“This World Cup has disenfranchised LGBT+ fans like no other”

A member of Three Lions Pride explains why they won’t be attending the World Cup this year

My first memory of football was Arsenal losing to Liverpool in the FA Cup Final in 2001. I was distraught. The following year, England lost to Brazil in the World Cup, and I still remember Ronaldinho lobbing the ball over David Seaman. For me, football was exciting, an emotional rollercoaster.  

Going to matches with my dad became a weekly ritual. He was a massive Arsenal fan so for me, if I was going to like football, it was Arsenal or nobody. The atmosphere was wonderful, electric. I would go to any match; I just wanted to watch football in any capacity.

When I was a teenager, I knew I was different, but I didn’t have the language to understand it. However, I was starting to understand that all the homophobic chants at the matches were directed at people like me. It made me feel like football didn’t like me. And as much as I loved football, it wasn’t a space where I could be myself – my two identities of being a massive football fan and being queer could never merge.

I had to choose between myself and football

After that, I stopped going to football matches and just watched from afar– I think all LGBT+ plus fans go through a period where they’ve felt as though they had to choose between being themselves and going to football.

Ahead of the Russia World Cup I decided to start Three Lions Pride with some friends. There were LGBTQI+ groups for club teams, but not for our national sides.

We started going to England games as a group and Three Lions Pride was born. It provided an opportunity to talk about issues we would face at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar. We were also able to attend as a group, where we could look out for each other and have safety in numbers.

Back in 2016 England fans didn’t have the greatest reputation, so people were instinctively cautious of going to games anyway but having that community has been a really powerful thing and it’s enabled people who thought that there would never be a space for them to realize that actually, there is.

You don’t hear as many homophobic chants now

There’s definitely been a huge improvement in European football, particularly in the UK. You don’t hear as many homophobic chants or if you do, other fans who may not be LGBTQI+ themselves call people out. For example, I can go to the game in makeup, in a skirt or things like that. I went to Germany for the Euros and that was wonderful.

The England fan base is itself a community that supports each other and just wants everyone to be able to get behind England and that’s been really refreshing to see for a lot of our members. Without them, the LGBT+ people wouldn’t have this human rights progress.

We won’t be travelling to the World Cup this year

Yet, despite all our work, we won’t be travelling to the World Cup this year. I went out to Russia, I did human rights work in Qatar, but this is the first men’s World Cup that I’m not really paying much attention to.

When I first heard it was going to be in Canada, US, and Mexico, I felt like it would be my first time attending where I could really enjoy it and embrace it and be myself.

As a queer person, I would not be able to visibly be myself in a number of World Cup locations and that is directly down to policy makers, law enforcement and the direction of travel in the US.

Robert, member of Three Lions Pride

It was meant to be fun and enjoyable, but now I am worried about it on a human capacity. As LGBT+ fans, we don’t get to just focus on the football, we have to constantly be alert – am I safe here? Do I need to be aware of my own personal safety?

As a queer person, I would not be able to visibly be myself in a number of World Cup locations and that is directly down to policy makers, law enforcement and the direction of travel in the US particularly.  It feels like the rug has been taken from under our feet because it is just not what was sold to people. You look at the bidding process and the conversations beforehand, and the reality is totally different. The lack of engagement from FIFA and the organizers is astounding.

This is probably the one that has disenfranchised LGBT+ fans like no other World Cup because it had so much hope. We knew Russia was going to be difficult. We knew Qatar was going to be almost impossible. But this one had so much optimism.

We’re on the outside looking in

England has been doing so well in recent years and it feels like we could get to a final, but once again LGTBQI+ fans are on the outside looking in.

As much as the focus of Three Lions Pride is visibility, it’s also our job to support our queer fan base with travel advice and support. And we cannot in good conscience say that people will be safe going to this year’s World Cup as openly LGBT+ fans, so we won’t have any visibility out there and that’s a choice that we’ve consciously made.

In the US in particular, there’s a dangerous rollback on human rights, in particular trans people’s rights, where the laws vary from state to state. If trans people attend, they face a huge risk of violence and discrimination, so in essence we would have to recommend for our members to try and be straight passing.

If we were to attend, we would be putting LGBT+ people at risk of abuse, physical altercation and police involvement. And if there’s police involvement, then you also risk deportation and ICE and there have been cases where LGBT+ people have been detained by ICE for periods of time in horrific conditions.

FIFA’s damaging irresponsibility

Football is about a global community coming together to enjoy the beautiful game, but FIFA are tarnishing this with both their actions and their inaction.

They need to engage with fans properly, effectively and deliver on the hope and optimism that football can bring. At the moment they seem more invested in aligning themselves with regimes that don’t hold up to the standards that they should be holding themselves to. That’s not what football is about.

We can’t say this is going to be a World Cup of hope, tolerance and acceptance of diversity. However, we will continue to work with organizations such as Amnesty International to deliver a unified and extremely strong and powerful message of respecting everyone as equal humans and ultimately hold FIFA to account. 

It’s time for FIFA to change course. And if they don’t, they run the risk of destroying a wonderful game.

*Name has been changed for protection purposes.

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