Calls for tough action on homophobic banner from Wanderers fans
IT DEPICTED a man performing a sex act, but this banner from Wanderers fans wasn’t their first homophobic incident.
THE banner brandished by Western Sydney Wanderers fans has been roundly criticised, but should supporters be given lengthy bans for homophobic incidents?
Football Federation Australia and the Wanderers have publicly condemned the banner unfurled during the A-League Sydney derby at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
The banner, depicting a blue-faced man — meant to be Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold — giving oral sex, was put up in the Wanderers’ support area during the second half of the game, won 1-0 by the Wanderers.
It remained aloft in front of the 44,843-strong family-friendly crowd for a number of minutes while security appeared to watch on before it was eventually taken down.
Former Socceroo and Fox Sports commentator Robbie Slater said Arnold was “furious” over the banner.
“This is something that has no place in society, let alone at a football match. It’s homophobic, lewd, sexually explicit and deeply offensive,” Slater wrote.
The Wanderers’ active supporter group, the Red and Black Bloc, publicly saluted the banner on Sunday, posting it to its Twitter account alongside a quote from Sydney coach Graham Arnold.
But the banner isn’t the first example of a homophobic incident from the RBB.
In a lengthy Facebook post before the first Sydney derby of the season last October, the RBB wrote after “kissing your boyfriend goodbye remember you are stepping in Western Sydney”.
A banner at a previous derby at Parramatta Stadium from the RBB read: “East Sydney, back to the tool shed” in reference to a well-known adult store on Darlinghurst’s Oxford Street.
Last week the UK Parliamentary committee called for lengthy bans for fans found guilty of homophobic slurs at football games.
Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport committee singled out football as not doing enough to get rid of homophobic slurs at games.
“[Football] should take a tougher approach, issuing immediate one- to two-year bans in the first instance to indicate clearly that homophobic behaviour will not be tolerated,” it stated.
The Wanderers came out on Sunday to condemn the banner, with chief executive John Tsatsimas saying: “Due to the inappropriate nature of the item it was swiftly removed by our supporter management team and disposed of.”
But Slater labelled the Wanderers’ response as “weak”.
“The problem seems to be the sense that in enjoying all the wonderful parts about the Wanderers we have to accept the fringe nutters as well. Clearly there are some very disturbed people involved in this, and I won’t accept them as being part of my sport,” Slater wrote.
Wanderers striker Brendon Santalab, who scored the winner on Saturday night, told Sky Sports Radio that fans who wanted to cause trouble had no place at A-League games.
“For the fans who are interested in causing trouble, it’s not what we want in the A-League and definitely at the Wanderers,” he said.
“We’d like to stamp that out and just have a nice family evening and a great spectacle for the game.”
The Wanderers are sweating on a suspended points deduction, in place until the end of this season as punishment for fan trouble associated with lighting flares.
— With AAP
Originally published as Calls for tough action on homophobic banner from Wanderers fans
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