The Football We Love - Sport et Citoyenneté

With the support of
REPORT
Think tank
Sport and Citizenship
May 2013
CONFERENCE
“Tolerance in football: a focus to keep in mind in the fight against
discriminations”
Saturday 18th of May 2013
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Cureghem Cellars, Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium
With the support of

COMPOSITION OF THE PANEL
Speakers
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William GAILLARD, Special Advisor, UEFA
Piara POWAR, Director, FARE network
Jacque LIZE, Paris Foot Gay
Ludwig FORREST, King Baudouin Foundation
Moderation
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Alexandre HUSTING, Co-Director of the Scientific Committee, Sport and Citizenship
President
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Martin DEMIROWSKI, Policy Officer, Open Society Foundations
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Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
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 BACKGROUND
On Saturday, 18th of May 2013, was held in Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium, the third and
last conference aiming at putting forward the positive and responsible aspects of football.
Organised in the framework of “The Football We Love” exhibition, the first one ever
dedicated to responsible and ethical football, this conference sought to come back on how
football deals with discrimination and can be a tool to tackle them.
This conference gathered representatives of the sport movement, European
institutions, as well as academics and the private sector. This event has been partially
funded by the Open Society Foundations.
Sport and football in particular, has become the field of expression of violence, real
and symbolic. Off the field, in the stands or around stadiums, acts of incivility are now
commonplace. Yet, it should be obvious that no form of expression of racism or
discrimination has its place in a stadium.
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The European Commission has tried over the past years to get involved in this
debate. EU funded projects selected under different funding programmes (Justice and
Education) and the Preparatory Action Sport, support the fight against intolerance in sport
and social inclusion of migrants and vulnerable groups in society. One of the major
implications is that every Member State should adapt its legislation including sport laws
and regulations by including measures to be taken against racism.
The preparations of the conference brought the organizers to test the idea that
football can help transmitting values of respect to enable a shift of attitudes and beliefs.
Universal language par excellence, it could be used to convey positive messages.
Good practices in sport are best practices for the entire community. Football
conveys energy and emotions. It can influence the habits and perceptions like no other
sport.
Therefore, several questions were raised and shaped the event:
- How can football be a place of celebration and tolerance?
- How can football cope with acts of racism and intolerance in stadiums?
Questions to which the panel sought to provide some answers.
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
49400 Saumur / France
Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
[email protected]
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 MINUTES
The organisations and experts present at the conference each had the opportunity to present
their work and experiences. The following represents a summary of the main items that were
raised during the debates.
 Presentation of the speakers and general context
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Martin DEMIROWSKI, Policy Officer, Open Society Foundations: the Open Society
Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are
accountable to their citizens. The Open Society European Policy Institute is part of an
international family of Open Society foundations which influence and inform the
European Union policies to ensure that open society values are at the heart of the EU
action, both inside and outside its borders. This means it looks at number of issues
which concerns minorities and vulnerable groups, democratization in developed and
developing countries. As regards sport, the interest for the foundation is to learn how
football can help the inclusion of minorities in Europe. How can it help the inclusion
of Roma? How can we change negative attitudes towards minorities thanks to
football?
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Piara POWAR, Director, FARE network: FARE is a network of organizations, that
were brought together through the European Year Against Racism (1997). It is
composed of supporters groups, NGOS working in the field of football, trade unions
and national football associations.
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William GAILLARD, Special Advisor to UEFA President: the UEFA is the body
responsible for organizing and administrating football at the European level. The
UEFA is aware of its responsibilities towards football and football fans. A number of
initiatives and campaigns like RESPECT have been developed in this regard.
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Ludwig FORREST, Kind Baudouin Foundation: the foundation is active in a lot of
different areas, in particular the fight against racism and poverty. The foundation is
at the disposal of those project leaders who wish to invest time and resources to
tackle those problems. In this regard, football has an important role to play. There is
a clear momentum that we need to seize. This is why the foundation has decided to
support the exhibition “The Football We Love”.
