Football Confidential: Western Sydney Wanderers’ Red and Black Bloc condemned for homophobic Facebook post

A homophobic Facebook post from the Wanderers’ fan group has been widely condemned by the club and its own supporters. PLUS Adam Taggart has game-timer issues. It’s in Football Confidential.

Socceroos striker Adam Taggart is playing for South Korean outfit Suwon Bluewings. The start of South Korea’s K-League has been postponed because of the coronavirus.

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It was entirely appropriate that the RBB used a picture filled mainly with teenage fans for their latest post on social media, because it sums up the juvenile attitude of the handful of their members who control the group’s Facebook account.

The best bit about the casually homophobic slur against Sydney FC that appeared on the RBB’s account on Wednesday night was its condemnation – from across the ranks of the RBB.

The post’s suggestion that many Sydney FC fans would have a busy week as they would be off celebrating at Mardi Gras was roundly slammed by RBB members and Wanderers fans even before the club itself put out an angry response and ordered the RBB to take it down.

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The RBB post taking aim at Sydney FC fans.

The response on Facebook from the Red and Black Bloc.

“Discrimination in any form is unacceptable,” Western Sydney said.

“We are and always will be a fully inclusive football club. The club immediately sought the removal of those posts on all channels.”

The RBB weren’t finished, though, despite agreeing to remove the post as it “may have unintentionally been offensive”.

Showing a cutting line in sarcastic humour, the RBB account declined to apologise “as each and every person is entitled to celebrate and practice their sexuality as they deem appropriate.

“Now, let's focus on getting back to the family friendly atmosphere which has brought our club, and the league, unprecedented levels of success over the last few years.”

If only the main figure behind the account could use that humour more productively.

BIG NAME ON BOARD

Buried in the notice of the agenda for the AGM of Football NSW sent out this week (stay with us on this, it gets more interesting) was one particular name nominating for the board.

Former Premier Morris Iemma, who was a senior figure in the unsuccessful Southern Expansion bid for an A-League licence, wants to get elected on to the Football NSW board.

Morris Iemma and Craig Foster when they were part of the Southern Expansion bid team.

Already the drums are beating that someone of Iemma’s stature would be an obvious figurehead, given that Football NSW’s highly regarded chairman Anter Isaac has to stand down next year under the terms of its constitution.

ALL OUT, ALL CHANGE

Former Adelaide owner Greg Griffin, who still works for the A-League clubs’ lobby group, was on social media this week being remarkably nice about new FFA CEO James Johnson, and applauding Johnson’s responses to the author of this column in an interview.

This is the same Greg Griffin who used to send torrents of vitriol to FFA chairman Steven Lowy and then CEO David Gallop, calling the FFA “a second-rate organisation ... it is terrible,” and accusing Steven of “losing the locker room”.

Maybe there really is a new spirit of friendship in Australian football.

GAME TIME ISSUES

Adam Taggart has hardly played in recent months.

Pity Socceroos forward Adam Taggart who seemed to have secured the lead striking spot under Graham Arnold.

Thanks to coronavirus postponements, Taggart will go into next month’s World Cup qualifiers with Kuwait and Nepal having played precisely one match in four months.

SHARP-DRESSED MARINERS

The Mariners have an annual tradition of wearing a one-off pink kit to raise money for breast cancer research, but this year it has a rather sharper edge.

Midfielder Danny De Silva in the Mariners’ pink kit.

The wife of foundation midfielder Andre Gumprecht, Carina, is currently having treatment for a Stage 4 melanoma, and the players will wear this year’s kit on March 8 at home to Wellington.

Originally published as Football Confidential: Western Sydney Wanderers’ Red and Black Bloc condemned for homophobic Facebook post