FA vows to get rid of fans’ offensive chant after sudden rise in being sung

The FA vows to get rid of a group of fans’ offensive chant after seeing sudden rise in it being sung at matches this season.

The new term may have only just begun, but it seems supporters are already causing problems in what is being directed at clubs and players from the stands.

On the opening day of the 2021/22 Premier League season, Norwich City played host to Liverpool in which Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah scored to give the Reds at 3-0 victory.

However from the away support, the slur “rent boy” was sang at Billy Gilmour, in connection with his parent club with him on loan at the Canaries.

The Football Association says it’s determined to drive the chant out of the sport, with Edleen John, the FA’s equality, diversity and inclusion director, said the governing body “abhors” the term and views it as comparable to racist abuse.

“We absolutely do condemn the use of the word ‘rent boy’. It’s really negative, it’s not welcoming, it doesn’t create a sense of belonging, and frankly it’s disgusting,” John told Sky Sports News.

“We have to understand that ‘rent boy’ is on the same level [as racism].

“What we have to do is get to a place where the police and CPS systems view it in that same way so that the actions can be taken that we want to see across football and more broadly.

“That’s why we continue to work with groups, day-to-day constituents and individuals, the police, and the CPS to make sure that that information is there, that the terminology is really understood and that we can really drive it out of football.”

The chant was was called out by Kop Outs!, Liverpool FC’s LGBT+ fan group, which said the homophobic chanting had “marred” an otherwise positive game.

“If you can’t support without resorting to bigoted nonsense, you don’t understand [Liverpool FC anthem] ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’,” the group said on Twitter.

Disappointing to hear @billygilmourrr targeted by @LFC fans with #ChelseaRentBoy chant 😔 #NCFC #NORLIV pic.twitter.com/NL6ppcwvLj

— Proud Canaries (@proudcanaries) August 14, 2021

The incident came just hours after Derby’s Championship defeat at Peterborough United was marred by allegations of homophobia and racism from a minority of away fans, some of those within that stands also offended by what they heard.

Kick It Out, which works to combat racism, homophobia and discrimination in football, condemned the “rent boy” chant in 2019, saying it had been directed at Chelsea players for years “with little action taken by The Football Association or police – and that must not continue.”

“We are absolutely clear: the chant is homophobic and must be treated as such,” they stated.

The FA is currently bound by what the police and CPS regard as discriminatory language that can lead to prosecution. As with racist language, it is the police that enforce the laws, not the FA.

Meanwhile, a new rule has been issued to fans or they could face being banned from every ground in the league, it has been reported.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has confirmed that any supporter who is found guilty of discriminatory abuse in stadia or online will be refused entry from every ground in the top tier of English football.

This is put in place as part of new anti-discrimination regulations named the ‘No Room for Racism Action Plan’ – aiming to “make it clear any form of discriminatory behaviour is unacceptable in football and wider society”.

“Anti-discrimination is a big priority for the Premier League and all of its clubs, we won’t tolerate anti-discrimination behaviour in our grounds or online. We are trying to take as many steps as possible to deal with those issues”, he said to Sky Sports.

“We announced yesterday that if you are caught using discriminatory language then you can not only be banned from your own club but from all Premier League grounds and that includes online as well now.

“Secondly, we are doing a lot of steward training with fans coming back to help them deal with these situations should they arise.

“We hope they won’t and we’re helping with fans regarding fan education so they can understand the impact that this has on some people around them, particularly the players.

“It clearly still exists, we saw that over the summer with regards to the England team and it needs to be dealt with. We have a number of people dedicated to identifying these offensive posts, taking them down, working with social media companies.

“The companies have got to step up and we’ve been pressuring them, and we’ve got the Online Safety Bill coming through government so it’s what we’re all trying to achieve.”

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