Sport

Crystal Palace Football Club Foundation says it will deal with homophobic fans

Apr 10 2013
Written by Scott Roberts

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Crystal Palace Football Club’s official foundation has commented on accusations that a number of the club’s fans have been taking part in homophobic chanting during matches.

In March, over 100 Crystal Palace fans were allegedly seen shouting anti-gay abuse in Brighton City Centre, ahead of the south London club’s fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium.

Albion supporters have been subjected to homophobic chants for years by rival fans because of the city’s historically large LGBT population.

Research published this month showed that Albion fans receive homophobic abuse in more than half of all matches.

The Gay Football Supporters’ Network named and shamed 29 clubs whose fans take part in anti-gay chanting and Crystal Palace featured in the list.

In response, head of the Crystal Palace FC Foundation Donald Forde and chairman David Groves released a joint-statement saying: “On behalf of Crystal Palace FC Foundation, we would like to stress that everyone at Palace is committed to fighting all forms of discrimination in the game, including homophobia.

“We were disappointed to learn of the details of the report which stated that Brighton supporters have been subjected to abuse in more than half of their matches and, as one of the 29 clubs (from 92 in the Premier and Football League) supporting Football v Homophobia, (we) take those claims very seriously.

“The club do not tolerate racist or homophobic chanting at Selhurst Park and will continue to work with the relevant bodies to eradicate behaviour like that from football grounds.”