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Jacques LIZE, Paris Foot Gay: Paris Foot Gay (PFG) is an association that fights
against homophobia in football. One of the core missions of PFG concerns visibility. It
is all about showing that homosexuality exists and that it does not prevent people
from playing football. The sexual orientation of players does not prejudge the ability
of a player to tackle or make a pass. The problem lies in the fact that giving visibility
to that also means giving visibility to homophobia. A lot of prejudices are detrimental
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Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
49400 Saumur / France
Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
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to the game. The so-called tradition of football is often used as a smokescreen to
undermine homophobic behaviours.
 Discussions with the panel
 About the power of football as a communication channel, and the situation in terms
of negative attitudes in football
W. Gaillard comes back on how football has been used throughout the years to tackle
deep-rooted social problems. There seems to have been at the beginning some kind of
“otherworldliness” as regards football. This game has always played a role in the
integration of immigrants and minorities, not by a conscious effort, but because it was the
largest common denominator to a wide range of cultures and populations.
Unconsciously, football has been extremely important vector for integration. With the
development of the game in the 1980’s, and its increasing commercialisation, football has
become highly mediatised. It is indeed a mirror of society. The consequence of it is that it
reflects upsides as well as downsides. Some groups have chosen football to express hate
and rejection feelings, while being aware that their message had an echo in a society for
which integration was not working anymore.
The observation is simple: football has produced more exclusion than integration in
the last years. Mechanisms have been set up with FARE to fight against discriminations in
football and as a result in society.
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A. Husting: Recently, a referee suspended a game for a minute during a game between Milan
and Roma, following racists slurs aimed at Mario Balotelli. Does this piece of news
demonstrate that acts of intolerance happen more often than in the past? Have people
become indifferent to those behaviours? Or is the stronger attention given to football that
gives us this impression?
According to W. Gaillard, it is a very difficult question to answer. In general, it is
hard to measure tensions that animate society. He defends the position that racism and
intolerance has always been there in Europe, and football is not excluded. The difference
today is that players, coaches and federations react. Referees have tools at their disposal to
prevent and sanction those behaviours.
W. Gaillard points out that the ambient social climate can also be an explanation
for those negative attitudes in stadiums. A lot of people find themselves in situations of
social misery today, and football can be a channel to express their resentment, and their
anger.
Following the intervention by W. Gaillard, P. Powar affirms that in general terms,
the situation looks better today than it was a few years ago. Facilities have changed;
referees are better trained and know how to react to racist behaviours on the pitch. A lot of
work has been done to underline the social role of football.
As W. Gaillard pointed out, the situation can be described as worse in terms of the
violence of the messages. The crisis environment definitely plays a role in this
phenomenon. In most countries, football is the game of the working class. Those
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
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populations are deeply suffering from the crisis right now. People are feeling pain and are
thus responding to the challenges.
In addition, the discourse about the danger of immigration has been largely used in
European countries by far-right parties and has contributed to add tensions.
“We need to keep underlining the positive messages of tolerance and
the values of football” – P.Powar
Thus, football is for sure an opportunity to fight against all forms of intolerance, in spite
of some of its collateral damages. . However, it needs social agents who keep stressing the
values that we want to give to the game.
 About the challenges faced by the Roma
P. Powar reacts to the first question posed by M. Demirowski in his introduction:
How is football used as a mean to tackle discrimination? The Roma question allows framing
some of the things that all sectors are experiencing.
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“Before including people, we need to stop excluding them from our
communities” – P. Powar
This idea should be the basis for any agenda addressing racism issues and
minorities inclusion. Racial abuses towards the Roma have been perpetrated in the last
years in the stadiums. The current political discourse of hatred and xenophobia adds
tension to this situation.
 About changing mind-sets and attitudes thanks to football
A. Husting introduces the next question by stating that football makes peoples come
together. Beyond this observation, it contributes to help changing attitudes, which is a very
difficult task, considering how hard changing people can be. Do you believe in that power of
the football?
L. Forrest argues that there is no doubt that sport makes people learn values of
endurance, friendship, that tend to gather people. This is why foundations (particularly the
King Baudouin Foundation) try to support projects geared towards children from 0 to 12.
