There is something I find uncomfortable about the media coverage this week surrounding the issue of club captains wearing rainbow armbands. It is of course hugely important that players show solidarity with the LGBTQ community and demonstrate that they are accepting of all involved in football regardless of their sexuality or gender identity. Three players have been singled out though for choosing not to wear the armband, for writing their own message on the armband, and for refusing to wear a rainbow themed training top. It is noticeable that all three players are black and African. Ipswich club captain Sam Morsy, an Egyptian international chose not to wear the armband. Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi who was born in Cote d'Ivoire wrote religious messages on his rainbow armband. While Manchester United player Noussair Mazraoui allegedly refused to wear a rainbow themed training top which led the team to scrap wearing the top so as not to single him out.
I think the media coverage and fan backlash against the three players has been unfair to them and doesnt consider the broader contexts. When thinking about homophobia in Africa, we cannot ignore the role of Europeans in introducing it, spreading it and enforcing it on the continent. The strictest laws against homosexuality in Africa derive from laws introduced by the white, Christian, British Empire. It is too easy then for white British people to condemn these African players without acknowledging the role their own country played. But given that homosexuality is illegal in Morocco and Egypt, it could cause problems for Morsy and Mazraoui to publicly show solidarity with LGBTQ people even if privately they were not homophobic. It isn't easy for players to go against their own country's laws, particularly when they are still international players. Neither player has explicitly commented on their reasons for not wearing the armband or training top but that broader context needs to be taken into account.
Its also worth noting that, at a time when one of the biggest issues in the world today is the ongoing genocide of Palestinians, Morsy and Mazraoui are two of the very few footballers who have shown solidarity with Palestinians. Given the political context when the establishment is so anti-Palestinian, their small gestures of solidarity have been far more meaningful than the wearing of rainbow armbands. Many footballers who have spoken out in solidarity with Palestinians have faced severe backlash with players being suspended and even sacked by clubs
The wearing of rainbow armbands is a small tokenistic gesture. It hasn't been shown to reduce homophobia in football where homophobic chants and insults are still common and there are still no openly LGBTQ players in the premiership. Furthermore we have seen where even when players go beyond armbands and are outspoken in support of the LGBTQ community, their solidarity is often paper thin. Jordan Henderson had been very vocal when he was captain of Liverpool, until he decided money was more important and accepted a move to Saudi Arabia. Likewise former England international David Beckham who was paid huge amounts to support the Qatar world cup.
Forcing players to show solidarity against their will isn't the way forward, the same way that players should not be forced to wear a poppy. And it is hypocritical of institutions to try and enforce such solidarity on individual players when they have no problem with homophobic institutions and states. Football authorities had a massive opportunity to protest against homophobia before and during the 2022 world cup hosted by Qatar and yet they did nothing. Even planned tiny tokenistic gestures didn't go ahead as authorities and players lacked the courage of their convictions. And football has shown to be perfectly happy to take the money from homophobic states like Saudi Arabia and Russia. When European players and institutions from liberal, gay-friendly countries can't even show solidarity with the LGBTQ community its hard to expect those from countries where being LGBTQ is illegal to do so.
