TAGBANGER | Commentary

Football’s stand against sexual violence and homophobia

by Jennifer Doyle
the Guardian — Comment is free

Before the start of their 2006 World Cup semi-final, players for Brazil and France stood together and held a banner declaring “Say no to racism”. The gesture was part of a Fifa campaign — each of the 64 matches included a visible statement against the racist abuse directed especially at black players in Europe. From the round banner marked with this slogan which covered the centre circle until the start of the match, to pre-game statements read by team captains before kick-off, during Fifa’s 2006 World Cup, players, fans and tournament organisers declared that racism has no place in football.

Imagine a similar intervention today. South Africa has the highest incidence of rape in the world. The statistics are chilling: one in two women are raped; women are more likely to be raped than to learn to read; and they have little reason to trust the law to defend their right to their own bodies.

One grisly dimension of this crisis is that black lesbians are singled out for homophobic rape and violent assault with particular frequency. In April 2008, Eudy Simelane, a former midfielder for South Africa’s women’s national team, was raped, beaten, stabbed and left to die in a creek 200m from her home. A shocking number of South African female athletes have been assaulted — women who dare to play a “man’s game” become visible targets.

Jonathan · 06/19/10

Dissecting Entryway

The Entryway is an online project created by two aspiring journalists — “maybe the whitest people we know” — who move into a crowded immigrant household in Los Angeles to learn Spanish, so that they can, eventually, better report on their city. It’s getting wonderfully fawning feedback so far, and hopes to raise $3,240 to keep going.

Kara Mears takes photos and Devin Browne writes and designs the entries, which are published sort of like a diary, with words and phrases alternating between large and small typeface. The first thing we learn about the young women, in their opening entry, is that they chose their family after an apparently grueling two years of searching because — unlike other houses in MacArthur Park, I guess — “This family cares about cleanliness. They cannot live with bedbugs.”

Jonathan · 04/02/10

Brian Clough’s reaction to Brighton losing 2–8 at home to Bristol Rovers

via Union Football League / From a left wing.

Parkside · 02/13/10