This is the crucial period during which children learn the most and integrate values.
L. Forrest develops the idea that, when helping children, it is important not to
neglect the role of the parents. When we try to break illiteracy, parents get as much
attention as their illiterate children. There is no reason football should function differently.
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
49400 Saumur / France
Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
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M. Demirowksi agrees on the different interventions. Football can play a role in
our society, but the question lies in the role of football: can it be a tool that contributes our
well-being?
We can affirm, given the current crisis situation that Europe does not abide by its
own laws and values. It is urgent to find a way out. Indeed, massive parts of population do
not trust their governments and political parties anymore.
This is where football could intervene, according to M. Demiroswksi: by playing a
strong educative role, and by helping not only to stand against racism, but also to stand for
values.
The observation that radicalism is rising in Europe is shared by all. The rhetoric of
far-right movements in politics is gaining trust among European populations. How far can
football players (at the professional level) and coaches (at grassroots level) help to
demonstrate that those negative discourses are detrimental to society?
About the idea that football can help to solve complicated social problems, W.
Gaillard nuances it by demonstrating that the diversity mechanism of football is broken.
In most European capitals, the mix of population, the diversity of football is endangered.
Young players who practice football today are immigrants who are highly discriminated.
Middle classes are escaping football fields for other sports which benefit from a more
positive image.
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One crucial point to keep in mind is the distinction between grassroots football and
professional football. The fact of applauding a black player does not necessarily mean that
this same black player would be accepted by the society if he was not a star player.
People should not put too many hopes in football. It is not the panacea to all societal
problems.
 About homophobia in football and the developments in the last years
A study was recently conducted by PFG. It is the first survey about homophobia in
professional football. 13 professional clubs from French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 and 2 training
centres were questioned. It showed the following results:
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About 40% of professional football players declared having homophobic opinions.
This represents 3 to 4 times the average French percentage.
Homophobia appears to be the first discrimination, before racism and sexism.
In football schools, the situation is worse: about 50% of players declared having
homophobic opinions.
According to J. Lizé, it is time to act because football is not only a sport, it is also a strong
media.
Another point brought by J. Lizé is the difficulty such associations face when
dealing with public authorities and clubs. A charter was proposed to the French clubs. On
the 40 French professional football clubs, only 8 decided to sign it.
To the question asked by A. Husting “Would you say, that football is the most
homophobic sport?”- J.Lizé answers that homophobia is a new kind of discrimination. In
the 1970’s, it was not considered as a problem since its rightful existence was not
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
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Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
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recognized by the society. It is even newer in football, a sport in which people considered
that there were no gay footballer. This is why it is difficult to apprehend this problem in a
historical approach.
“As regards homophobia, being able to dialogue with the responsible
stakeholders in football is already a huge step forward” – J. Lizé
Homophobia across Europe is subject to a particular development. Media pay more
attention to it. There seems to be a better acceptation of homosexuals in the society, even
though people remain ignorant: 13% of French people consider it as an illness.
On the one hand, it becomes easier to live a life as a homosexual in Europe, but on the
other hand, acts of violence tend to be more radical. Unfortunately, football follows the
general rules and examples set by the society.
What strikes the most is that this scourge is mostly present in football. Other sports
like judo, rugby or athletics do not show this face of violence. Homophobic slurs in football
are commonplace; they seem to be anchored in the football culture.
About the question of homophobia, A. Husting makes a distinction between attempts
to destabilize players or coaches in stadiums, and truly homophobic and racial behaviours.
There is often a thin line between those two attitudes. How can we apprehend that?
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For J. Lizé a homophobic insult directed at a player touches all the homosexuals. It
is true that homophobic insults are often meant to destabilize a goalkeeper or a referee. If
those insults were limited to this, the situation would not be that serious. Today, no
players are openly homosexual. This is why people tend to mitigate homophobic insults.
The important principle to keep in mind is that the fact that there is no reaction to
those attitudes contributes to trivialize homophobic discourses.
