“A step backwards after ten years of progress”, regrets an inclusive club

The Professional Football League has decided to replace the rainbow-colored jerseys of the LGBT flag with more discreet black armbands, a decision that inclusive football club PanamBoyz & Girlz United regrets.

While the Professional Football League has decided, in its fight against homophobia, to replace the rainbow-colored jerseys of the LGBT flag with more discreet symbols, Alix Chosson, secretary of the PanamBoyz & Girlz United football club , an inclusive football club which fights against discrimination, denounces Sunday March 31 in the Club Info on franceinfo this new strategy described as “backpedaling”.

Alix Chosson says “regret very much” this new communication on the subject, “because clearly for us it is a step backwards after ten years of progress both in terms of visibility and actions on the groundshe castigates. We went from rainbow laces to rainbow armbands to arrive at rainbow numbers, rainbow jerseys and today we are being asked to replace these numbers with the colors of the rainbow, a strong and universal symbol, by a tiny black badge, which no longer means anything and which for us completely makes our fight invisible.”

A “backpedal”

The Professional Football League has decided this season to combine the campaign against racism, this weekend during the 27th day, with that against homophobia for the last days of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 on May 17 and 18. “For us it’s a backpedal on the subjectregrets Alix Chosson. A subject on which the Professional Football League and the French championship were a pioneer since we were the only professional championship to have this type of day with this strong symbol and these numbers. For Alix Chosson, “these numbers [arc-en-ciel] had brought a lot of visibility and a lot of debate.”

“When you have a Mbappé, a Messi who takes a photo with this jersey, it is a very strong message sent to the supporters, to the players who cannot be who they are when they are on the pitch”

Alisson Chosson

franceinfo

According to her, the Professional Football League “no longer wants to risk offending clubs and players and we are asked to continue our actions in the shadows”. Despite the disappointment, “we are not going to give up, it is the mission of our club to continue in this fight” even if “we dissociate ourselves from this campaign. We hope that the Professional Football League will move forward on these issues with us. We continue our actions on the field, that’s very clear. We are fighting for inclusive football where everyone can play and flourish as they are.”