Yesterday saw more than 100 football supporters from around the UK meet in Manchester at the National Football Museum for a Football v Homophobia Fans’ Conference. Participants from Norwich to Cardiff, Newcastle to Exeter, signed up for a day of networking and workshops on tackling LGBT discrimination in football.
The event was kicked off by a Q&A with former German International and Premier League footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger. Hitzlsperger, who played for Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton during his career, came out as gay following his retirement from the professional game in January 2014. He took part in the conference as part of his work with FARE, the anti-discrimination network for football in Europe.
Hitzlsperger took questions from journalist and writer Juliet Jacques before providing an opportunity for participants to ask questions from the floor.
“[Speaking about the topic] is so important; when professional football players come out they are making a statement, they are changing society, in small but very important way.” said Hitzlsperger.
“For a player the more signs they get that the environment is accepting gay players the more likely it is that someone will come out one day.” added the former player, stressing the contributions of fans in creating that environment.
The Q&A was followed by workshops covering a variety of issues of concern for fans. These included tackling transphobia, international campaigning and reporting discrimination amongst others. Football v Homophobia Campaign Director, Lou Englefield, reflects on the day:
“Feedback from yesterday’s event has been overwhelmingly positive. Thomas Hitzlsperger’s attendance and insight during the opening plenary really set the tone for a great day of discussions and planning amongst both football fans and campaigners”
Meanwhile, Chris Paouros, Co-chair of Tottenham Hotspur LGBT Fan Group, Proud Lilywhites sums up her experience of the day
“An inspirational venue for an inspirational day. The fan group movement in the UK is at an exciting moment and the conference certainly highlighted this. Existing fan groups are standing side by side with new groups to support them in moving forward. It’s an exciting time to be an LGBT fan and conferences like this serve to cement that and ensure that we can all move forward together to eradicate discrimination in football based on sexuality and gender identity”
A report on the conference will be available next month.