“The situation will not improve if federations keep on denying that
homophobia is not an issue in football” – J. Lizé
 Questions from the audience
 About governance and the role of football to help countering xenophobic discourses
and attitudes
When public authorities reinforce discriminations towards a given population and label them
as bad citizens, it raises once again the question of governance. How can football get involved
in those debates and contribute to improve the situation?
According to W. Gaillard, all discriminations do not benefit from the same
evolution in society. When it comes to homosexuality for example, the situation has
improved a lot during the last century. Decades ago, homosexuality was still criminalized
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
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in several European countries. The situation has evolved now for example with the
possibility of gay marriage in several European countries.
As regards the Roma situation, it is extremely different. The discriminations and the
stigmatization are also carried by governments and public authorities. The Roma is in
danger in most European countries. W. Gaillard affirms that football should not be
considered as the magic tool to solve all social problems. People tend to ask too much to
football.
For P. Powar, the observation is similar. The institutional nature of discrimination
towards the Roma slows down the evolutions. He shares the pessimism inasmuch as
governments keep on violating their own laws and values.
 About the primacy of sanction on education
A representative of an association shares his concern as regards the treatment of deviant
behaviours in football. How can we work upstream and use prevention to avoid radical
sanctions?
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The panellists agree that at the professional level, the sanction should be immediate.
Football has too much power today to let racist and homophobic slurs proliferate in the
stadiums. However, prevention should be the first step when it comes to amateur football.
This is where education is the key.
Also, one should bear in mind that some of the solutions that have worked in football to
integrate minorities cannot apply to all discriminated minorities. In that regard, the Roma
population is particular. It is indeed easier to integrate minorities with which people have
a direct contact. Roma are so financially and socially isolated, that it makes the dialogue
difficult to launch.
L. Forrest intervenes on this question to assert that the duplication of field projects
and initiatives are a core objective of foundations. There are two major steps in
philanthropy: the first one is supporting good practices and making sure they are
successful. The second, and the most important one, is to disseminate those projects and
get the governments involved so that those initiatives can be duplicated and translated in
other social contexts.
“Building bridges and creating synergies between good practices is a
paramount objective for foundations” – L. Forrest
Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
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Contact : Maxime Leblanc
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 Conclusion
A. Husting closes the discussions. Panellists have all pointed out that football is a
mirror of society. Therefore, negative attitudes as well as positive values are transmitted
through football.
It is commonly agreed that football can accomplish a great deal of social
improvements for discriminated minorities. However, one should not forget that football is
only a tool, and cannot bear alone the burden of resolving deep-rooted social problems.
While the situation of homosexuals in football and in the society in general has
improved in the past years, radicalization is threatening the beauty of the game.
For some minorities, football has been a tool for integration and for changing
attitudes and mind-sets. For others such as the Roma, it seems difficult for football to act
as a true catalyst for change, considering the institutional nature of discrimination.
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Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
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Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
[email protected]
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
KEY MESSAGES OF THE CONFERENCE
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Football has often been depicted as a tool for better integration and the integration of
minorities.
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On the other hand, racist and homophobic attitudes have increased in the stadiums
and on the pitch in the last years. The integration mechanism of football seems to be
broken today, which leads middle classes to choose other sports
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The current economic and political contexts accentuate the tensions in football, as it
is a mirror of society. People who are feeling pain tend to use football to express it
through violence.
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As regards discriminations themselves, the increased media attention has
contributed to shed light on the downsides of football.
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Racism and discriminations have always been present in football. The difference
today is that players, coaches and fans react to it.
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To tackle those discriminations, mechanisms have been created. As regards
professional football, there can be no free rides: the sanction has to be immediate.
For amateur football, prevention and education should prevail in avoiding
discrimination on and off the pitch
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There seems to be too many expectations relying on football, whereas it is only a
magnifying mirror of problems deeply rooted in the society in general. The limits of
the integration power of football are particularly obvious as far as the Roma are
concerned.
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Think tank Sport et Citoyenneté
17 Place de la Bilange
49400 Saumur / France
Contact : Maxime Leblanc
Tel : 0033 2 41 38 51 26
[email protected]