Fifa president Sepp Blatter provoked calls for his resignation on Tuesday after joking that gay football fans should “refrain” from sex during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.
Asked about concerns about the treatment of gay fans at the 2022 tournament, Blatter appeared to laugh the question off, saying: “I would say they should refrain from any sexual activities.”
Blatter and South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, sitting alongside him at a press conference to discuss the legacy of the 2010 World Cup, both laughed awkwardly, as did Âseveral journalists present.
But the Fifa president’s response and that of the assembled audience provoked anger from John Amaechi, the former NBA basketball star who revealed, in 2007, that he was gay. He accused Blatter of “epic ignorance”.
Meanwhile, campaign groups said he risked undermining work to combat homophobia in football and called on him to apologise Âimmediately or stand down.
Amaechi, born in the United States but brought up in Stockport, Manchester, has built a career as a psychologist, campaigner and broadcaster since retiring in 2003. He said Blatter’s reaction was indicative of the wider attitude in football.
“It’s not just his reaction but the fact that an entire room of sports reporters thought this something worth laughing about,” Amaechi said. “He is football. This is football’s attitude.
This man, who giggles like a six-year-old when asked a perfectly reasonable question. This is yet another case where the epic, archaic, neanderthal ignorance of someone who wields the power to summon kings, princes, presidents and prime ministers uses that power not to foster positive change but to further entrench bigotry.”
Blatter went on to say there would be “no discrimination against any human beings on this side or that side or left or right or whatever. So you can be assured that if people want to watch a match somewhere in Qatar in 2022 I am sure they will be admitted to such matches.”
Qatar’s stance on homosexuality and women’s rights has been widely questioned since it won the right to host the 2022 tournament by promising to bridge east and west. According to Amnesty International, last year in Qatar at least 18 people, mostly foreigners, were sentenced to floggings of between 40 and 100 lashes for offences related to “illicit sexual relations” or alcohol consumption.
In the United Kingdom Lord Ouseley, chairman of the Kick It Out campaign, who this week hosted a House of Lords reception to highlight its work in tackling racism and homophobia within football, said Blatter’s comments were outrageous.
“The whole thing is potentially calamitous,” he said. “We’ve got some real dinosaurs right at the top end of these world bodies. Blatter talks a lot but doesn’t deliver on these issues.”
Chris Basiurski, chairman of the Gay Football Supporters’ Network, said: “Many LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender] people live in countries where they would face execution or imprisonment if discovered. These people deserve our help, our respect and our support.
They, like the rest of us, do not deserve to be laughed at. Mr Blatter should retract his remarks and apologise immediately. Otherwise, he should reconsider his position and resign.”
That seems unlikely, given Blatter’s track record. It is far from the first time that the 74-year-old Fifa president, who intends to stand for another four-year term in 2011 despite the recent flurry of corruption allegations levelled at his organisation, has caused outrage with his views.
In 2004 he suggested that to raise the profile of their sport female footballers should wear tighter shorts. When asked about the reaction to his latest comments, Fifa simply pointed to his subsequent remarks.
Blatter, who called England “bad losers” after Fifa awarded the 2018 tournament to Russia, added: “I think there is too much concern for a competition that will be done only in 12 years. But it gives me the opportunity to say that in Fifa, and this is in the statutes of Fifa, we don’t want racism, we don’t want any discrimination. What we want to do is open this game to everybody, and to open it to all cultures, and this is what we are doing in 2022.”
No high-profile gay footballers have come out publicly since former Norwich City forward Justin Fashanu, who killed himself in 1988. The Justin Campaign — a pressure group named after Fashanu that was founded to highlight homophobia in football — said Fifa and Blatter should be “utterly ashamed”. — Guardian News & Media 2010