Victory for equality in sport
12th December 2011
"A great day and a great result," reported CWU
national equality officer Linda Roy as her team of
anti-homophobia campaigners travelled back from an away fixture at
Bradford City Football Club on Saturday evening.
CWU activists united with other equality campaigners to celebrate
the club's endorsement of the
Sports Charter - a government-supported initiative aimed at
"giving homophobia the red card" and which coincides with
the CWU's own campaign focused on tackling homophobia in sport.
Long considered a bastion of anti-gay prejudice, football's
record in tackling homophobic discrimination is lamentably poor and
campaigners are determined to change this.
But, after a slow start, the number of football clubs giving their
backing to the Charter is now rising steadily - and hopes are high
that Saturday's visitors Plymouth Argyle will soon pledge their
support.
Bantams midfielder David Syers and striker Mark Stewart
signed the Charter on behalf of the club, which Linda described as
"a great result in the fight against homophobia.
L-R: Dave Daniels, Linda Roy, Mark
Stewart, David Syers
"All in all it was a great day," she continued, "and
the feedback from the fans we spoke to outside the ground when we
handed out leaflets about the Sports Charter initiative was very
positive too.
"Many thanks to the CWU team of campaigners -
especially our youngest signing Mehmet Huseyin (left), who everyone
agreed played a blinder."
And it was a day of equality on the pitch too, Bradford's James
Hanson saving a point for the hosts with a late strike to cancel
out Craig Sutherland's opener for Argyle.
