours from France-Andorra, in qualifying for Euro 2020 football, the President of the French Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët reiterated his comments on homophobia by asking the referees of stop stopping matches Last week, he had already detonated by estimating in the columns of Ouest-France "that we stopped too many matches" for homophobic manifestations in the stadiums.
This time, it is on the antenna of France Info that the president of the "3F", 77 years, hit the nail on Tuesday: "The stoppage of the matches does not interest me.It is a mistake. I would stop a match for racist cries, I would stop a match for a fight, incidents if there is a danger in the stands, "continued Le Graët, ensuring that racism in the stadiums and homophobia in forums, "it's not the same thing" and calling clubs to "act" through their security services.
Calls for resignation
"I hope" that this request will be taken into account from the next day of the championship, this weekend, answered the president of the FFF, interviewed by France Info . The Technical Direction of the Arbitration (DTA), which manages the referees of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, depends on the FFF. Quickly, this new release of the president of the federation has provoked strong reactions, and even anger among the associations that fight against homophobia.
The Rouge Direct collective is calling for the resignation of Noël Le Graët, whose mandate ends in 2020, after the Tokyo Olympics, and who has not yet announced whether he wants to run again or not. Dominique Sopo, president of SOS Racisme invites him "to retire".
As last week, after the first appearance of the president of the FFF, the association PanamBoyz & Girlz United, which denounces homophobia in football and works on the subject with the Professional Football League (LFP), also expressed his consternation. "Stop a match for racist cries, yes!" For homophobic songs, no! When the president of the FFF makes a foul selection between discriminated.A totally outrageous speech.What a shame! ", The association writes on Twitter.